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HAZLETON — A career game from Kevin Meluskey helped lead Hazleton Area to an explosive second half for its first win of the season, 34-7 over Tunkhannock in a Wyoming Valley Conference interdivisional game.
“No doubt this was a better performance tonight,” Hazleton Area coach Dennis Buchman said. “We preach trust, love and commitment in this program and we tell our guys we aren’t far off.
“In the first two weeks we squandered a couple opportunities, we had the opportunity to win both of those football games. We put things together, but we still have things on the table.”
The Cougars dropped their first two games of the season to Crestwood and Wilkes-Barre Area.
Tunkhannock jumped out to a fast start, with quarterback Jack Chilson throwing the ball all over. The Tigers marched 95 yards to the end zone, capped off by a Chilson 25-yard pass to Ben Chilson.
Hazleton Area gave the ball right back to the dangerous Tunkhannock offense after Riley Jones intercepted Kellen Warner. But the momentum was turned three plays later, with Meluskey’s first interception. He returned it down to the Tunkhannock 11-yard line, but a penalty moved the Cougars back outside the red zone.
The second Cougar drive didn’t start as planned, taking back-to-back holding calls to put the ball on their own side of the field.
Despite the offense moving backwards, Warner delivered a 46-yard strike to Connor Shamany, setting up a Meluskey touchdown run three plays later to tie the game.
Tunkhannock’s offense moved the ball in its next two possessions, but penalties stalled the drives and led to two punts.
The Cougars then shifted the momentum into their favor with a methodical 16-play, 94-yard drive to score with 0:38 second left in the half. The drive was completed on a fourth-and-20 play, a 30-yard pass from Warner to Matthew Cusatis.
Hazleton Area carried a 14-7 lead into the second half, and they were able to strike first on two big pass plays to Meluskey. The first was for 33 yards and the second was for 37 and a touchdown.
“It was absolutely our plan (to attack their secondary in the second half),” Buchman said. “We felt really good with our athletes on the edge against them, especially in the second half as they started to wear down.”
On the next Tunkhannock drive, early in the fourth quarter, Jack Chilson dropped back to pass on fourth-and-10, but he was intercepted by Meluskey for a second time.
Hazleton Area went on to score two more touchdowns in the final quarter, one on a 50-yard pass from Warner to Evan Matyas and the other on a 70-yard scoop and score by Ryan Matyas off a strip-sack of Jack Chilson.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” Buchman said. “I’ve said from the beginning, when we win football games it’s because of our incredible staff and these incredible players in this program.
“Now, we are going to take this one here and look to get on a roll.”
On top of Meluskey’s great game, Warner bounced back well after two first half interceptions. He threw for three touchdowns and 340 yards.
“He is resilient, but of these guys have overcome adversity since we started together,” Buchman said. “(Warner) will be the first to tell you, it starts up front with the offensive line. They brought a lot of pressure and our guys up front were solid in protection and (Warner) just continues to battle.”
Meluskey finished the game with nine rushes for 33 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown, four catches for 128 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown and two interceptions on the defensive side of the ball.
Hazleton Area 34, Tunkhannock 7
Tunkhannock`7`0`0`0 — 7
Hazleton Area`7`7`7`13 — 34
First quarter
TUNK — Ben Chilson 25 pass from Jack Chilson (Gavin Montross kick), 7:16
HA — Kevin Meluskey 4 run (Luke Russo kick), 1:31
Second quarter
HA — Matthew Cusatis 30 pass from Kellen Warner (Russo kick), 0:38
Third quarter
HA — Meluskey 37 pass from Warner (kick blocked), 1:13
Fourth quarter
HA — Ryan Matyas 70 fumble return (Russo kick), 5:49
HA — Evan Matyas 50 pass from Warner (Russo kick), 4:51
Team statistics`TUN`HA
First downs`12`15
Rushes-yards`36-168`24-55
Passing yards`129`340
Total yards`297`395
Passing`18-39-2`17-28-2
Sacked-yards lost`2-8`1-8
Punts-avg.`4-32`1-36
Fumbles-lost`1-1`0-0
Penalties-yards`7-60`5-38
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — TUNK, Bobby Schultz 6-55, Ty Konen 15-50, Colin Madan 2-27, Ben Chilson 2-20, Jack Chilson 6-15, Mason Roccograndi 2-0, Riley Jones 2-0. HAZ, Kevin Meluskey 9-33, Matthew Buchman 9-17, Kevin Guzman 2-6, Kellen Warner 4—1.
PASSING — TUNK, Jack Chilson 18-37-2-129, Ben Chilson 0-2-0-0. HAZ, Kellen Warner 17-27-2-340, Tyler Wolfe 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING — TUNK, Ben Chilson 4-49, Nathan Lord 4-33, Jacob Baltrusaitus 3-23, Michael Sickler 2-11, Garret Yuhas 1-7, Colin Madan 1-5, Ty Konen 1-1. HAZ, Kevin Meluskey 4-128, Connor Shamany 4-92, Evan Matyas 1-50, Matthew Cusatis 4-37, Christian Price 3-22, Matthew Buchman 1-11.
INTERCEPTIONS — TUNK, Riley Jones 1-0, Jhamal Zacharias 1-4. HAZ, Kevin Meluskey 2-23.
MISSED FGs — HAZ, 37WL.