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HAZLETON — Hazleton Area allowed three consecutive touchdowns in a 20-14 loss to Donegal Friday in inter-district competition.
The Cougars went ahead midway through the first quarter when David Smith leaped to snag a 6-yard catch from Sparky Wolk in the corner of the end zone. Hazleton Area benefited from a botched punt that gave them possession within the 30-yard line.
Donegal quickly responded on its next possession with a 13-yard Cameron Ellis run with 2:17 remaining in the first quarter.
Hazleton Area’s 7-6 lead stood for nearly half the game until Ellis tallied his second rushing touchdown of the game with 91 seconds left in the third. Hazleton Area’s defense nearly had the Indians on the ropes but a 9-yard pass to the halfback gave them new life.
Donegal seemed to find its running game late against the Cougars’ tired legs. Nick Ketner capped the Indians’ scoring with a 27 yard run for a touchdown.
Hazleton Area scored late when Adrian Otero caught a wide-open 39 yard touchdown pass.
Wolk completed 23 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns.
Donegal 20, Hazleton Area 14
Donegal`6`0`7`7`—`20
Hazleton Area`7`0`0`7`—`14
First quarter
HAZ — David Smith 6 pass from Sparky Wolk (Will Barrientos kick), 5:35
DON — Cameron Ellis 13 run (kick fail), 2:17
Third quarter
DON — Ellis 2 run (Emma Hudson kick), 1:31
Fourth quarter
DON — Nick Ketner 27 run (Hudson kick), 7:11
HAZ — Adrian Otero 39 pass from Wolk (Barrientos kick), 1:55
Team statistics`DON`HAZ
First downs`15`13
Rushes-yards`49-302`22-60
Passing yards`67`246
Total yards`369`306
Passing`6-11-0`20-33-1
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`5-29
Punts-avg.`7-29.1`6-38
Fumbles-lost`1-0`1-0
Penalties-yards`3-15`5-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — DON, Ketner 19-167, Tyler Rupp 9-49, Ellis 18-85, Ryan Buckius 2-2, TEAM 1-(minus-1). HAZ, Otero 4-(minus-8), Damon Horton 6-31, Wolk 11-31, Josh Zukoski 1-6
PASSING — DON, Buckius 6-11-0-67. HAZ Wolk 20-33-1-246
RECEIVING — DON, Rupp 3-10, Dale Houser 1-18, Ketner 1-9, Seiler Edwards 1-30. HAZ, Jacob Hunsinger 5-72, Smith 7-63, Otero 4-74, Zukoski 1-(minus-5), Horton 3-52
INTERCEPTIONS — DON, Cael Rupp.