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| WARRIORS FALL TO GAR 37-30 |
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Summary: The headlines will say that the Warriors lost to GAR, 37-30, because of two second half fumbles. While those were big plays in the game—the bigger issue was the inability of the Warrior defense to slow down GAR’s high powered offense. No matter how good your offense is, you are not going to win many games when you give up 37 points.
Early on, it looked like it might be the Warriors’ night to break GAR’s three game winning streak over Wyoming Area. GAR took the opening kickoff and drove the ball 63 yards down field and scored on a pass from Darrell Crawford to Shaliek Powell. The Warriors answered with their own drive behind the power running of Jeff Skursky and Cory Popovich The 74 yard drive was capped off by a 16 yard touchdown run by Nick O’Brien. A two point conversion gave the Warriors an 8-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Both teams scored two touchdowns in the second period. O’Brien had a 35 yard run, and Skursky had a 3 yard run. The Warriors also missed a 27 yard field goal in the period, but took a 23-22 lead into the locker room.
The Warriors took the second half kickoff near midfield. Faced with a fourth and 1, Corey Popovich picked up the first down. While fighting for extra yardage Popovich was stripped of the ball, giving GAR new life at their own 35 yard line. GAR drove down the field capped off by a Crawford 17 yard run, giving GAR a lead, 30-23--a lead that they never would relinquish.
It looked like the Warriors were going to answer back as they drove the ball within the GAR 10 yard line behind the running of Skursky, Popovch, and O’Brien. However, a Jeff Skursky fumble at the five yard line gave GAR the ball. The Grenadiers mounted a 93-yard drive that put them up by two touchdowns. The Warriors answered back with a 17 yard touchdown run by Nick O’Brien with 6:45 remaining, making the score 37-30. GAR drove the ball down to the Warrior 37 yard line, where the Warrior made their first stop of the night on a fourth and three. With no timeouts left and 1 minute 34 seconds remaining, the Warriors could not generate any offense and the game ended on a Darrell Crawford interception of a desperation pass thrown by Nick O’Brien.
GAR piled up 22 first downs and 427 total yards of offense. There were no punts in the game by either side. The Warrior defense seemed intent on trying to contain Crawford and keep him from breaking the big play. Crawford finished with 135 yards rushing on 23 carries—well below his 11+ yards per carry average. However, the Warriors were gashed by GAR’s other running backs. Wright had 59 yards on 8 carries, while Benton had 84 yards on 11 carries. GAR drove the ball up and down the field all night in five to ten yard chunks on most plays. When GAR wanted to pass—there was absolutely no pass rush by the Warriors, who seemed to be overly concerned about containing Crawford’s scrambling. On one play, it seemed like the quarterback had 10 seconds to throw, and there was not a Warrior within 5 yards of the quarterback. The defensive secondary had no chance to make plays as GARs quarterbacks were 8 for 14 for 140 yards.
The “bend don’t break” defensive strategy didn’t pan out for the Warriors. To GAR’s credit, they drove up and down the field with no fumbles and few penalties—the sign of a very good football team. On a positive note—the Warrior offense was very good all night. The offensive line did a great job of opening up holes. Skursky and Popovich had good nights running the ball up the gut, while O’Brien finished with a respectable 94 yards on 15 carries. O’Brien also connected with Trent Grove on four passes for 43 yards. However, it wasn’t enough to pull off a Warrior in.
With the Lackawanna AA teams beating up on each other—it looks like the Warriors are in good shape for a district playoff berth. They will need to beat Northwest Area and Pittston Area—two tough teams—in order to secure a number 2 seed. It is possible that the Warriors may get a chance for redemption against GAR down the road. –Nick Perugini |
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| TIMES LEADER ARTICLE |
Grenadiers capitalize on Warriors’ turnnovers
GAR scored touchdowns off two second-half takeaways en route to victory.
By John Erzar jerzar@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter
WILKES-BARRE – One turnover changed the momentum last year. Two did the trick Saturday night.
GAR turned two second-half fumble recoveries into touchdown drives to swing the momentum and take home a 37-30 victory over Wyoming Area in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2A-A showdown.
GAR improved to 7-1, while Wyoming Area dropped to 5-2. Both teams remained in first and second, respectively, in the District 2 Class 2A standings.
“They’re a good football team,” said GAR quarterback Darrell Crawford, who rushed for a game-high 136 yards. “I’m sure we’ll see them again in the playoffs.”
Last year, the game was tied 13-13 when a Wyoming Area fumble deep in GAR territory just before halftime allowed GAR to seize control and come away with a 23-13 win. The Warriors had a similar fate Saturday night.
“We had two pretty dependable guys carrying the ball, fighting for the extra yards,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “(Jeff) Skursky and (Corey) Popovich just fighting hard for yards and the ball comes out. At the same time, GAR had turnover opportunities. They had a fumble on an option pitch and that one bounces right back in (Dwayne) Wright’s hands.”
Leading 23-22, Wyoming Area fumbled on its fourth play from scrimmage in the third quarter. Wright recovered the ball at the GAR 49-yard line. Six plays later, Crawford ran in from 17 yards out as the Grenadiers took the lead for good, 30-23.
Wyoming Area then used the power running of Popovich and Skursky and quarterback Nick O’Brien to move to the GAR 7. But on second down, the Warriors fumbled again and GAR defensive lineman Christian Skrepenak landed on the ball.
“It was absolutely huge,” GAR coach Paul Wiedlich Jr. said. “The Dwayne Wright kid caused the fumble and recovered the fumble. The other turnover, I don’t know who the hell got that one, but they were huge.
“Our defense rose to the occasion. They had their backs to the wall and somebody made a big play.”
GAR had Wright and fellow running back Lucas Benton do the bulk of the work on the ensuing drive until Crawford scored on a 25-yard run for a 37-23 lead with 9:43 left in the fourth quarter.
The Warriors rallied to pull within 37-30 with 6:45 to play on O’Brien’s 17-yard run. But with no timeouts remaining, GAR was able to run the clock down to 1:34 before giving possession back to Wyoming Area at the Warriors’ 36-yard line.
After a pass for minus-2 yards, GAR defensive end Shakir Soto broke in for a 13-yard sack. Benton blitzed in from the left side on third down, hitting O’Brien as he released the ball. The pass sailed downfield and into the hands of Crawford.
The battle of two of the WVC’s most athletic quarterbacks took a back seat at times.
“We told our kids the main thing is we don’t care about stats,” Wiedlich said. “The most important thing is the stat on the scoreboard at the end of the game.”
Wyoming Area tried to exploit the gut of GAR’s defense, like Lake-Lehman did a week earlier, by running Skursky and Popovich between the tackles. Skursky finished with 15 carries for 90 yards, while Popovich had a season-high 58 yards on seven rushes.
GAR used the speedy duo of Benton and Wright, who combined for 143 yards on 19 carries.
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| CITIZENS VOICE ARTICLE |
GAR holds off Warriors
By Tom Brolley (staff writer)
Published: October 23, 2011
WILKES-BARRE - GAR and Wyoming Area didn't have any need for punters on Saturday night.
With defensive stops at a premium, GAR came up with one more crucial fumble recovery than Wyoming Area in a matchup of Class AA's top two teams in District 2.
Dwayne Wright and Christian Skrepnak each recovered Wyoming Area fumbles in Grenadiers territory to help GAR win 37-30 over Wyoming Area at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium.
With the win GAR stays at the top of the Class AA standings heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
"Our kids really faced the challenge," GAR coach Paul Wiedlich said. "It was a playoff atmosphere and a playoff game. I think our experience in the playoffs helped us a little bit. We overcame adversity and our defense did play better today."
Wyoming Area had a chance to tie the game with 1:34 left after the Warriors stuffed Darrell Crawford on a fourth-and-6 play and forced a fumble recovered by Zach LaNunziata at the Warriors 36.
The Warriors couldn't get moving forward though for the first time all game as they were forced to pass with no timeouts remaining.
Crawford, playing in the deep center of the field, caught Nick O'Brien's desperation heave at his own 39 to seal the victory with :12 left.
"We have all the contingencies in place as far as the 2-minute offense," Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. "We had a couple plays that we wanted to try and get in the game. But it was a tough situation with no timeouts there and that field position."
Crawford did just about everything on Saturday night including the interception on Wyoming Area's final play of the night.
Crawford ran for 136 rushing yards and three touchdowns, he threw for 86 yards and two touchdowns and he even caught two Corey Moore passes for 47 yards.
The Warriors contained Crawford on the ground in the first half.
Crawford had no runs over 8 yards but he did find the end zone as he ran for 62 yards on 11 carries.
But he broke off his longest runs of the night on a 17-yard score and the game-winning touchdown went for 25 yards.
"You just got to be patient," Crawford said. "I just followed my blocks better in the second half."
O'Brien once again carried the Warriors offense with 97 yards and three touchdowns.
But Wyoming Area also got big performances from Corey Popovich and freshman Jeff Skursky.
Popovich ran seven times for 54 yards and Skursky went for 92 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.
But each player had untimely fumbles in GAR territory in the second half.
Wright jumped on top of Popovich, fighting for extra yards, and stole the ball away from him on the first drive of the second half.
And Skrepenak recovered a Skursky fumble at the GAR 7 with the score at 30-23 late in the third.
"We have two pretty dependable guys carrying the ball," Spencer said. "Skursky and Popovich just fighting hard for yards and the ball comes out. At the same time, GAR had a turnover opportunity with a fumble on the option pitch and that one bounces right back in Wright's hands. That's the way the ball bounces, but those are things you got to manage in game's that are going to come down to this small a margin for victory."
tbrolley@citizensvoice.com
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Well, we kind of knew all along it would all come down to this—Wyoming Area vs. GAR. Both teams have only one loss heading into this showdown that features the two best AA teams in the Wyoming Valley Conference. It should be clear that GAR is the favorite in this game. They are the reigning District champs—so they know how to get the job done. Warrior fans should not get a false sense of security about the manner in which WA has drubbed every WVC opponent it has faced this year. The AA conference is down this year. WA has not faced a team with a winning record—in fact the overall record of the teams WA has faced is 12-30 for a .285 winning percentage.
On the other hand, GAR has faced three teams with winning records, Lakeland, Old Forge, and Mid Valley. GAR’s only loss was to Lakeland—and that was without the services of star quarterback Darrell Crawford. So even though GAR has had some relatively competitive games, they have played a slightly tougher schedule. Their opponents are 21 and 27 for a .437 winning percentage.
The press will probably frame this game as Darrell Crawford(#8) against Nick O’Brien(#8). This is understandable as Crawford and O’Brien are clearly the best players in WVC AA. Crawford, with 18 rushing TDs, gains almost 13 yards every time he runs the ball, whereas O’Brien, with 16 rushing TDs, gains about 11 yards per carry average. Both throw the ball very well. O’Brien has 7 TDs and 3 INTs, while Crawford has 5 TDs and 1 INT. At any given point in the game, Crawford or O’Brien can break an 80 yard run for a TD. The fact that Crawford is a senior and has had more big game experience should tilt the advantage slightly to GAR.
GAR’s Shaliek Powell(#21) is the leading receiver in AA—22 receptions for 456 yard, 22+ yard per catch. In addition to Crawford running the ball, Lucas Benton (#80) has rushed for 407 yards with a 6.5 yard per carry average. On both offensive and defensive lines, you have to contend with D1 prospect Shakir Soto ( #52, 6’3” 230 lbs) and Christian Skrepanak ( #78, 6’9”, 330 lbs).
So GAR is quite formidable--especially in light of the fact that they have been in some competitve games. However, a potential chink in their armor might be run defense. GAR has yielded 230 yards per game on the ground, giving up 405 to Lakeland, 277 to Lake Lehman, and 241 to Old Forge. Obviously, the Warriors will try to explpoit this perceived weakness. In addition to O’Brien, the Grenadiers certainly have to take note of Corey Popovich, Matt Kintz, and Jeff Skursky running the ball up the middle. So if the Warriors can successfully mount some long drives, hold on to the ball, eat up the clock, they will minimize the number of possessions for Crawford and Co. At least that might be the plan…
Every team who has played GAR probably has the same defensive strategy as the Warriors will attempt to employ. Keep Crawford from getting outside in open space. In a big way, this will fall on the shoulders of the defensive ends—Trent Grove, Corey Popovich, Joe Taylor. The linebackers will also have to step up when the play is turned back inside. If Crawford breaks into the secondary—good night Irene.
Whoever wins this game has a good shot at being the number 1 seed in the District playoffs. The Warriors have two tough games ahead with Northwest Area and Pittston Area, while GAR’s schedule is much softer down the stretch.
It should be a good one—see you at Wilkes Barre Memorial, 7PM, on Saturday.—Nick Perugini |
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