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NANTICOKE — When Corey Mruk left last week’s Wyoming Area win with an injury, the severity wasn’t known.
Soon after, it was learned that the running back suffered a devastating knee injury and his season ended early for the second straight year.
Luckily for the Warriors, they have plenty of depth at the position. The depth showed on Friday night against Nanticoke Area as 12 different players carried the ball, four different backs scored rushing touchdowns and the team combined to run for 220 yards as the Warriors defeated the Trojans 48-7.
“Without Mruk, it’s a huge loss, offensively and defensively, but it’s next man up,” Warriors quarterback Dominic DeLuca said. “That’s what we’ve been saying all year the last two seasons. … I have a lot of confidence in (the other backs). I trust them with the ball, and I think they’ll get the job done just as well.”
Mruk, who led the team in rushing last season with more than 1,000 and was well on his way to reaching the milestone this season, was on crutches on the sideline and was in good spirits cheering on his team.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Warriors coach Randy Spencer said. “Corey’s been playing for us since a freshman. He was looking very strong this year. It’s a heartbreak whenever anybody suffers an injury like that. One of our senior leaders, an outstanding leader. My heart breaks for him. But he’s handling it as good as anybody.”
Without the standout runner, the Warriors turned to a plethora of backs on Friday night. After DeLuca got the scoring started with a pair of touchdown passes in the first quarter to Brian Williams and Caleb Graham for a quick 14-0 lead, the running game took over.
Darren Rodney (11 yards), Leo Haros (6 yards), Vincenzo Giambra (1 yard) and Drew Mruk (20 yards) all had first-half scores as Wyoming Area (4-0) led 42-0 at halftime. Drew Mruk added a 10-yard TD scamper in the third quarter. The younger Mruk, a freshman, went for a game-high 52 yards on just three carries.
“Unfortunately, we’re familiar with losing key guys, so guys who have been a part of the team the last several years have been aware of injuries like that,” Spencer said. “And in past years, they’ve done a great job stepping up.
“I think again tonight Charlie Banashefski stepped up defensively. And offensively, we’ve got a lot of guys who can run the ball, are very talented backs and stepped up for Corey and certainly carried his workload for him tonight.”
The Warriors defense also dominated on the evening, holding the Trojans to 127 total yards and just 24 total yards in the first half with the first team in the game.
The Trojans (0-4) struggled mightily offensively, fumbling five times, losing one, and didn’t get much offense going until the second half. That’s when Pierson Park picked up a 6-yard TD run in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. The team also put together a goal-line stand in the fourth quarter when the Warriors drove to the 3, but the Nanticoke Area defense forced a turnover on downs.
“We played hard. But that’s why they’re one of the top-ranked teams in the state,” Trojans coach Ron Bruza said. “We just gotta start punching the ball in the end zone and taking care of our own. We can’t make mistakes against a team like that.
“Going forward, we got a bunch of seniors that can play football. We got our homecoming game coming up next week with Holy Redeemer. We got a few games coming up that we can at least be positive and actually be productive in. So we just keep plugging away.”
Wyoming Area 48, Nanticoke Area 7
Wyoming Area`28`14`6`0 — 48
Nanticoke Area`0`0`0`7 — 7
First Quarter
WA – B. Williams 4 pass from DeLuca (Moderski kick) 10:47
WA – Graham 21 pass from DeLuca (Moderski kick) 4:04
WA – Rodney 11 run (Moderski kick) 3:09
WA – Haros 6 run (Moderski kick) :12
Second Quarter
WA – Giambra 15 run (Moderski kick) 10:04
WA – D. Mruk 20 run (Moderski kick) 2:19
Third Quarter
WA – D. Mruk 10 run (kick failed) 3:34
Fourth Quarter
NAN – Park 6 run (Klepadlo kick) 10:19
Team statistics`WA`NA
First downs`14`9
Rushes-yards`27-220`42-119
Passing yards`81`7
Total yards`301`126
Passing`3-5-0`2-5-0
Sacks by-yards lost`0-0`0-0
Punts-avg.`0-0.0`4-24.8
Fumbles-lost`0-0`5-1
Penalties-yards`3-35`4-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
PASSING — WA, DeLuca 3-4-0-81, Sokach-Minnick 0-1-0-0. NA, Marcella 2-5-0-7.
RUSHING — WA, Rodney 7-44, DeLuca 2-31, D. Williams 1-3, Z. Williams 1-9, Haros 1-6, Giambra 2-22, Scotto-Diluzio 1-13, D. Mruk 3-52, Rusyn 1-5, Sciandra 5-8, Hyzinski 1-25, Gashi 1-3, TEAM 1-(minus-1). NA, Park 6-32, Lohman 18-52, Kudrako-Kashatus 7-29, Ammons 4-16, Marcella 4-(minus-1), TEAM 3-(minus-9).
RECEIVING — WA, B. Williams 2-60, Graham 1-21. NA, Ammons 1-7.
INTERCEPTIONS — none
MISSED FGS — none