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KINGSTON — Wyoming Seminary started off the first half with a bang Saturday night. The Blue Knights ended it the same way.

And in between, things weren’t too shabby either.

But even after a 43-6 victory over St. Luke’s, the Blue Knights are looking to take their game up a few notches.

“We have a great homecoming game with Kiski coming in here on Saturday,” Seminary coach Jim Anderson said. “We have a lot to improve upon. But we had some kids who made big plays on both sides of the ball.”

The first guy in the first half was Prince Hall, a post-grad from West Palm Beach, Fla. Hall took the opening kickoff and raced down the left sideline for a 90-yard touchdown, triggering a 35-point first half for Seminary (3-2).

The last guy was Todd Phillips, who put the final touches on the 35-0 halftime advantage by returning an interception 94 yards for a score with five seconds until the break.

Now for the in-between.

Four plays after Hall’s return, St. Luke’s (3-2) fumbled and Seminary defensive lineman Jake Kaminski recovered at the Storm’s 39-yard line. Running back Jevone Layne capped the short drive with a 5-yard TD run.

The Blue Knights scored on their next possession as quarterback Cooper Heisey threw a short pass to former Wyoming Valley West standout Rob Dwyer. Dwyer turned upfield, swatted away a defender, picked up a block from Phillips and finished off the 29-yard catch-and run touchdown.

Seminary boosted its lead to 28-0 before the first quarter ended. Heisey hit Phillips near midfield and Phillips did the rest on the way to a 64-yard touchdown.

Seminary finished the half with 279 yards compared to St. Luke’s 71. Anderson gave credit to the discrepancy to offensive coordinator Jim Norris, the former head coach at Pittston Area.

“We lost both of our starting tackles last week and our tight end,” Anderson said. “We asked the kids to trust us. I though what coach Norris did with our two-fullback attack and trying to get our skill kids in space, he did a great job.”

The second half was played with a running clock due to the 35-point mercy rule, yet Seminary got one more score on a 46-yard run by Layne, who pinballed off a few defenders near the goal line.

Even when something went wrong offensively, Seminary found a solution. A bad snap of the point-after try forced holder Phillips to roll to his right. As he was about to be hit, he lofted the ball into a pack of players where it hit off a St. Luke’s defender and fell into the hands of Dwyer.

There was one big glitch in the performance — penalties. Seminary was flagged 11 times for 107 yards, including a couple personal fouls.

St. Luke’s got on the scoreboard just before heading back to Connecticut when Kenneth Soares scored on an 8-yard run with eight seconds left.

Wyoming Seminary 43, St. Luke’s 6

St. Luke’s`0`0`0`6 — 6

Wyo. Seminary`28`7`0`8 — 43

First quarter

WS — Prince Hall 90 kick return (Will Ziegler kick), 11:45

WS — Jevone Layne 5 run (Ziegler kick), 8:46

WS — Rob Dwyer 29 pass from Cooper Heisey (Ziegler kick), 4:23

WS — Todd Phillips 64 pass from Heisey (Ziegler kick), 1:54

Second quarter

WS — Phillips 94 interception return (Ziegler kick), 0:05

Fourth quarter

WS — Layne 46 run (Dwyer from Phillips, 9:10

SL — Kenneth Soares 8 run (kick failed), 0:08

Team statistics`SL`WS

First downs`10`10

Rushes-yards`31-104`17-151

Passing yards`36`205

Total yards`140`356

Passing`4-15-2`8-12-0

Sacked-yards lost`2-17`1-23

Punts-avg.`4-36`2-37

Fumbles-lost`1-1`1-1

Penalties-yards`3-15`11-107

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — St. Luke’s, Shamond Moore 9-19, Chandler Greene 4-7, Everett Andersen 1-(minus-8), Austin Andersen 9-40, Soares 8-46. Seminary, Hall 7-62, Layne 7-98, Heisey 3-(minus-19).

PASSING — St. Luke’s, E.Andersen 4-14-2-36, Soares 0-1-0-0. Seminary, Heisey 7-10-0-199, Ari Lonstein 1-2-0-6.

RECEIVING — St. Luke’s, Soares 3-23, Moore 1-13. Seminary, Phillips 4-84, Dwyer 3-121, Jason Kcehowski 1-0.

INTERCEPTIONS — Seminary, Phillips 2-130.

MISSED FGs — none.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_SEM.jpg.optimal.jpg

By John Erzar

[email protected]

Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar