NANTICOKE — The start was sluggish for Lake-Lehman, but once the Black Knights got locked in there wasn’t much that Nanticoke Area could do.
Lake-Lehman scored twice in 11 seconds midway through the second quarter to take firm control of the game and never let it go, running through Nanticoke Area 35-7 to improve to 4-2 on the year, 2-0 in Division 2.
“I thought we played a little too wild in the beginning, guys weren’t playing assignment football,” Lake-Lehman coach Jerry Gilsky said. “You saw the difference in the second half.”
Quarterback Hayden Evans and wideout Chris Sholtis connected for three Lake-Lehman touchdowns, and the senior wide receiver ended his night with 119 yards receiving even as a rainy night in Nanticoke made it difficult to do much through the air.
The two teams played a relatively even first quarter, with Nanticoke Area’s defense winning in the trenches and sacking Evans twice, both times for big losses.
The game changed in the second quarter, after a goal line stand gave the Black Knights the ball pinned back against their own end zone.
Jaydon Skipalis busted a 48-yard run out to midfield to give his team some breathing room, and a long completion to Sholtis set up Jim Mitkowski for a short touchdown run to give Lake-Lehman the lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, Nanticoke Area’s return man coughed up the football and gave the Black Knights the ball back deep in Trojan territory.
They needed just one play: Evans found Sholtis wide open for 24 yards and a score, and in the blink of an eye Lake-Lehman led 14-0.
“Every team would love a momentum switch like that to finish the half,” Gilsky said.
After a long touchdown run from Treston Allen to get Nanticoke on the board, Evans and Sholtis linked up for another touchdown right before half.
Allen finished with 135 yards on 35 carries, 68 of those yards coming on that long second-quarter score. Other than that, the Black Knights defense did a good job bottling the shifty ball-carrier up, preventing him from finding any more chunk plays with his legs.
With Allen bottled up in the second half, there wasn’t much else Nanticoke Area could do. Quarterback Mike Stachowiak was held without a completed pass in the second half, and the Lake-Lehman defense picked him off in the third quarter.
Evans and Sholtis would complete the hat trick in the fourth quarter, and Ben Dowling tacked on a ten-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes remaining to wrap things up.
Evans finished with 178 yards passing, three touchdowns and one interception (made by Nanticoke Area defensive back James Bush).
Lake-Lehman will host Tunkhannock next Friday night, while Nanticoke Area (1-5, 1-1 WVC Div. 2) will hit the road to take on Berwick.
Lake-Lehman 35, Nanticoke Area 7
Lake-Lehman`0`21`0`14 — 35
Nanticoke Area`0`7`0`0 — 7
Second quarter
LL — Jim Mitkowski 1 run (kick blocked), 4:28
LL — Chris Sholtis 24 pass from Hayden Evans (Anthony Magnotta pass from Evans), 4:17
NAN — Treston Allen 68 run (J.P. Pastuizaca kick), 2:59
LL — Sholtis 13 pass from Evans (Reilley Kirkutis kick), 1:05
Fourth quarter
LL — Sholtis 62 pass from Evans (Kirkutis kick), 6:19
LL — Ben Dowling 10 run (Logan Law kick), 2:37
Team statistics`LL`NAN
First downs`11`7
Rushes-yards`25-113`41-175
Passing yards`178`21
Total yards`291`196
Passing`8-16-1`1-5-1
Sacked-yards lost`3-26`0-0
Punts-avg.`4-35`3-34.6
Fumbles-lost`0-0`3-1
Penalties-yards`5-53`14-84
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LL, Evans 3-(minus-26), Mitkowski 13-48, Jaydon Skipalis 6-78, Alex Smith 1-3, Dowling 2-10. NAN, Allen 35-135, Mike Stachowiak 9-38, Tyler Skordensky 1-5, Serafino Raggi 1-(minus-3).
PASSING — LL, Evans 8-16-1-178. NAN, Stachowiak 1-5-1-21.
RECEIVING — LL, Sholtis 4-119, Dowling 2-37, Smith 1-25, Mitkowski 1-(minus-3). NAN, Skordensky 1-21.
INTERCEPTIONS — LL, Logan Deyo 1-0. NAN, James Bush 1-24.
MISSED FGs — none.
