LACKAWANNA TRAIL FOOTBALL: Lions repeat championship performances

Lackawanna Trail entered the postseason having already repeated two championships.

The Lions went unbeaten again in Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 play and, as the only district team to qualify for the District 2-11 Class A Subregional playoffs, had already been declared District 2 Class A champion.

Lackawanna Trail earned the home field for the subregional playoffs, which opened Nov. 1 against Nativity BVM from Pottsville.

The 120 points given up in 10 games was the least by any District 2 team. The Lions outscored five division opponents 235-64, an average of 47-13, and had an overall scoring margin of 372-120.

Lackawanna Trail landed the top seed in the subregional with a 9-1 regular season that concluded with an eight-game winning streak.

The second half of that streak came in October. A recap of the October games, all of which were in Division 3:

Lackawanna Trail 42, Riverside 20

The LFC Division 3 season came down to a championship meeting of unbeatens in the final week, but Lackawanna Trail turned the Oct. 25 game into just another Mercy Rule beating.

This time, the overmatched opponent was the Vikings, who came into the game with a 9-0 record, the only perfect overall mark in the district.

Riverside led 7-6 after one quarter, but Lackawanna Trail scored five straight touchdowns – two each in the second and third quarters before arriving at the 42-7 lead and the running clock of the Mercy Rule early in the fourth.

Demetrius Douglas, who had three touchdowns total, and Isaac Ryon each scored twice during the 36-point streak. The other touchdown came on a 32-yard pass from Tyler Jervis to Max Kimmel.

Ryon added the two-point conversion run after his go-ahead touchdown. Douglas added a 1-yard touchdown 19 seconds before halftime for a 21-7 lead.

Douglas capped the streak by picking up a fumble and running it in when Lackawanna Trail had Riverside’s offense pinned deep in its own end early in the fourth quarter.

Ryon led the ground game with 142 yards on 16 carries and caught a 28-yard pass from Jervis, who threw for 60 yards on just two attempts.

Lackawanna Trail 56, Holy Cross 13

Lackawanna Trail followed up a six-touchdown first half with Ryon’s 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the first play of the second half in its game against Holy Cross Oct. 19 at St. Anthony’s Playground in Dunmore.

Ryon had opened the scoring with a 19-yard run in the first quarter and added a 48-yard run in the second. He also kicked three extra points and added a two-point conversion run.

The kickoff return created a 49-0 lead.

Five other Lions had touchdowns on a day when the team averaged more than 14 yards per carry and 20 yards per pass attempt.

Logan Edwards ran 8 yards for a score and Kimmel caught a 31-yard pass from Jervis in the first quarter.

Sean Dwyer, from 12 yards, and Brayden Martinez, from 63, ran for second-quarter scores.

Colby Stanton added a 5-yard touchdown in the fourth.

Lackawanna Trail 49, Susquehanna 12

CLINTON TWP. – Lackawanna Trail broke away for a Homecoming Night rout by running for touchdowns on three straight plays in the third quarter to open a 42-6 lead.

Ryon sandwiched two touchdowns around a 67-yard run by Edwards in the outburst, which took less than five minutes.

The Lions consistently ripped holes in the Susquehanna defensive front behind the blocking of center Chris Kohinsky, guards Colin Owens and Anthony Paolucci, tackle Brian Gow and Lucas Evans and tight ends Blake Stage and Kaylix Douglas.

Ryon and Edwards followed those blocks well. Ryon was the game’s leading rusher with 165 yards on 10 carries. Edwards needed only five carries from his fullback position, all right up the middle on gut traps, to produce 155 yards.

“It’s really all the linemen; all the work they do,” Edwards said. “They made the holes there for me and I just hit them full speed.”

Edwards, Kimmel, Jervis and Ryon all put together strong two-way efforts.

In addition to his runs up the middle, Edwards was the team’s leading tackler with six tackles and three assists.

Kimmel caught a touchdown pass and returned an interception for another score on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Jervis threw the touchdown to Kimmel, ran for the first two Lackawanna Trail touchdowns and made three tackles for losses.

Ryon added an interception and was 5-for-5 on extra-point kicks.

The three scores Jervis accounted for created a 21-6 halftime lead. He ran 5 yards and 12 yards for touchdowns before finding Kimmel on a 20-yard pass with 1:50 left in the half.

Susquehanna dropped a potential go-ahead, two-point conversion pass early in the second quarter and Ryon preserved the 15-point lead with his interception at the 2 with 26.6 seconds left in the half.

Ryon started the third-quarter barrage with a 12-yard run.

Defensive plays by Kaylix Douglas and Jervis forced big losses and got the ball back quickly.

After the long touchdown by Edwards, Dwyer had an apparent punt return touchdown wiped out by penalty, only to have Ryon go 5 yards for a score on the next play.

Kimmel jumped in front of a pass in the flat and went 48 yards for the touchdown that created a 49-6 lead 15 seconds into the fourth quarter.

“Max is one of those kids who has been making plays like that for four years,” Lions coach Steve Jervis said. “We knew he was a gifted athlete as a freshman. He started on the defensive side of the ball.

“He just has elite ball skills. When the ball’s in the air, he’s real comfortable.”

Lackawanna Trail 39, Carbondale 6

Jervis passed for 136 yards and the game’s first two touchdowns in an Oct. 5 victory over visiting Carbondale.

The quarterback found Demitrius Douglas for a 44-yard touchdown in the first quarter and Kimmel for a 56-yarder in the second.

Jervis was also one of four players to run for touchdowns. Demitrius Douglas, Dwyer and Ryon were the others.