Tunkhannock shook off a rough start and rallied on the road Friday night to give R.J. Haas his first coaching victory when the Tigers rallied past host Montrose 24-21 in a non-league game Friday night.
The Tigers ran off 24 straight points after Montrose moved in front 14-0 in the first 6:32.
They had started 0-5 in Haas’ first season as head coach while the Meteors had gone 4-1 in the first half of their first season under former Tiger Brett Stage.
Lucas Ciprich broke a 78-yard touchdown run with 3:07 left in the first quarter to get Tunkhannock started. Carter O’Neil added the two-point conversion pass.
Cason Petrak, who played his first two high school seasons at Montrose, tied the game for Tunkhannock just over two minutes later on a 1-yard run.
The Tigers moved in front with a second-quarter safety for a 16-14 halftime lead, then got the decisive score when O’Neil returned the second-half kickoff for a touchdown.
Rowan Hunter caught the two-point conversion pass.
Montrose scored with 7:13 left on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Evan Strohl to Weston Nabywaniec.
The Meteors took their early lead on a 3-yard run by Evan McComb and a 75-yard pass from Evan Strohl to Sawyer Aukema.
PITTSTON AREA 40, OXFORD AREA 34
Pittston Area rallied twice in the fourth quarter to turn back District 1’s Oxford Area in a non-league game.
Jude Ferentino scored on a 6-yard run with 1:12 left to erase a 34-32 deficit. Lucas LoPresto then hit John Jadus for the two-point conversion.
The victory was the second straight and lifted the Patriots to the .500 level at 3-3. Oxford is 1-5.
LoPresto and Ferentino each scored their second touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter.
Oxford carried a 28-26 lead into the fourth quarter.
LoPresto took a shovel pass from Santino Salvo 34 yards for a touchdown on third-and-four with 10:30 left.
The same play produced 17 yards on second-and-15 from the 23 one play before Ferentino’s winning touchdown.
Freshman Levi Pisano ran for a score and a 7-0 Pittston Area lead after one quarter.
Oxford took an 8-7 lead in the second quarter and the teams were tied 14-14 at halftime.
Kayden Bailey also ran for a Pittston Area score.
“Oxford runs an offense we don’t see often,” Pittston Area coach Paul Russick said of the team’s RPO style. “It was a challenge.”
Local journalism matters, and your support makes it possible. You can help sustain this work by making a donation or choosing one of our subscription options. Subscribers enjoy valuable benefits, including full access to our e-edition, a reduced ad experience on timesleader.com, and more.
Your support helps ensure independent, high-quality local news remains available today and for future generations. Thank you for standing with local journalism.