WILKES-BARRE — When the books are closed on Lake-Lehman’s soon-to-be historic season and players meet for formal and informal reunions to romanticize their already impressive season, surely Week 5 will be left out of the conversation.
No doubt they’ll forget the seemingly endless penalties, cold weather or turnovers.
To be perfectly blunt, this was ugly football.
In a potential District 2 first round playoff matchup, the two top Class 2A teams in the Wyoming Valley Conference played to an error-filled contest in the almost three-hour campaign. Lake-Lehman remained undefeated with a 41-20 over Meyers Friday at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium.
Not even Lake-Lehman running back Nick Eury’s four touchdowns could bring positive light to the Black Knights’ performance. With the help of his dominant offensive line, Eury ran 24 times for 245 yards. He scored his first on a fourth down play when a Meyers defender missed a tackle for a loss, enabling a 33-rush to go ahead 14-0 with 7:25 remaining.
Penalties were the main point of concern for both teams. They combined for 33 thrown flags, 30 penalties for a combined 245 yards. Meyers committed 16 for 152 yards. Lake-Lehman drew 14 for 95 yards, including a holding call on what would be Eury’s fifth touchdown of the game.
Lake-Lehman was also dogged by an inability to hold onto the football. The Black Knights coughed up the football four times. Unfortunately for the Mohawks, they were unable to convert on the Black Knights’ missteps. Meyers turned the ball over on downs in Lake-Lehman territory three times.
Joey Vigil scored a 48-yard touchdown on his only run for the Black Knights. Trey Borger ran for 79 yards on 13 carries, including a 6-yard touchdown in garbage time when the Black Knights could have instead opted to kneel on the ball to end the game.
Meyers found success in the passing attack. Willie Wallace threw for three touchdowns and 175 yards. With 15 seconds left in the first, Raheem Twyman scored on a nice 39-yard slant to put an end to the Black Knights’ 21 consecutive points to start the contest.
Bryce Waters caught two touchdowns in a 90-yard receiving effort. He caught a 53-yard pass down the sidelines to cut the deficit to 21-13. Later in the fourth, he leaped over Black Knight defenders to retrieve a Hail Mary fourth-and-20 pass for a score.
Lake-Lehman 41, Meyers 20
Lake-Lehman`21`7`6`7`—`0
Meyers`7`6`0`7`—`20
First quarter
LL — Joey Vigil 48 run (Ian Dawsey kick), 10:41
LL — Nick Eury 33 run (Dawsey kick), 7:25
LL — Eury 13 run (Dawsey kick), 1:20
MEY — Raheem Twyman 39 pass from Willie Wallace (Ken Macko kick), :15
Second quarter
MEY — Bryce Waters 53 pass from Wallace (run failed), 7:48
LL — Eury 2 run (Dawsey kick), 2:36
Third quarter
LL — Eury 68 run (run failed), 3:40
Fourth quarter
MEY — Waters 25 pass from Wallace (Macko kick), 6:30
LL — Trey Borger 6 run (Dawsey kick), 1:13
Team statistics`L`M
First downs`16`12
Rushes-yards`45-411`25-102
Passing yards`0`175
Total yards`411`277
Passing`0-0-0`10-28-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`2-16
Punts-avg.`0-0`4-29.75
Fumbles-lost`5-4`2-0
Penalties-yards`14-93`16-152
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LL, Euri 24-245, Vigil 1-48, Borger 13-79, Luke Hummel 7-35. MEY, Jason Marston 11-45, Wallace 6-12, Fahbian 5-52, Khabir Williams 1-8, Travis Paul 1-(minus-1), TEAM 1-(minus-14)
PASSING — LL, None. MEY, Wallace 10-28-0-170
RECEIVING — LL, None. MEY, Waters 3-90, Marsten 3-28, Omar Kelly 2-4, Twyman 1-39, Williams 1-7
INTERCEPTIONS — None.