Northern Tier Sports Report

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NTL FOOTBALL: VANDERPOOL'S RETURN SPARKS TOWANDA PAST NP-MANSFIELD (2024-09-07)

Northern Tier Sports Report
TOWANDA — Riley Vanderpool returned to the scene in a big way, combining for over 200 yards and a touchdown as Towanda defeated NP-Mansfield, 21-6, during NTL football action Friday.

“He’s just explosive,” Towanda coach Jamie Wecker said about Vanderpool. “He’s tough to control. He’s tough to control defensively - he through some nice footballs. As long as he can throw the ball well he’s that much more dangerous on the ground, and then complimenting him with our other run game, with the other guys, it makes us that much more dynamic.”

Vanderpool scored the game’s opening touchdown, a 28-yard run less than three minutes in. He finished with 159 yards on the ground off 19 carries, while going 3-for-10 for 63 yards through the air.

“My mindset was just come in and play with my teammates and go for the W,” Vanderpool remarked. “As always it’s great to be back out there. It was a pleasure to be with the teammates on our own home field for my first game back.”

Caden Delamater added 86 yards on the ground off 13 carries while Tahshon Gardner and Rylee Sluyter both had touchdown runs. All told Towanda ran for 285 yards on 40 carries.

“It’s a lot of our team because it’s not just one person getting the ball, there’s three or four getting the ball,” Vanderpool said. “Everybody that’s running is getting at least three or four yards a carry, it’s a great thing.”

Rylee Sluyter had two catches for 36 yards while Garner had a 27-yard catch.

Defensively NPM was able to move the ball through the air as Cooper Shaw was 13-for-21 for 162 yards with a score. Luke Kreger was his top target with nine catches for 131 yards and a touchdown.

However, Towanda held them to just 45 yards on the ground off 20 carries.

“We haven’t really faced a team that can run the ball down our throats, so we’ve been pretty good defensively,” said Wecker. “It’s really difficult to play a whole game for our D-backs and our outside linebackers to constantly be running 20-30-40-yards in coverage - that’s a difficult thing to do. I thought we did a great job, and part of that, too, was we got a lot of pressure this week, which we struggled with last week.”

Vanderpool made his presence known early with his 28-yard touchdown run with 9:11 left in the first quarter. Jack Wheaton added the point after for a 7-0 Black Knight lead.

Garner made 14-0 with a 4-yard run with 2:04 on the clock in the first, with Wheaton hitting the point after.

Then Sluyter put the Knights up three touchdowns with a 7-yard run with 4:40 left to play in the first half. Wheaton’s kick was good for a 21-0 lead.

NPM struck just before half as Shaw hit Kreger for a 62-yard scoring play with 2:39 on the clock. The kick failed with it being 21-6 midway through the game.

The second half was a defensive battle as neither team broke through.

“The pressure with our linebackers and our defensive line makes the defensive backs’ job that much easier,” said Wecker. “You saw a lot of curls and a lot of quick slants, but they really didn’t get much over the top. We had that one play, but that was about it.”

Towanda (2-1) will continue the home stand as they host Wellsboro (0-3) next Friday with a 7 p.m. start.

“We have to keep improving with our fundamentals,” Wecker said. “We’ve got to improve in the red zone - sometimes we’re stalling out there. We’re going to get that fixed, though, I’m sure. And then just consistency in all three phases of the game, we’ve got to keep getting better.”

TOWANDA 21, NP-MANSFIELD 6

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

T: Riley Vanderpool 28-yard run (Jack Wheaton kick), 9:11

T: Tahshon Garner 4-yard run (Wheaton kick), 2:04

Second Quarter

T: Rylee Sluyter 7-yard run (Wheaton kick), 4:40

N: Cooper Shaw 62-yard pass to Luke Kreger (Kick failed), 2:39

Individual Stats

NP-Mansfield

Passing

Cooper Shaw 13-21-162-1-0