By Joby Fawcett (staff writer)

Published: September 1, 2013

SCRANTON - Scranton Prep played with tenacity on defense and special teams, showing why it is considered one of the top squads in the Lackawanna Football Conference.

Scoring on two interception returns and on a blocked punt, the Cavaliers opened the season with a 35-7 win over Wyoming Area on Saturday in a nonconference game at Memorial Stadium.

Scranton Prep's swarming first-team defense derailed Wyoming Area with five tackles for losses through the first three quarters while building a 35-point lead.

Noah Beh, a Penn State commit, had two sacks, John O'Boyle, who had two tackles for loss, and Joe Holmes, who had five tackles, controlled the line of scrimmage as the Cavaliers limited Wyoming Area to 45 yards rushing on 28 carries before giving way to the reserves late in the third quarter.

"We had a strong point of emphasis to get off the ball for the defensive linemen so we could get the linebackers coming in to make the tackles," Holmes said.

With the front suffocating the Warriors' running game and rattling their quarterbacks, linebackers Seth Stafursky and Owen Perih made several tackles and the secondary turned a pair of interceptions into touchdowns.

Dan Timlin sparked the Cavaliers and gave them a 7-0 lead in the second quarter with a 25-yard return of his pick.

"At first, I blew the coverage," Timlin said. "If it wasn't for my defensive line pressuring the quarterback into a bad throw, I wouldn't have been able to jump it and make a play."

Later, Kevin Sompel cradled in a high-arching pass, and weaved his way for a 46-yard score that made it 35-0 with 3:25 remaining in the third quarter.

"I thought initially we played well defensively," Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. "This was the first time for a lot of these guys in a game situation and hopefully it is what it needs to be, a learning growing experience.

"You look back and they made a lot of the big plays."

In between, Scranton Prep's Cory Kopicki blocked a punt that Justin Belardi recovered for a touchdown that made it 14-0 with 7:22 in the second.

Five minutes later, Belardi found himself alone behind the defense on a play-action pass that Nick Solfanelli put right on the money to make it 21-0.

"I was wide open and nobody was around me," Belardi said. "I was a little worried about dropping it, but I caught it."

On its best drive, Pat Marino scored on a 1-yard run that capped Scranton Prep's opening drive of the second half that covered 53 yards in eight plays.

Wyoming Area junior running back Jeff Skursky, who led the team with 62 yards on the ground, prevented the shutout with a 3-yard scoring run in the fourth.

By John Erzar - jerzar@civitasmedia.com

SCRANTON — The uniforms were the same, but it became evident Saturday afternoon this version of Wyoming Area football has a way to go to match last year’s championship team.

Quite a way.

Scranton Prep scored via offense, defense and special teams in routing the Warriors 35-7 at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

The new-look Warriors weren’t expected to resemble the 2012 squad that won the WVC Division 2A-A and District 2 Class 2A championships. But the heavy losses to graduation were very apparent and could be tougher to overcome than foreseen.

• The 28-point margin of defeat was the biggest Wyoming Area had suffered since losing 40-19 to Pittston Area to end the 2009 season. The Warriors finished 2-8 that year.

• The Warriors’ offense never crossed midfield on its own. The team’s only score — a 3-yard run by Jeff Skursky with 8:03 remaining — came after Prep lost a fumble on its 13-yard line. And after the 35-point mercy rule.

• Three Wyoming Area quarterbacks were 2-of-8 for 12 yards and had two interceptions returned for touchdowns.

• Wyoming Area special teams fumbled away a punt and had a punt blocked and recovered by Prep for a touchdown. And the returners had a few adventures fielding Prep kickoffs.

“First game, we expect to deal with that,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “Especially with the inexperience we had coming in that I talked about in preseason. We have some athletic kids. We have to cut our teeth and get some on-field experience. Unfortunately, some of these lessons have to be learned the hard way.”

And on top of all that, starting running back/linebacker Marty Michaels suffered a right knee injury late in the second quarter.

Wyoming Area did make a goal-line stand after Prep moved to the Warriors’ 1-yard line following the fumbled punt. But the second time Wyoming Area took possession trouble struck. Prep defensive back Pat Timlin cut in front of a pass, returning it 27 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter.

The Warriors went backward on their next drive and were forced to punt. Prep’s Cory Kopicki broke through the line to block the punt and teammate Justin Belardi recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. After Prep’s offense scored twice, the defense found the end zone again on a 46-yard interception return by Kevin Sompel at 3:25 of the third.

“There are a lot of things that have to go right in the passing game,” Spencer said. “Our focus is running the ball and in situations taking our shots with play-action game passing. Again, we have to work on it.”