H.S. Football: Western Wayne hands Wyoming Area first loss

SOUTH CANAAN — Wyoming Area and Western Wayne spent much of Friday night’s non-league meeting of highly regarded District 2 Class 3A football teams pounding on each other.

The Wildcats changed things up when it mattered most.

Deception produced touchdowns on consecutive offensive plays 46 seconds apart late in the first half to send the Wildcats on their way to a 34-23 victory.

Both teams came into the game with 2-0 records, coming off impressive wins over 2023 state playoff teams. They frequently slammed the ball into the line with interior runs featuring durable tailbacks, resulting in collisions with physical defensive fronts.

Wyoming Area was ahead for the second time when Western Wayne used six straight Josh Vinton runs, five of them between the tackles, to move 39 yards.

On second-and-7, the Wildcats faked one more handoff to Vinton and quarterback John Pyatt’s play-action helped spring Sean Owens into the clear to pull in a 10-yard touchdown pass. Owens was alone in the left side of the end zone with no defender within 20 yards of him.

The touchdown put the Wildcats ahead 13-10 with 1:42 left in the half.

Freshman Archer Long intercepted a pass two plays later.

The Wildcats then started a reverse with Owens going right to left from his wide receiver position. When Owens then got the ball to Vincent Silon going the other way, the double reverse sprung Silon down the sideline for a 48-yard touchdown and 20-10 lead 56.4 seconds before halftime.

Western Wayne led the rest of the way.

Josh Vinton carried 29 times for 184 yards and two touchdowns and also returned an interception 13 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown.

“Owens is definitely athletic, but I think Vinton was the difference tonight in all phases of the game,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “His physicality, his athleticism, his willful running of the football was the difference.”

Owens was on the receiving end of all three Western Wayne completions, got off a 70-yard punt, returned a kickoff 40 yards and made back-to-back, touchdown-saving carries.

Wyoming Area had two players who did their best to match that production.

Lidge Kellum carried 29 times for 164 yards, two touchdowns and a two-point conversion.

Sophomore Luke Kopetchny continued his outstanding start at receiver with 10 catches or 140 yards and a touchdown.

Defenses made a bigger impact early and the first quarter ended with Wyoming Area ahead 2-0 on a safety from a punt snap that went through the end zone.

At one point in the second quarter, the Warriors had an 8-2 lead in first downs and a 10-7 advantage on the scoreboard on Kellum’s 21-yard touchdown.

Wyoming Area opened the second half with an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive to Kellum’s 10-yard run.

That brought the Warriors within 20-17, but the Wildcats held on with the help of the long Owens punt and Vinton’s interception.

“I just read it and I jumped it,” Owens said.

Western Wayne 34, Wyoming Area 23

Wyoming Area`2`8`7`6 — 23

Western Wayne`0`20`7`7 — 34

First quarter

WA – Safety (punt snap went through end zone), 3:21

Second quarter

WW – Josh Vinton 55 run (Jacob Wells kick), 9:22

WA – Lidge Kellum 21 run (Kellum run), 5:06

WW – Sean Owens 10 pass from John Pyatt (bad snap), 1:42

WW – Vincent Silon 48 run (Wells kick), 0:56.4

Third quarter

WA – Kellum 10 run (Nick Ciampi kick), 7:26

WW – Vinton 8 run (Wells kick)

Fourth quarter

W – Vinton13 interception return (Wells kick), 5:14

WA – Luke Kopetchny 5 pass from Anthony DeLucca, 3:58

Team Statistics`WA`WW

First downs`19`12

Rushes-yards`37-178`35-207

Passing yards`174`37

Total yards`352`244

Passing`14-25-2`3-7-0

Sacked-yards lost`1-4`0-0

Punts-avg.`1-46.0`2-52.5

Fumbles-lost`1-0`1-0

Penalties-yards`4-27`3-25

INDIVIDUAL OFFENSIVE STATISTICS

RUSHING — WA, Kellum 29-164, Johnson 4-19, DeLucca 4-minus 5. WW, Vinton 29-184, Silon 5-27, Joe Jimenez 1-2, Owens 1-minus 6, Team 2-minus 20.

PASSING — WA, DeLucca 14-25-2-174. WW, Pyatt 3-7-0-37.

RECEIVING – WA, Kopetchny 10-140, Kevin Weidl 2-28, Kellum 2-6. WW, Owens 3-37.

INTERCEPTIONS — WA, None. WW, Vinton 1-13, Archer Long 1-9.

MISSED FIELD GOAL – None.