H.S. Football: Third quarter dooms Wyoming Area in loss to Southern Columbia

WEST PITTSTON — In just over a minute Friday night, the deficit Wyoming Area was chasing tripled.

Against a team like six-time defending Class 2A state champion Southern Columbia, the abrupt change was lethal.

Southern Columbia used a punt return with a fumble and an interception touchdown to take control in the third quarter as the Tigers defeated Wyoming Area 34-7 in a non-conference game played mostly in a heavy, steady rain.

Southern Columbia improved to 8-1, but coach Jim Roth wasn’t around in the second half. He was ejected at halftime after confronting the officiating crew. The reason was unclear, but the Tigers were penalized eight times for 80 yards in the second quarter when a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Roth was figured in.

Roth was located sitting behind the wheel of a school van outside the stadium following the game. He declined to comment on the ejection or the game.

Wyoming Area fell to 8-1.

“Coming off a competitive first half and then have the third quarter and have those big plays happen,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “They made big plays and we couldn’t answer it.”

Wyoming Area trailed 14-7 when it punted midway through the third quarter. Southern Columbia returner Louden Murphy fielded the ball at the Tigers’ 18-yard line. He started down the right sideline and was hemmed in, so he ran diagonally across the field, avoided tacklers on the left sideline with a pirouette and dashed toward the end zone.

Just inside the Wyoming Area 15-yard line, Murphy stumbled and lost control of the ball. Teammate Garrett Garcia picked it up and ran to the 8-yard line. Murphy scored on the next play to increase the lead to 21-7 at 6:36.

Murphy was ambiguous on whether he fumbled or was trying to lateral to Garcia on the punt return.

Three plays after the ensuing kickoff, Southern Columbia defensive end Colden Bloom speared an interception over his head and ran in for an 18-yard score. In a matter of 66 seconds, the Tigers lead went from 14-7 to 28-7.

The Tigers drove 49 yards in 11 plays on their first possession of the game, with Carter Madden capping it with a 2-yard run.

Wyoming Area answered on its ensuing possession. Quarterback Anthony DeLucca connected twice with receiver Kevin Wiedl for gains of 38 and 22 yards as the Warriors moved to the Southern Columbia 23-yard line. Three plays later, DeLucca found tight end Josh Mruk for an 18-yard touchdown pass to help knot the score 7-7 with 57 seconds left in the first quarter.

Southern Columbia had a 223-81 yardage advantage at halftime, yet just a seven-point lead.

“It was demoralizing going into half,” Murphy said, “and then have coach Roth get kicked out, it just lit a fire under us. Everybody was pretty mad. We really wanted to win this game.”

While Wyoming Area had success throwing the ball in the first half, a driving rain extinguished the passing offenses for both teams in the final two quarters. Southern Columbia then zeroed in on Wyoming Area 1,000-yard rusher Aaron Crossley, who finished with 49 yards on 15 carries. The Warriors went three-and-out on four possessions after falling behind 28-7.

“We threw the ball effectively,” Spencer said. “That’s what we needed to do, be balanced in this game. But up front, we weren’t able to move the ball on the ground. That was a big factor early and throughout the game.”

Southern Columbia 34, Wyoming Area 7

Southern Columbia`7`7`14`6 — 34

Wyoming Area`7`0`0`0 — 7

First quarter

SC — Carter Madden 4 run (Isaac Carter kick), 4:06

WA — Josh Mruk 18 pass from Anthony DeLucca (Liam Burke kick), 0:57

Second quarter

SC — Loudon Murphy 44 pass from Blake Wise (Carter kick), 10:32

Third quarter

SC — Murphy 8 run (Carter kick), 6:36

SC — Colden Bloom 18 interception return (Carter kick), 5:30

Fourth quarter

SC — Garrett Garcia 1 run (no try, bad snap), 3:16

Team statistics`SC`WA

First downs`15`5

Rushes-yards`40-149`25-51

Passing yards`164`78

Total yards`313`129

Passing`12-17-0`3-12-1

Sacked-yards lost`3-13`2-13

Punts-avg.`3-39.3`7-30.6

Fumbles-lost`4-0`1-0

Penalties-yards`15-139`4-32

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Southern Columbia, Garcia 12-61, Murphy 13-55, Madden 9-41, Wise 4-(minus-16), team 2-(minus-2). Wyoming Area, Aaron Crossley 15-49, DeLucca 3-(minus-2), Mike Crane 2-4, Lidge Kellum 2-0, Trustin Johnson 2-1, Oliver Bolin 1-(minus-1).

PASSING — Southern Columbia, Wise 12-17-0-164. Wyoming Area, DeLucca 3-11-1-78, Crossley 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — Southern Columbia, Jake Hoy 2-34, Kyle Christman 3-22, Jace Malakoski 1-13, Murphy 4-62, Madden 2-33. Wyoming Area, Kevin Wiedl 2-60, Mruk 1-18.

INTERCEPTIONS — Bloom 1-18.

MISSED FGs — none.