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BERWICK — Battering rams don’t typically measure in at 5-foot-9, 165 pounds. But a battering ram wouldn’t hold up as well or as long as Berwick’s Len Wyda.
On the 37th time he was given the ball on Friday night, Wyda worked his way through traffic, absorbed another hit, kept his legs moving and picked up 8 yards on third-and-2.
First down. Ballgame.
Two kneeldowns later, the Dawgs had themselves a 17-9 win over Coughlin as they opened the second half of the regular season with a key win in the District 2 Class 4A playoff push.
Wyda finished with 191 yards on the ground and scored both of Berwick’s touchdowns — a 2-yard grind in the first quarter and a 1-yard plunge on fourth-and-goal in the third.
“I’ve been a fan of Lenny Wyda since I’ve been here as the head coach,” Berwick’s Frank Sheptock said. “Great young man in the weight room. A hard worker. Great vision. Makes great cuts. runs with good pad level.
“I was fortunate enough (as the former head coach at Wilkes) that I had a lot of great backs. And I’ve been blessed with that here. Lenny, he sees it well, he runs real hard and he’s a workhorse.”
It’s nothing new. Wyda entered the day with the second most carries in the WVC at 114. On Friday, the Dawgs (4-2) would need all of them to take down the Crusaders (3-3), who got 116 yards rushing from Jake Cole.
Coughlin even opened the game by going 68 yards in just 1:40 to take a quick lead on a 13-yard scamper off right tackle by Cole. The Berwick defense kept the Crusaders out of the end zone the rest of the night.
The Dawgs, who had lost two of their last three while battling injuries, answered right back on their own first drive, capped off by a Wyda score for a 7-6 Berwick lead.
“I think we’re a gritty football team,” Sheptock said. “I mean, we’ve been battling. Obviously coming off a loss, Coughlin gets the opening kickoff and just drives it down and really punches us in the mouth right there. I thought we responded extremely well.”
Berwick also got a spark on offense toward the end of the first half when the more mobile Michael Force took over at quarterback and led the Dawgs to a 34-yard field goal by Kenny Marshman and a 10-6 halftime lead.
Coughlin wouldn’t go away even after Wyda made it 17-6 early in the third. The Crusaders defense got a big fourth-down stop early in the fourth quarter, turning it into a lengthy drive that kept hopes alive with a 25-yard field goal by Michael Cinti.
The Crusaders got the ball back down by eight at their own 20-yard line with 2:38 left but Berwick kept them on their side of the field, getting a turnover on downs.
“We’re finding ways,” Sheptock said. “You’re seeing us start to evolve a little bit and we’re doing some good things. We’ve gotta finish some drives … but a great team win for us. Because you saw a lot of contributions on both sides of the ball.”
Two high snaps — one on the extra point at the start of the game and another on a field goal try — cost Coughlin some points in the first half.
“Kids played hard. We didn’t give up,” Coughlin coach Ciro Cinti said. “We’ve gotta tackle a lot better. Wyda had a nice game running the ball. Too many times we had opportunities. We’ve gotta take care of those opportunities, and we didn’t. That’s the difference in the game.”
Berwick 17, Coughlin 9
Coughlin`6`0`0`3`—`9
Berwick`7`3`7`0`—`17
First quarter
COU — Jake Cole 13 run (pass failed), 10:20
BER — Len Wyda 2 run (Kenny Marshman kick), 8:22
Second quarter
BER — K. Marshman 34 FG, 0:26
Third quarter
BER — Wyda 1 run (K. Marshman kick), 8:23
Fourth quarter
COU — Cinti 25 FG, 6:12
Team statistics`COU`BER
First downs`15`19
Rushes-yards`36-151`58-238
Passing yards`55`107
Total yards`206`345
Passing`5-13-1`6-12-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`3-20
Punts-avg.`3-33.0`2-27.5
Fumbles-lost`2-0`1-0
Penalties-yards`4-47`7-68
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — COU, Jake Cole 24-116, Vincent Todd 10-57, TEAM 2-(minus-22). BER, Len Wyda 36-191, Mike Force 8-30, Anthony Cicini 4-13, Jared Marshman 7-10, TEAM 2-(minus-4), Denver Knorr 1-(minus-6).
PASSING — COU, Kevin Kozerski 5-13-1-55. BER, J. Marshman 3-6-0-55, M. Force 3-6-0-52.
RECEIVING — COU, Cole 3-38, Todd 2-17. BER, Cicini 4-56, M. Force 1-41, Harrison Kuchka 1-10.
INTERCEPTIONS — BER, Damon Beckhorn.
MISSED FGs — BER, K. Marshman 29 (WL).
