UNION TWP. — Amidst a wall of blockers and bodies, Noah Coleman found a sliver of daylight.

And once he did, things grew pretty dark for Northwest.

Coleman brought the opening kickoff all the way back for a 91-yard touchdown, then added a game-sealing 33-yard touchdown reception as Lackawanna Trail roughed up the Rangers, 27-6, in a high school football rematch of last year’s District 2 Class A title game.

“We wanted to take it to them,” Coleman said, “just like we did last year.”

Coleman took it to the house quickly, and Northwest never really recovered.

The speedy receiver fielded the game’s first kickoff at his own 9-yard line, found a slight crease near the right sideline and outran everyone to the end zone for a quick 7-0 Lions lead.

“Oh, I was thinking about taking it back all the way as soon as I got it,” Coleman said. “We had the double wall and it was see the hole, one cut, to the house.”

For Northwest, it was as if a house caved in.

Coleman’s kick runback was only the start of an exasperating night on special teams for the Rangers.

They had two field goals blocked, a punt partially-blocked, and watched Lackawanna Trail pounce on two fumbled squib kicks in succession during the second half.

Those last two kicks proved to be backbreakers.

Trailing 7-0 at the half, the Rangers were expecting to get the ball, and get their offense going, at the start of the third quarter. Instead, Northwest had trouble fielding the squiggling grounder, and the Lions wound up recovering the second half kickoff. They then turned it into a 37-yard touchdown drive, capped by Jeff Resto’s four-yard scoring run for a two-touchdown lead.

“We called an onside kick; we expected that,” Northwest coach Lon Hazlet said. “We just didn’t catch it.”

Trail caught another break when the Rangers also fumbled away the next bouncing kickoff. Jacob Brim came up with it for the Lions, and two plays later, Coleman took a slant pass from Nate Rolka 33 yards for a touchdown and a 21-0 Trail lead.

“I saw daylight as soon as I caught it and ran as fast as I could,” Coleman said. “Got in the end zone.”

Just like that, a one-score game turned into a three-touchdown deficit before the Rangers offense even took the field in the second half.

It didn’t help Northwest when field goal attempts of 40 and 35 yards were blocked in the first half. The Rangers, who came up with four interceptions to keep the game close for awhile, also had an apparent touchdown run in the first half and what looked like a 27-yard scoring pass in the second nullified by penalties.

They finally scored when David Piestrak hit Connor Hazlet for a 25-yard touchdown pass with 1:17 to play. But by that time, Cody Moyle turned Northwest’s third lost fumble into a nine-yard touchdown run and a 27-point lead for Lackawanna Trail.

“We had two really nice drives, we had 14 points taken off the board by two penalties,” Hazlet said. “Those 14 points are on the board, it’s a different ballgame. We’re 1-3 and we’ve beaten ourselves in two of our losses.”

http://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_football-2372422_960_720.jpg.optimal.jpg

By Paul Sokoloski

psokoloski@timesleader.com

Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski.