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WILKES-BARRE — Anthony Maurent is one of the fastest players in the Wyoming Valley Conference. Heck, he’s one of the quickest boys in the state after medalling in sprinting events at the PIAA Track & Field Championships in May.
The GAR senior showed off his speed on Friday night at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium having a career day, and one of the best performances in school history.
Maurent racked up eight total touchdowns and accounted for more than half of the Grenadiers’ 612 total yards leading GAR to a 60-23 rout of Hanover Area.
“Anthony was actually healthy this week which was nice. He really put a full effort in like he does every week. He played offense, defense, he very rarely came off,” GAR coach Paul Wiedlich Jr. said. “I can’t say enough about him. He’s a great football player. He’s not an ‘I’ guy, he’s the consummate team player.”
Maurent scored seven rushing touchdowns as he ran for 244 yards on 19 carries, and hauled in a 55-yard TD pass en route to 89 receiving yards on four receptions.
“I wasn’t even thinking about it if I got eight touchdowns. All I was thinking about was that I had none,” Maurent said. “And I kept the motor going and all of a sudden my coach said ‘you broke the record.’ It feels amazing.”
Early in the game it didn’t look like the Grenadiers would be able to pile up so many yards and points. They led 8-0 after the first quarter and a 31-yard TD run by Maurent. After Josh Goodwin ran in from 16 yards out to put GAR (4-3) ahead 15-0 on the first play of the second quarter, both offenses started to get in grooves.
Goodwin’s score started a stretch of three touchdowns on four plays combined by the teams. The Hawks (1-6) pulled within 15-7 on a 75-yard score by Brandon Chafin, but Maurent’s touchdown reception extended the GAR lead back to 15 at 22-7 with 10:37 to go before halftime.
Maurent punched one in from 14 yards out before the break giving the Grenadiers a 29-7 advantage.
If there was any doubt about the outcome at halftime, a huge third quarter by Maurent and GAR put the game away. The tailback found the end zone four more times in the third quarter alone on runs of 61, 4, 32 and 24 as the Grenadiers led 53-15 after the third quarter.
GAR’s star almost added a punt return touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the 58-yarder was called back due to a holding penalty. That didn’t matter though because 10 plays later, Maurent dove into the end zone from a yard out for his seventh rushing score and eighth TD of the night.
“Oh my God. All I can say is our line really improved a lot. If it wasn’t for them I probably wouldn’t have scored all those,” said Maurent, who has never scored more than four touchdowns in a game previously. “I believe in my line and I believe in my speed. All I had to do was keep going.
“I wasn’t thinking about how many I was getting. I just wanted to win this game. This was a big one, and eight touchdowns, that impresses me a lot. That’s the most I ever had in a game in my life. It feels good to do that.”
Hanover Area receiver Brandon Brueckner hauled in three catches for 104 yards and a TD, while Mohammad Chesson had the game’s final score finding pay dirt from 14 yards out late in the fourth quarter.
GAR 60, Hanover Area 23
Hanover Area`0`7`8`8`—`23
GAR`8`21`24`7`—`60
First quarter
GAR — Anthony Maurent 31 run (Shaquan Everett pass from Garry Kroll) 4:46
Second quarter
GAR — Josh Goodwin 16 run (Muhaideen Tajuddin kick) 11:55
HAN — Brandon Chafin 75 run (John Morgan kick) 10:54
GAR — Maurent 55 pass from Kroll (Tajuddin kick) 10:37
GAR — Maurent 14 run (Tajuddin kick) 5:29
Third quarter
GAR — Maurent 61 run (kick blocked) 10:33
GAR — Maurent 4 run (kick blocked) 8:37
HAN — Brandon Brueckner 67 pass from Jacob Peters (Ed Nelson pass from Peters) 8:16
GAR — Maurent 32 run (kick blocked) 5:58
GAR — Maurent 24 run (kick blocked) 1:07
Fourth quarter
GAR — Maurent 1 run (Tajuddin kick) 4:24
HAN — Mohammad Chesson 14 run (Chesson run) 1:09
Team statistics`HA`GAR
First downs`8`27
Rushes-yards`24-166`49-438
Passing yards`104`174
Total yards`270`612
Passing`3-14-0`10-14-0
Sacked-yards lost`1-5`1-2
Punts-avg.`6-39.6`0-0
Fumbles-lost`3-3`2-2
Penalties-yards`3-24`4-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — HAN, Tyheim Taylor 14-69, Brandon Chafin 8-88, Jacob Peters 1-(minus-5), Mohammad Chesson 1-14. GAR, Anthony Maurent 19-244, Josh Goodwin 16-121, Garry Kroll 8-34, Austin Yelland 1-26, Gerson Peralta 1-9, Dajon Rush 2-6, TEAM 2-(minus-2)
PASSING — HAN, Peters 3-12-0-104, Chafin 0-2-0-0. GAR, Kroll 10-14-0-174
RECEIVING — HAN, Brandon Brueckner 3-104. GAR, Maurent 4-89, Peralta 1-33, Goodwin 1-4, Anthony Hoopingarner 1-24, Rush 1-24.
INTERCEPTIONS — none
MISSED FGs — none
