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HAZLETON — One last time, the Scranton Knights gambled with a desperate, fourth-down situation.
And once again, Hazleton Area had an answer.
Sparky Wolk threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more scores Friday and Hazleton Area’s dominating defense twice stopped Scranton on fourth down plays as Cougars stunned the Knigths with a 34-8 victory and a happy homecoming at Harman Geist Field.
“Just made stuff happen,” Wolk shrugged.
Mainly, a lot of magic happened for Hazleton Area.
Wolk launched a pair of touchdown bombs to David Smith, Adrian Otero ran for 101 yards and the Cougars defense smothered Scranton’s speedy offense with four sacks and a nasty attitude up front.
“Just a great game plan by our defensive coaches,” Hazleton Area coach Mike Brennan said.
The plan for the Cougars was simply to attack the ballcarrier.
Hazleton Area held Scranton’s ground game to just 125 yards, outside of a 24-yard advance of a fumble recovery by an offensive lineman, and limited the dangerous Knights to just 61 yards through the air.
With Scranton struggling to manage any type of offensive flow, the desperate Knights called for a fake punt in their own territory in the first quarter. Hazleton Area stopped the run short of the first down, then Wolk immediately gunned a 42-yard touchdown pass to Smith for a 14-0 lead.
Just before halftime, Scranton kept its offense on the field for a fourth-down play while passing up a field-goal attempt from Hazleton Area’s 10-yard line. The Cougars forced a scramble, which gained just three yards as the clock ran out.
The second half began the same way as the first one ended, as a long kick return and ensuing penalty put Scranton’s offense 25 yards from the end zone. But Hazleton Area had the ball back in four plays, after forcing a fourth-down incompletion.
Later in the third quarter, a 7-yard completion by Scranton wound up short of the first down and turned the ball back to the Cougars.
And on a fifth fourth-down attempt, and needing only a yard for the first, a Scranton running play was stuffed by Josh Zukoski, Bryce Reed and Joey Hatton for a six-yard loss. It proved Scranton’s final hope of getting back in the game, as the Cougars took off on a game-sealing 74-yard touchdown drive capped by Wolk’s 15-yard scoring toss to Otero.
“Certainly, tonight was a big step in the right direction,” Brennan said.
The Cougars took a giant leap forward, improving to 4-3 by beating a Scranton team that started the season at 5-0, but lost its second straight game after suffering its first defeat when Williamsport scored two touchdowns in the final minutes to steal victory last week.
“Our defense has been good making fourth-down stops,” Brennan said. “Now our kids think they can. It’s been a long time coming.
“That’s attitude.”
That swagger flowed into the offensive backfield, as Otero and fellow Cougars running back Damon Horton simply overpowered the Knights.
Otero finished with 101 yards on 15 carries, and took five Scranton defenders with him for 10 extra yards on an 18-yard pass play in the first half. Horton also did his share of hard running, bouncing around for 64 yards on 12 carries.
“They were punishing,” Brennan said.
When Scranton crept up, Wolk threw some punishing passes.
After Scranton scored its lone touchdown in the second quarter, Wolk came right back with a 45-yard scoring strike to Smith for a 28-8 lead and finished 12 for 18 for 200 passing yards.
“It’s been slow lately,” Wolk said of his connection with the speedy Smith. “Most teams have been double-teaming him. They decided to press him tonight. With Dave, I know he’s going to go after it.”
Hazleton Area 34, Scranton 8
Scranton`0`8`0`0`—`8
Hazleton Area`14`14`0`6`—`34
First quarter
H — Sparky Wolk 10 run (Gabe Fabian kick), 4:20
H — David Smith 46 pass from Wolk (Fabian kick), 2:35
Second quarter
H — Wolk 2 run (Fabian kick), 3:43
S — Kyron Harbin 22 run (Robbie McAndrew conversion run), 3:24
H — Smith 45 pass from Wolk (Fabian kick), 0:46
Fourth quarter
H — Adrian Otero 15 pass from Wolk (kick failed), 4:13
Team statistics`SCR`HA
First downs`9`19
Rushes-yards`30-149`38-202
Passing yards`61`200
Total yards`210`402
Passing`6-16-0`12-18-0
Sacked-yards lost`4-32`1-4
Punts-avg.`3-43.3`5-34.4
Fumbles-lost`3-2`2-0
Penalties-yards`4-39`10-89
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — SCR, Jerrod Brown 13-74, Kyron Harbin 4-31, Grayson Lavelle 0-24, Liam Stepanovich 1-7, Robbie McAndrew 9-2, Naseem Fullard 1-2, Ansh Patel 1-1, Marquise Buckley 1-0. HAZ, Adrian Otero 15-101, Damon Horton 12-64, Sparky Wolk 8-45, Josh Zukoski 2-8, TEAM 1- (minus 16).
PASSING — SCR, McAndrew 6-16-0-61. HAZ, Wolk 12-18-0-200.
RECEIVING — SCR, Izaih Sutton 2-25, Azzan Jett 2-15, Brown 1-14, Brandon Crusen 1-7. HAZ, Otero 6-83, David Smith 4-100, Zukoski 1-10, Jacob Hunsinger 1-7.