PLAINS TWP. — Another Friday night, another win for North Pocono. The undefeated Trojans dominated Wilkes-Barre Area 44-7, and they did it without Cornell commit Cole West, who sat out due to injury.
After going scoreless on the first drive, North Pocono got on the board when Henry Wolff scored a 4-yard touchdown. It was the first of two touchdowns Wolff scored in the game, though the second came two quarters later.
Despite the early lead, the Trojans probably would have liked to have their third drive back. They made it all the way down to the 1-yard-line but were stuffed on a fourth-down attempt.
“We were a little sluggish early. We obviously want to play better than that offensively,” North Pocono Greg Dolhon said. “I think our defense plays at such a high level and gives us many opportunities. We need to score the football.”
And score they did.
Following a second quarter field goal by Jack Youngblood to extend North Pocono’s lead to 10-0, the Trojans scored touchdowns on five straight drives. The only drive of the second half they didn’t score on was when they knelt down twice to drain the game clock and secure the victory.
The highlight of North Pocono’s scoring flurry was a 27-yard touchdown from Chase Zimmerman to Max LaFave at the beginning of the fourth quarter. LaFave reeled in the catch with one hand while being dragged to the ground by a Wolfpack defender.
“(LaFave) is one of our better athletes — a big, tall, long kid — who works his rear end off,” Dolhon said. “… That (touchdown catch) was something that showcased his skills, and got our sideline excited, too, so it was good to see.”
North Pocono got a boost from Wolff, Zimmerman, LaFave and running back Jayden Taylor, as the Trojans weathered the absence of their star player.
“We were adjusting to not having Cole West,” Dolhon said. “That’s an adjustment we had to make, and we made it, but we have a lot of work to do.”
The Wolfpack, meanwhile, didn’t put any points on the board until the final three minutes of the game. Anthony Daniel’s 4-yard rushing touchdown was set up by an 81-yard kickoff return by Jayden Pena.
North Pocono (6-0) will look to remain undefeated next week against a tough Scranton Prep team in Moscow. Wilkes-Barre Area (1-5) will get another crack at defending its home turf next week against Wyoming Valley West.
North Pocono 44, Wilkes-Barre Area 7
North Pocono`7`10`14`13 — 44
Wilkes-Barre Area`0`0`0`7 — 7
First quarter
NP — Henry Wolff 4 run (Shane Youngblood kick), 2:53.
Second quarter
NP — Youngblood 30 field goal, 2:55.
NP — Chase Zimmerman 5 run (Youngblood kick), 0:08.
Third quarter
NP — Jayden Taylor 4 run (Youngblood kick), 7:08.
NP — Wolff 1 run (Youngblood kick), 3:24.
Fourth quarter
NP — Max LaFave 27 pass from Zimmerman (Youngblood kick), 10:43.
NP — Noah Burns 10 run (run failed), 2:47.
WBA — Anthony Daniel 10 run (John Mendola kick), 2:13.
Team statistics`NP`WBA
First downs`21`4
Rushes-yards`53-231`19-31
Passing yards`96`22
Total yards`327`53
Passing`7-13-0`6-14-1
Sacked-yards lost`1-6`0-0
Punts-avg.`2-31`6-31
Fumbles-lost`0-0`1-1
Penalties-yards`2-10`4-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — NP, Wolff 15-84, Taylor 13-58, Baulo 10-36, Burns 6-29-1, Zimmerman 4-19, Magnotta 3-7, Swartz 2-(minus-2). WBA, Daniel 12-37-1, Gregor 4-(minus-4), Smith 2-3, Woods 1-(minus-5).
PASSING — NP, Zimmerman 7-12-0-96, Wolff 0-1-0-0. WBA, Gregor 6-14-1-22.
RECEIVING — NP, LaFave 3-43, Wolff 2-18, Taylor 1-17, Ruddy 1-18. WBA, Woods 3-16, Saracino 1-15, Pena 1-5, Daniel 1-(minus-14).
INTERCEPTIONS — NP, Bell 1-6.
MISSED FGs — None.
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