Buckhorns top Hornets 35-6

By TED WADDELL
Posted 11/4/20

HONESDALE, PA — Both teams took to the gridiron looking for their first win of this pandemic-pruned season of football during the 28th Annual Wayne-Pike Shrine Bowl Classic.

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Buckhorns top Hornets 35-6

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HONESDALE, PA — Both teams took to the gridiron looking for their first win of this pandemic-pruned season of football during the 28th Annual Wayne-Pike Shrine Bowl Classic.

Welcome to the new normal of high school sports: most players can’t play, and those sports that do take to the field are competing in pared-down schedules.

On Friday, October 23, the home team Honesdale Hornets battled their rivals, the Buckhorns of Wallenpaupack Area High School, in a game that saw both squads taking to the field with a winless record.

As the match-up unfolded, the visitors quickly dominated the game, posting four unanswered touchdowns. In the final two minutes of the fourth frame, however, the Hornets scored six points; Brady Carmody reeled in a 15-yard pass from senior QB Pete West off a bad snap.

In the wake of a hard-fought zero-points defensive war in the first frame, Wallenpaupack scored twice in the second quarter: QB Alex Gardsy connected with TJ Schmalzle on a 48-yard pass at 4:09, followed up at 1:23 with a pass reception by Shadrak Agyei to put the Buckhorns up 14-0 after successful points after touchdown (PAT) by Roman Levant.

At 11:49 in the third quarter, Agyei stung the Hornets (0-4 overall, 0-3 conference) and stunned the home team fans with a 75-yard KO return. Levant’s PAT put Wallenpaupack up 28-0.

In the last frame, the Buckhorns (1-3 overall, 0-2 conference) added two more touchdowns to their tally: Schmalzle pulled down a 90-yard pass from Gardsy at 10:58, and at 7:07, Agyei collected hat trick honors with a 31-yarder. Levant’s PATs cleared the uprights to give Wallenpaupack a 35-0 lead until Honesdale scored to close out the game 35-6.

Offensive stats: first downs (WAL 9, HON 17), pass attempts (WAL 7, HON 14), pass completions (WAL 4, HON 7), passing yards (WAL 185, HON 59) and rushing yards (WAL 110, HON 211).

 “We’re getting killed by errors,” said Hornets coach Paul Russick. “We’re going to keep fighting, and we hope we can pull one off in the last couple of games.”

Mark Watson, coach of the Buckhorns, said his squad has “been in every game” despite coming up short in their first three outings against state-ranked teams.

“We should be three-and-one, but we did too many things wrong in the first couple of games,” he said.

Honesdale, football, Wallenpaupack, Hornets, Buckhorns

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