Rangers roll in season opener

SHICKSHINNY – Northwest's ground and pound approach proved to be too much for Holy Redeemer, as the Rangers rushed for just nearly 400 yards in a 45-15 triumph in front of their home crowd Friday night.

Austin Mazonkey broke the scoring open with a 60-yard touchdown run less than five minutes into the first quarter on his way to rushing for 119 yards on nine carries. His partner in the backfield, Tony Politz, added a highlight worthy play of his own, breaking free for a 50-yard touchdown with 3:15 left in the first quarter.

Two interceptions were returned for touchdowns by Tyler Pegarella and Tyler Meininger a minute apart late in the quarter, proving to be a crushing blow for Holy Redeemer, which hasn't won a game since 2009 and was playing its first game under head coach Pat Reece.

"We have that kind of defense this year where we can pick balls off and run them back, and we have a lot of speed." Northwest head coach Carl Majer said.

Northwest didn't look back, taking a 38-3 lead into halftime.

"The turnovers back to back really hurt us," Reece said. "Our guys were a little deflated and played flat after that."

Royals quarterback Jimmy Strickland passed for 218 yards, and Eric Kerr added 149 yards of receiving yards, but the three interceptions were costly.

"We showed we have a lot of talent on this team," Majer said. "I think we moved the ball well in spurts. We have some holes to fix and we need to keep getting better everyday."

First Quarter

NW -- Austin Mazonkey 60 run (kick failed), 7:14

HR -- Krystof Bozentka 24 field goal, 3:36

NW -- Tony Politz 50 run (kick failed), 3:15

NW -- Tyler Pegarella 75 interception return (kick failed), 1:50

NW -- Tyler Meininger 32 interception return (kick failed), :50

Second Quarter

NW -- Politz 34 run (Pegarella kick), 9:08

NW -- Pegarella 12 run (Pegarella kick), 4:05

Fourth Quarter

NW -- Mazonkey 2 run (Pegarella kick), 8:46

HR -- Charles Ross 4 run (run failed), 5:00

HR -- Justin Renfer 3 run (run failed), 2:07

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – NW, Tony Politz 18-222, Austin Mazonkey 9-119, Adam Schechterly 1-32, Tyler Pegarella 1-12, Allen Gulbierz 2-6. HR, Charles Ross 4-23, Jimmy Strickland 6-19, Justin Renfer 4-12, Pat Villani 2-(-7).

PASSING – NW, Marcus Welliver 2-3-16-0. HR, Jimmy Strickland 18-38-218-0.

RECEIVING – NW, Nick Long 2-16. HR, Eric Kerr 8-149, Chad Fahey 4-51, Eric Ligotski 2-15, Pat Villani 2-(-10), Vince Villani 1-9, Jason Hoggarth 1-4

INTS – NW, Pegarella, Mazonkey, Tyler Meininger.