Muncy vs. Lackawanna Trail

Recap

MUNCY 47, LACKAWANNA TRAIL 46

By Tom Robinson

SCRANTON – Austin Johnson had already scored four touchdowns when he came through as the obvious choice to run for the deciding two-point conversion with 1:15 remaining Friday night as District 4 champion Muncy defeated Lackawanna Trail, 47-46, in a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A state football playoff game at Memorial Stadium.

The Lions had trouble throughout trying to stop Johnson, a 6-foot, 220-pound senior who moved between fullback and tailback. When they got to the Oklahoma State wrestling commit, who is a three-time state finalist, they had difficulty wrestling him to the ground.

The Indians had similar problems with Isaac Ryon.

Ryon slashed through the Muncy defense for 305 rushing yards and 28 points while Johnson slammed the Lions for 280 rushing yards and 26 points.

Though, they often went about controlling the game with differing running styles, they turned to each other’s approaches when necessary. Johnson showed the ability to speed away from the defense and Ryon ran through a total of nearly a dozen combined tackle attempts for two of his touchdowns.

They were not alone in producing the offensive fireworks.

Both teams scored in every quarter of a game in which the Lions led four times and produced a comeback from an 11-point deficit.

The state quarterfinal berth wound up being decided by a game that produced wild offensive numbers, beyond just Lackawanna Trail scoring 46 points – and losing.

Muncy ran for 402 yards and was outrushed by 77.

Lackawanna Trail produced 519 yards total offense and was outgained by 25.

“Their 2 (Johnson) and 12 (Landyn Wommer) were really good and our 5 (Demitrius Douglas) and 10 (Ryon) were really, really good,” Lions coach Steve Jervis said.

It made for an entertaining night, particularly for those who enjoy offensive football.

“I think tonight you just saw a great display of high school football,” Jervis said. “Great team play, some great individual efforts and it was kind of whoever had the ball last.”

The top individual efforts produced staggering results.

Johnson’s 25 carries included touchdowns of 52 yards in the first quarter, 4 yards in the second and 59 in the third. When his team still needed another touchdown late in the fourth, he turned his only catch, a sideline screen pass, into a 32-yard score that set up his winning two-pointer.

In his spare time, Johnson made five tackles and assisted on two more.

Almost implausibly, Ryon may have been busier.

Ryon averaged 14.5 yards on his 21 carries, which included 68- and 56-yard touchdown runs to put the Lions ahead in the first and second quarters, then a 29-yarder to pull them even late in the third quarter. His conversion run with 1:50 left gave the Lions a seven-point lead and put Muncy in position to need one to tie or two to win when it answered with a sprint up the field.

Working in all three facets of the game, Ryon led the Lions defense along with kicking and returning kicks.

On defense, Ryon had seven tackles, six assists, two interceptions and a broken-up pass. He returned one of his interceptions 48 yards from the 1.

Ryon kicked a 30-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, went 3-for-4 on extra-point kicks, ran for a pair of two-point conversions and returned three kickoffs for 58 yards.

Douglas also played a big role in Lackawanna Trail’s ground game as the Lions cranked out 25 first downs and 479 rushing yards. He carried 23 times for 165 yards and two touchdowns.

Amazingly, the points were the result of running games as the passing attacks struggled until Muncy’s winning drive.

There were more interceptions than completions in the game before Muncy hit three straight passes for the winning score.

Tyler Jervis’ second tackle for a loss opened that drive and made the Lackawanna Trail linebacker the only player in the game to accomplish that feat.

Stiles Eyer hit Wommer for 26 yards and Paxton Derr for 10 before Johnson took the screen down the left sideline for the score.

Wommer had another reception and ran for 81 yards and a touchdown.

Dominic Guardini led the Muncy defense with 11 tackles and two interceptions.

Eyer also ran for a score and hit Cameron Kemerer for a 64-yard touchdown pass that was Muncy’s longest play of the game.

After Lackawanna Trail reached the 36 in the final minute, Eyer added the clinching interception, the third of the game for the Indians.

Jervis scored from the 1 with 1:50 left to give Lackawanna Trail its last lead.

Colin Owens, Logan Edwards and Jervis each made at least five tackles and were in on multiple assists as the Lions tried to hold off the Indians.

“Up front, I thought we did a good job of moving the ball,” coach Jervis said. “We just couldn’t get the stop – the one stop. Hats off to them. They’re a really talented football team and good luck to them moving forward.”

The Lions, champions of Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 and District 2 Class A, finished 11-2.

“I’m really proud of our seniors and what they meant to our program, winning four district championships back-to-back-to-back-to-back,” coach Jervis said. “That’s really special. They’ve had a profound impact on our program. I’m really appreciative of our seniors and their leadership.

“They’re going to be missed.”

Ryon is among the players who will back as the Lions try to extend their recent run of success.

“I think this feeling already kind of makes you hungry for next year,” Jervis said.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Quarter

LT – Demitrius Douglas 14-yd run (Isaac Ryon kick) – Lackwanna Trail 7-0

MUN – Austin Johnson 52-yd run (Austin Hartzel kick) – Tied 7-7

LT – Ryon 68-yd run (Ryon kick) – Lackawanna Trail 14-7

2nd Quarter

MUN – Stiles Eyer 17-yd run (Kick failed) – Lackawanna Trail 14-13

MUN – Johnson 4-yd run (Run failed) – Muncy 19-14

LT – Ryon 56-yd run (Ryon kick) – Lackawanna Trail 21-19

MUN – Landyn Warner 54-yd run (Pass failed) – Muncy 25-21

MUN – Cameron Kamerer 64-yd pass from Eyer (Hartzel kick) – Muncy 32-21

LT – Ryon 30-yd field goal – Muncy 32-24

3rd Quarter

LT – Ryon 29-yd run (Ryon run) – Tied 32-32

MUN – Johnson 59-yd run (Hartzel kick) – Muncy 39-32

4th Quarter

LT – Douglas 9-yd run (Kick failed) – Muncy 39-38

LT – Tyler Jervis 1-yd run (Ryon run) – Lackawanna Trail 46-39

MUN – Johnson 32-yd pass from Eyer (Johnson run) – Muncy 47-46