HANOVER TWP. — Hanover Area gave the ball away on muffed punts twice early.
Wyoming Area took the ball away on pass plays later to hold on to its first victory, taking advantage of four turnovers to beat the Hawkeyes, 20-12, Friday night.
Ryan Murray recovered a fumble to set up the first touchdown, caught a pass for the second score and made an interception to turn away a Hanover Area threat.
The win helped the defending District 2 Class 2A champion Warriors bounce back from a 54-7 home-field loss to Lake-Lehman that dropped them to 0-3.
“It was tough, but we do have a good team and I knew we could do it,” Murray said.
Farrad Condry caught a pass for the first Wyoming Area score and made an interception with 1:31 left and Hanover Area out of timeouts.
A flag for apparent Wyoming Area pass interference was thrown on the Condry interception, but after the officials consulted about the play, they ruled that there was no penalty.
That decision brought Hanover Area coach Ron Hummer onto the field yelling in anger when the game ended with Wyoming Area kneeling down three times.
“The officials are terrible, quote Ron Hummer,” Hummer said while asking to be quoted about the play to make his displeasure clear. “To make that call, in a situation like that …”
Hanover Area got itself in trouble by muffing punts twice in the first 7:15.
Ryan Gorki hit Condry with a 10-yard pass and Danielle Stillarty hit the first of her two extra points for a 7-0 lead with 8:07 left in the first quarter.
The second fumble resulted in a missed field goal.
Wyoming Area gave up a 50-yard pass play from Jacob Peters to Elido Veras, but held Hanover Area to minus-20 yards on its other plays while taking a 14-0 lead in the first 17 minutes.
The Warriors held following the long pass and Gorki hit Ben Steve for 35 yards to set up the 11-yard touchdown pass to Murray.
When Hanover Area finally put together its first threats, Murray broke up a fourth-down pass from the 14, then intercepted a third-down pass at the 13 in the final two minutes of the half.
