HONESDALE, PA — Honesdale High School had a busy evening on Thursday, October 28. While the town was celebrating Halloween with a big parade, the football team closed out their regular season on Senior Night with a 47-0 victory over the Invaders of West Scranton (0-10).

As part of the annual rite of passage during Senior Night, prior to the opening kickoff, the Class of 2022 Hornets were honored at a midfield celebration.

Seniors honored at Honesdale game

Before the opening kickoff, the Class of 2022 pigskin warriors, cheer team and members of the marching band were honored with traditional mid-field ceremonies.

The following students were recognized:

Football team: Connor Schmidt, Kanye Dixon, Logan Demutiis, Jack Kelleher, Dallas Gombita, Jake Turner, Bradley Bennett, Joshua Clark and Kyle Hanson.

Cheer team: Alexandria Ashford, Alysa Martin, Emma Glosenger and Rachel Hessling.

Band: Amaya Hall, Maria Kannebecker, Emily Ruggles, Billy Eisloeffel, Alexis Pizzo, Eric Berkihiser, Andrew Ihlefeldt, Soren Schachter, Dante Stiffler and John Rodriguez.

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In the first frame, the Hornets posted a couple of scores: Connor Schmidt on a one-yarder at 9:15, and Schmidt again at 2:07 from the 5-yard line. PATs by Tyler Winters sailed through the uprights to put the Hornets up 14-0.

The home team (4-6) scored three times in the second quarter: Aaron Phillips from one yard out at 8:21; Max Mickel from the 6 at 2:29 and with 21 seconds left in the half, QB Aiden Collins connected with a 52-yard pass to Kage Southerton. Winters added three more points to put the Hornets in the lead, 35-0.

In the third quarter, Southerton hauled in a 25-yard pass from Collins at 1:09, but the PAT came up short.

In the final frame, the Hornets continued to dominate their opponents with a 3-yard TD run at 6:19 by Kyle Hanson, only to see the after-score kick miss the mark.

The Invaders almost scored in the final moments of the game, but faltered mere yards from pay dirt despite a valiant last-ditch offensive effort.

Team stats: first downs (H 17, WS 6), rushing yards (H 292, WS 63), passing yards (H 137, WS 37), total yardage (H 429, WS 100).

Individual stats: H yards rushing (Connor Schmidt 179, Jake Mundy 40, Jeffrey Delgado Santos 30, Aaron Phillips 15); WS yards rushing (Bryan Lucke 36, Connor Price 32, Joseph Harris 7); H passing (Collins 137 yards, 2 TDs); WS passing (Dan Van Dusky 37 yards); H receiving (Southeron 142 yards); WS receiving (Hunter Baumgardner 37 yards).

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If the sheer force of numbers had ruled the night, West Scranton had the edge, as they fielded a team of 64 players led by 19 seniors, while the Hornets had a bench of 32 including nine upperclassmen.

During halftime, the high school marching band put on a spirited “out of this world” production based upon “Star Wars,” George Lucas’ visionary space opera, which originally appeared on the silver screen in 1977.

“Any time you can shut somebody out on Senior Night is a great game,” said Hornets second-year coach Paul Russick.

His take on the regular season, as the Hornets head to the playoffs?

“We’re building here; it’s been several years since we’ve had four wins… we’re making progress, still trying to learn how to win. We’ve been in some close games, others not so close… we’re getting better.”

For a look at the halftime show, see “A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away."