CLINTON TWP. – Lackawanna Trail’s Isaac Ryon picked up where he left off last season.
Andrew Lupinski added new wrinkles both to his own game and the Tunkhannock offense.
The two returning team leaders got their seasons off to impressive starts while providing reasons for both teams to come away from Friday night’s 35-21 Lackawanna Trail victory with reason for optimism about what is ahead.
Ryon, District 2’s leading scorer a year ago, accounted for 26 points and more than 200 all-purpose yards as the Lions to lead the victory by the Lions, who are ranked third in the state in Class A, according to PennLive.com.
Lupinski, Tunkhannock’s top receiver and scorer last season, split time between his usual position of wide receiver and as a running quarterback. He ran for all three touchdowns by the Tigers, who cut into the margin of defeat after falling to the Lions 41-7 in last year’s opener.
“I said to these guys, ‘This is the first complete game we’ve played against a really good team in my three years here now,” said Pat Keating, the former Wyoming Valley West coach who is trying to guide an improvement from going 3-8 in 2024. “We can all think about things we could’ve done a little differently tonight, but these guys are one of the better teams in the state and they have a veteran group returning.
“For us to go toe-to-toe with them, we have stuff we can build on.”
With Lupinski running for a score in each of the first three quarters, the game was tied after one quarter and the Tigers were able to pull within 21-14 and threaten to tie the game in the last minute of the half.
Lupinski was still one of three Tigers with two catches. He rushed for 129 yards with all 13 of his carries coming on plays when he took the snap from center.
Lackawanna Trail fullback Holden Edwards, who missed most of last season with a leg injury, opened the scoring on a 44-yard run 2:15 into the game. He carried just once more before leaving with an injury and spending the second half on crutches on the sideline.
The Lions could not get a punt away on a high snap and Lupinski ran it in from the 12 on the next play.
Ryon, an all-state running back who rushed for more than 1,700 yards as a junior, scored on a 26-yard run and a 44-yard pass from Tyler Jervis for a 21-7 lead in the second quarter.
Jervis is the son of head coach Steve Jervis, the former Tunkhannock quarterback and head coach who has made the Lions into a perennial state contender in the PIAA’s smallest classification.
Just when the Lions appeared to be taking control, Lupinski went 66 yards for a touchdown on Tunkhannock’s next play.
Ryon ran 42 and 3 yards for scores in the second half. He rushed for 155 yards, had the team’s only two receptions for 49 yards, returned the opening kickoff 23 yards, intercepted a pass and delivered some big hits while in on six tackles.
“Defensively, we have to clean up a few things and the same thing offensively,” said Ryon, who finished with four touchdowns and kicked the team’s first two extra points. “We have to get in better shape.”
The Tigers pushed the Lions, getting to the 36 in the last minute of the half and getting as close as the 13 in their last threat with more than three minutes remaining.
“We know that we can play with these guys now,” Keating said. “We just have to learn from that and build on it.”
