On a chilly gridiron Week 9 autumn Friday night under the lights at Nanticoke Area High School celebrating Senior Night, the hometown Hanover Area Hawkeyes fell to the Lake-Lehman Black Knights by a commanding 48-6 margin.
Lake-Lehman improved its overall record to 6-3 with the victory. After winning three straight games via the blowout to Holy Redeemer, Nanticoke Area and Tunkhannock, the Black Knights bounced back this week in a big way after falling on the road last Friday night 35-14 to Wyoming Area.
Lake-Lehman coach Jerry Gilsky was proud of his team’s effort throughout the game but still sees room for improvement heading into their regular season finale next week against archrival Dallas.
“Overall I thought a lot of our guys got a chance to play today,” Gilsky said. “It’s all about teaching and working hard, still a game of football. So you always want to coach with intensity throughout the whole game.
“I wasn’t happy with that one defensive series when Hanover scored, but the key is keeping your kids focused, keeping them working hard on the field no matter who you play or anything else like that. Next week against Dallas it’s at our place and it’s going to be a tough game. Dallas is a very good team, it’s a rivalry game. Rivalry games you can erase whatever they have on their teams and record wise because you never know what’s going to happen.”
Meanwhile, Hanover Area saw its overall record fall to 1-8 with this defeat after last week capturing its first win of the season in a 56-44 road triumph over Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech to snap a seven game losing skid to kick-ff their 2024 campaign.
The Black Knights got off to a lightning quick start scoring their first points just 13 seconds into the contest when senior Logan Deyo returned the opening kick-off for a 73-yard touchdown to give his team the early 7-0 advantage.
Then just about a minute and a half later, Lehman senior Hayden Evans picked off Hanover Area freshman signal caller Logan Richardson’s pass and returned it down the right side lines for a 55-yard interception score to stretch his team’s lead to 14-0 just 1:49 into the battle.
For Lehman’s next score, Evans connected with senior tight end Ben Dowling on a wide open 33-yard aerial touchdown strike to up his squad’s advantage to 20-0 with 3:42 remaining in the first quarter. For the Black Knights’ fourth and final score of the first period, stalwart senior tailback Jim Mitkowski tallied the first of his hat trick of touchdowns coming from the ground game, this one a 12-yard scamper into the end zone to give his team a nice 28-0 cushion with just 1:10 left in the opening quarter.
In the second quarter, the Hawkeyes finally got on the scoreboard scoring their only points of the evening with 4:11 remaining in the first half, when sophomore running back Dewayne Downey found pay dirt from 11 yards out. After his kicker’s extra point was blocked, Hanover Area had cut the deficit to 28-6.
However, Lehman would snatch the momentum right back when they were saved by the bell with Mitkowski’s second rushing score of the night, this one from nine yards out, to give his club a sizeable 35-6 advantage with a mere 50.5 seconds left before halftime.
In the third quarter, Lake-Lehman continued their scoring barrage outpacing Hanover Area by a 13-0 margin. Junior tailback Jaydon Skipalis caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Evans to extend the Knights lead to 41-6 with 7:38 left in the period.
Then for Lehman’s seventh and final score of the contest, Mitkowski tallied his third touchdown of the showdown, this one an overwhelming 34-yard rushing score to give his club a 48-6 advantage with 3:59 remaining in the third quarter.
After both squads were held scoreless in the fourth and final frame, the Black Knights clinched their impressive 42-point road triumph when the final buzzer sounded.
Meanwhile, Hanover Area will look to bounce back next Friday night in a rivalry game on the road against Nanticoke Area to wrap up the 2024 regular season.
Lake-Lehman 48, Hanover Area 6
Lake-Lehman`28`7`13`0 — 48
Hanover Area`0`6`0`0 — 6
First Quarter
LL — Logan Deyo 73 kickoff return (Reilley Kirkutis kick), 11:47.
LL — Hayden Evans 55 interception return (Kirkutis kick), 10:11.
LL — Ben Dowling 33 pass from Hayden Evans kick failed), 3:42.
LL — Jim Mitkowski 12 run (Evans run), 1:10.
Second Quarter
HAN — Dewayne Downey 11 run (kick failed), 4:11.
LL — Mitkowski 9 run (Kirkutis kick), 50.5.
Third Quarter
LL — Jaydon Skipalis 35 pass from Evans (Kirkutis kick), 7:38.
LL — Mitkowski 34 run (Kirkutis kick), 3:59.
Team statistics`LL`HAN
First downs`14`11
Rushes-yards`18-208`34-137
Passing yards`99`36
Total yards`308`173
Passing`4-5-0`5-12-1
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`2-6
Punts-avg.`0-0`2-34
Fumbles-lost`1-0`0-0
Penalties-yards`6-56`6-41
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LL, Jim Mitkowski 7-98, Jaydon Skipalis 6-85, Hayden Evans 2-18, Anthony Magnotta 1-8, Connor Poulos 2-neg.1. HAN, Dewayne Downey 14-66, Malique Campbell 7-38, Logan Richardson 1-2, Evan Rought 2-7, Brody Richardson 2-4, Tyler Herbert 4-18, Jonathan Otway-Kellom 2-1, Conor Engelman 1-6, Josh Richendrfer 1-(minus-5).
PASSING — LL, Hayden Evans 4-4-0-99, Anthony Magnotta 0-1-0-0. HAN, Logan Richardson 4-9-1-21, Josh Richendrfer 1-3-0-15.
RECEIVING — LL, Ben Dowling 3-64, Jaydon Skipalis 1-35. HA, Conor Richardson 1-9, Deacon Eisenbach 2-18, Luke Willis 1-15, Jonathan Otway-Kellom 1-(minus-6).
INTERCEPTIONS — LL, Evans.
MISSED FGS — None.
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