Click here to subscribe today or Login.
SCRANTON — Matthew Buchman’s 200-yard performance on the ground was the centerpiece of an overall dominant effort from Hazleton Area, as the Cougars remained unbeaten with a 42-7 rout of West Scranton on Friday at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
The senior halfback only needed 13 carries to eclipse 200 yards, finishing with 203. Three of those carries found the end zone to boost the Cougars, who ran the ball pretty much at will on the West Scranton defense.
“We knew all week that the run game was going to be huge,” Buchman said after the game, praising the efforts of his blockers for springing him for so many big gains. “It was a big use of our game today, and thanks to the linemen and Ryan Matyas for all of it.”
Matyas spent a bulk of his night opening up holes for Buchman but also managed to get in on the scoring too, with a 6-yard run in the second quarter as Hazleton Area began to impose its collective will on the Invaders, who couldn’t get much going on either side of the ball.
“It starts up front when the running game is working, and Matyas is an extension of that. … What a great job he does every week at fullback,” Hazleton Area coach Dennis Buchman said.
Hazleton Area also saw a big night in the run game from Kevin Guzman, who entered the game in the fourth quarter to relieve Buchman, and ended up ripping off 86 yards on the ground and the Cougars’ final touchdown of the night.
In total, the Cougars’ ground game went for 326 yards and five touchdowns, with Buchman scoring the hat trick with scoring runs of 13, 54 and 11 yards.
On all of them, Buchman shed multiple would-be tacklers and ran through just about anyone in his path, extending run after run by refusing to go down.
“In the offseason, I worked my tail off to put on muscle. I knew I would have to break a lot of arm tackles,” he said.
Though it ended up being an early night for Cougars quarterback Tyler Wolfe, the signal-caller continued his strong season with 151 yards passing and a touchdown throw to Alex Pongrazzi, who slipped behind the coverage for a 17-yard grab in the end zone.
For Pongrazzi, the touchdown was his first career score, on his first career catch — and while celebrating his birthday, Dennis Buchman said after the game.
The Invaders managed to stave off a shutout late in the fourth quarter with a 26-yard touchdown run from Ethan Frable. He finished with a team-high 38 yards rushing, while backup quarterback Dan Van Dusky looked good after coming into the game, completing three passes for 48 yards, all to Taron Knight Guerrier.
Hazleton Area improves to 5-0, and they’ll host fellow unbeaten Dallas next week. West Scranton drops to 1-4, and will head out to Western Wayne.
Hazleton Area 42, West Scranton 7
Hazleton Area`14`13`8`7 — 42
West Scranton`0`0`0`7 — 7
First quarter
HA — Matthew Buchman 13 run (Buchman run), 2:51
HA — Buchman 54 run (run failed), 15.7
Second quarter
HA — Ryan Matyas 6 run (Zander Coleman kick), 8:22
HA — Alex Pongrazzi 17 pass from Tyler Wolfe (kick failed), 31.5
Third quarter
HA — Buchman 11 run (Matt Cusatis run), 8:34
Fourth quarter
HA — Kevin Guzman 3 run (Coleman kick), 10:28
WS — Ethan Frable 26 run (Mason Bennet kick), 1:44
Team statistics`HA`WS
First downs`16`5
Rushes-yards`32-326`17-61
Passing yards`151`65
Total yards`477`126
Passing`9-13-1`6-11-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`1-6
Punts-avg.`0-0`6-40
Fumbles-lost`0-0`3-1
Penalties-yards`5-45`4-20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — HAZ, Buchman 13-203, Wolfe 1-4, Connor Kundrat 3-13, Matyas 2-6, Guzman 7-86, Hunter Johnson 2-15, Riley VanGilst 1-(minus-5), Johncarlos Peralta 2-2, Deron Newell 1-2. WS, Evan Laybourne-Boddie 4-27, Caiden Berardi 5-(minus-3), Samson Repshis 1-2, Joe Harris 2-2, Taron Knight Guerrier 1-(minus-5), Frable 4-38.
PASSING — HAZ, Wolfe 9-13-151-1. WS, Berardi 3-6-17-0, Dan Van Dusky 3-5-48-0.
RECEIVING —HAZ, Cusatis 2-20, Connor Shamany 4-81, Buchman 1-15, Kundrat 1-13, Guzman 1-8, Pongrazzi 1-17.
INTERCEPTIONS — HAZ, none. WS, Repshis 1-10.
MISSED FGs — none.