NTL FOOTBALL: TOWANDA TO HOST WARRIOR RUN FOR FIRST HOME D4 SEMIFINAL SINCE 2011 (2024-11-07)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
Towanda football will be in rarified air on Friday when they host Warrior Run in the District IV, Class AA semifinal at 7 p.m. This will be the first time in 13 years that they’ll be hosting a final four contest.

“It’s unbelievably exciting,” lineman Varrius Farrell said. “This is history. If we win this week, only three Towanda teams have ever done that before.”

The Knights come in on a 6-game win streak, including a 42-20 win over Bloomsburg in the quarterfinals last week.

“It was a good win,” quarterback Riley Vanderpool said about last week. “Most of the teams out there play the same type of football, so we’re been really just looking forward to this week.”

Warrior Run gutted out a 21-7 win over Loyalsock last week, so comes up here as the sixth seed in the playoffs.

Coach Jamie Wecker feels his team is prepared to take on a team like the Defenders.

“They’re a tough team, and physical, with good tough runners, the line’s physical, the defense is tough and physical,” said Wecker. “I don’t care about what their record is, we’re not taking anything for granted. We’ve seen a couple other teams like them. They like to platoon quarterbacks - they have two different quarterbacks. One is mainly their running back, he bumps over and they go like a full house run at us. It’s a little similar to Tunkhannock, as well. I would say probably better athletes, but as far as schematically similar to that.”

James Keifer leads Warrior Run in passing with 1,728 yards on the season with a 54-percent completion rating. He has 19 touchdowns against seven picks.

Eli Butler leads the team in rushing with 993 yards on 148 carries, and a team high 12 touchdowns. He also has 444-yards receiving on 26 receptions with five touchdowns.

Samuel Hall leads the team in receiving with 816-yards on 43 catches and 10 touchdowns.

Slowing them down will be key for Towanda’s defense, which played shutout football in the second half against Bloomsburg.

“The game plan is going to be similar to last week, Bloomsburg was a big passing team,” Farrell said. “So it’s just the same game plan, get to the quarterback.” 

Towanda’s linebackers have been doing that consistently the last few weeks.

On the other side of the ball Vanderpool is coming off one of the best Towanda playoff performances in program history with 248-yards rushing and six touchdowns.

“The line playing they are coming into this game, it’s a great thing, because we got more than just me that can run the ball,” Vanderpool said. “So if they’re blocking like that every play, it’s a great thing.”

Vanderpool has been hurting teams with his arm, too, this year, and Wecker feels the Defenders will have to pick their poison.

“I think they’re confident,” Wecker said. “It was funny, two weeks Riley threw the ball all over the place against Wyalusing, last week they took away the throws, but they couldn’t stop him on the ground. I don’t know what Warrior Run is going to try to eliminate, but it’s kind of nice, and I think the kids have this quiet confidence that if they take one thing away, the other thing is harder for them to take away, so we can take advantage of it.”

Quiet confidence is the best way to explain Towanda right now, especially for this senior heavy class.

“We went 1-8 our freshman year, and now we’re here,” Farrell said. “But that’s the Towanda will.”

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