WILKES-BARRE – Four young Wyoming Area children ran onto the turf of Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium, small footballs and pen in hand.

They quickly searched out Nick O’Brien and asked for his autograph.

You can’t blame the youngsters. They just wanted their to catch a piece of Warrior history.

O’Brien became the school’s all-time leading rusher on a 32-yard run on the first play of the second quarter, and Wyoming Area reached the end zone early and often in a 69-28 victory over Holy Redeemer Saturday afternoon.

O’Brien needed 69 yards to break the record held by former standout Jim Pizano, which stood at 4,086. The senior now has 4,118 yards with four games remaining in the regular season.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “It stands in the record book as an individual accomplishment, but really, I feel that it is an entire team effort. Every kid, every that has ever blocked for me, the entire team and the coaching staff all deserve the honor as well.”

The senior record-holder wasted little time making his impact felt.

He scored on a short, 1-run yard on the Warriors’ opening drive, and on the next series, found Cody Schmitz for a 33-yard score.

His record-breaker, a 32-yard jaunt down the sideline, gave the Warriors a 27-6 lead 10 seconds into the second quarter.

“I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Wyoming Area Randy Spencer said. “As much as he does athletically, he’s a great character guy. He wants to make that unselfish play, whether it is a block or make sure to point out how well someone else is doing. He’s amazing from a leadership standpoint.”

O’Brien’s day was done after one half. He rushed for 101 yards, completed 1 of 3 for a touchdown, and also caught one ball for 21 yards.

“He’s an explosive athlete,” Redeemer head coach Pat Reece said. “We created a bubble and we wanted to keep him in that bubble. We needed the kids to do their assignments, but if he got outside that containment, he would be dangerous. And he was.”

Wyoming Area (4-2) was explosive.

The Warriors had six touchdowns more than 30 yards in length. Jordan Zezza threw for three touchdowns, completing all five of his passes for 182 yards. He had TD throws of 40, 32 and 76 yards – the latter to Zack Lanunziata that pushed the game into the mercy rule.

In total, Wyoming Area outgained Holy Redeemer (1-5), 575-298, in total yardage.

Vince Villani provided the first spark for the Royals, using a quick burst of speed down the left sideline for an 80-yard touchdown on a kickoff return.

The problem was Wyoming Area already had a 19-0 lead. The Warriors scored on seven of its eight first-half possessions, and nine of 11 for the game.

Redeemer Jimmy Strickland had another solid outing, completing 15 of 29 for 216 yards and two touchdowns.

Wyoming Area	19	29	14	7	—	69
Holy Redeemer	6	6	8	8		28

 

First Quarter

WA – Nick O’Brien 1 run (AJ Lenkaitis kick), 8:48

WA – Cody Schmitz 33 pass from O’Brien (kick failed), 5:11

WA – Schmitz 40 pass from Jordan Zezza (pass failed), 2:13

HR – Vincent Villani 80 kick return (kick failed), 2:01

Second Quarter

WA – O’Brien 32 run (O’Brien run), 11:50

WA – Trent Grove 32 pass from Zezza (Lenkaitis kick), 6:32

WA – Zack Lanunziata 76 pass from Zezza (Lenkaitis kick), 2:34

HR – Villani 21 pass from Jimmy Strickland (pass failed), 0:47

WA – Lanunziata 3 run (Lenkaitis kick), 0:24

Third Quarter

WA – Schmitz 82 kick return (Lenkaitis kick), 11:46

WA – Evan Skene 9 pass from Kyle Bortn (Lenkaitis kick), 3:02

HR – Villani 36 pass from Strickland (Strickland pass to Pat Villani, 0:00

Fourth Quarter

WA – Isaiah Peoples 1 run (Lenkaitis kick), 8:50

HR – Tyler Kastendieck 1 run (Chad Fahey run), 2:02

Team Statistics	WA	HR
First downs	17	12
Rushes-yards	43-351	21-82
Passing	224	216
Total Yards	575	298
Comp-Att-Int	7-9-0	15-29-1
Sacks-Yards Lost	1-6	0-0
Punts-Avg.	0-0	4-32.8
Fumbles-Lost	2-1	2-1
Penalties-Yards	9-70	0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – WA: Nick O’Brien 9-101, Cody Schmitz 5-60, Jordan Zezza 3-51, Marty Michaels 5-39, Jeff Skursky 5-38, Robert Wargo 3-36, Zack Lanunziata 4-19, Kye Higgins 4-18, Shawn Fernandes 1-2, Isaiah Peoples 1-1, Team 3-(-14); HR: Pat Villani 6-37, Tyler Kastendieck 3-21, Eric Kerr 3-17, Charles Ross 1-9, Chad Fahey 1-3, Justin Renfer 1-(-1), Jimmy Strickland 5-(-4)

PASSING – WA: Zezza 5-5-0-182, O’Brien 1-3-0-33, Kyle Bortn 1-1-0-9; HR: Strickland 15-29-1-216

RECEIVING – WA: Schmitz 3-86, Lanunziata 1-76, Trent Grove 1-32, O’Brien 1-21, Evan Skene 1-9; HR: Kerr 4-38, P. Villani 3-9, V.Villani2-57, Jason Hoggarth 2-12, Matt Crofchick 1-45, Eric Ligotski 1-23

INTERCEPTIONS – WA: Ryan Murray

MISSED FGS -- None