BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports Report
WYALUSING — The 2025 version of the Bronze Helmet was power versus speed and speed won, as Towanda’s resident sprinter Jazick Brown scored three touchdowns to help the Knights pull away from Wyalusing 29-12 in NTL football action Friday.
“We’re figuring, listen, if we just line-up man to man on them they’re probably running us over,” said Towanda coach Jamie Wecker. “They’re a little bigger than us, and will wear us down. So we put our kids in space where they could use their speed.”
Brown had a career night with 13 carries for 128-yards, while also hauling in three catches for 35-yards. As a team the Knights ran for over 200-yards off 36 carries, with Tanner Vanderpool adding six carries for 58-yards, and a score.
Reese Sluyter was also effective through the air, going 8-for-13 for 128-yards. Curtis Maynard had two catches for 62-yards to lead the receiving corp.
“I’m pretty proud of the kids, they played their butts off,” Wecker said. “The offense settled down, we were shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit here and there, but once we settled down we put those drives together. I was surprised that we worn them down as much as we did there.”
The proverbial shooting of the feet was on both sides. Towanda had five fumbles on the day, and while they only lost one, the others were drive killers. They were also penalized three times for 30-yards in the first half.
Wyalusing finished with seven penalties for 60-yards, with a few of them holding calls that got them behind the sticks.
Wyalusing finished with 260 total yards but 143 of them came on their two scoring plays.
Jonathan Earle was a workhorse again with 28 carries for 120-yards and a touchdown on the ground, while hauling in an 86-yard touchdown reception.
Reuben Kinney was 2-for-9 for 95-yards with a touchdown and a pick, while Ethan Vanderpool had six carries for 16-yards.
The two teams traded ineffective opening drives, but on Towanda’s second drive they got the ball at the Wyalusing 41-yard line.
On the first play from scrimmage Brown used a cut back to go 30-yards, then two plays later finished off the drive with an 8-yard scoring run. Brayden Spencer hit the point after and it was Towanda up 7-0 with 7:33 on the clock.
Wyalusing’s ensuing drive ended with a turnover on downs, giving Towanda good field position at midfield.
The Knights drove down inside the 20-yard line but Wyalusing’s defense held them to just four yards of the next three plays, forcing a 32-yard field goal.
Spencer’s attempt had plenty of leg but was wide left, keeping it a 7-0 contest.
Wyalusing’s third drive started off on the wrong foot with a holding penalty, followed by a pair of short runs from Earle.
Then on third-and-16 Kinney hit Earle on a screen pass. He appeared to get tackled, but Earle landed on the tackler, then got up and kept running as everyone stopped, going 86-yards to pay dirt.
The point after was no good but it was 7-7 with 33 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Towanda would answer on their next drive as they went 54-yards in five plays, ending on an 18-yard Brown run.
They got off to a good start as a scrambling Sluyter found Kole Heyer for a 20-yard gain to get inside the Wyalusing 35-yard line. After two ineffective plays Montoya ran 14-yards on a cut back to get them a new set of downs, setting up Brown’s run.
Spencer’s kick was good and it 14-6 with 10:25 left in the half.
Kinney got a big return on the ensuing kick-off, taking it down to the Towanda 32-yard line, but a holding call three plays in led the Rams to turning it over on downs.
Towanda started on their own 35-yard line, and got inside the Ram 30 with a 38-yard pass play of Sluyter to Maynard.
However, two plays later a chop block pushed the Knights back 15-yards and they never recovered as the drive ended in a punt.
Wyalusing would get their first sustained offensive momentum with their ensuing possession as an 8-yard Earle run got them past the Towanda 30.
Three plays later Kinney found Brian Dietz on third-and-long for a 9-yard gain and a new set of downs.
That set up Earle’s 57-yard scoring run over the left side to finish off the six play scoring drive that went 78-yards.
The 2-point conversion was no good but it was a 14-12 game with 1:42 left in the half.
It was an interesting final 1:42 even if no team scored. Towanda’s ensuing drive ended in a punt, only to see Wyalusing turn it over inside their own territory on a fumble.
The Knights got down to the Ram 15-yard line, but a fumbled snap on a quick spike attempt gave the ball back to Wyalusing with three seconds left, sending the game to overtime.
The Rams got the ball to start the second half, but turned it over on downs at their own 30-yard line.
Brown needed just one play to score this time as he went over the right side, making two Ram tacklers miss along the way, for the 30-yard scoring run. Spencer’s kick was good and it was 21-12 with 8:19 left in the third quarter.
The ensuing Wyalusing drive started off promising as they got past midfield. However, a holding call on 1-for-10 at the Towanda 40 backed them up, and they never recovered, with the drive ending on an Aaden Blokzyl interception.
Towanda didn’t fare much better on their ensuing drive as they tried to go 3-and-out with a punt, but a fumbled snap led to a turnover on downs at their own 31-yard line.
The Rams started with their best field position of the day but a holding call on the second play from scrimmage saw them pushed back.
Luckily, a 12-yard run from Kinney on third-and-long got them a new set of downs.
However, a negative yardage play on first down got them behind the sticks, and they never recovered, eventually turning it over on downs.
That’s when Towanda on a 12-play, 78-yard game sealing scoring drive that took over six minutes off the clock.
The key play was a 21-yard run from Vanderpool on third-and-6 to get across midfield. Towanda continued to chip their way, ending with a 5-yard Vanderpool run into the end zone.
Brown scored the 2-point conversion, and it was 29-12 with 2:09 left.
Brown would end the game with an interception on Wyalusing’s final drive.
“It’s been a long season for these boys,” said Wecker. “They’ve worked really, really hard, never gave up, worked their butts off, coming in all the time. We were down 0-5, 1-6, and a lot of teams could just say I’m done and cash it in for the next sports season, but this group of kids just kept working. We improved throughout the season, and then to finish the season like this, because that’s a pretty solid team. They’re physical, and stuff like that, and I thought this was our best, complete game of the season.”
Wyalusing finishes the year 2-8 while Towanda ends the season 3-7 as Wecker hopes this will give them plenty of momentum going into next year as they lose just four seniors.
“A little more than half of our team are freshmen and sophomores,” he said. “We have talented kids, but they’re small, and 14 to 15 year olds playing 17-18 year olds doesn’t work out, but it tells us we’ve got potential. I think the kids are going to feed off of that, get in the offseason, get them in the weight room, get them in speed stuff, and I think it’s really going to help them to have a better positive outlook at what we possibly can do in the future.”
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TOWANDA 29, WYALUSING 12
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
T: Jazick Brown 8-yard run (Brayden Spencer kick), 7:33
W: Reuben Kinney 86-yard pass to Jonathan Earle (kick failed), :33
Second Quarter
T: Jazick Brown 18-yard run (Spencer kick), 10:25
W: Jonathan Earle 57-yard run (2-point failed), 1:42
Third Quarter
T: Jazick Brown 30-yard run (Spencer kick), 8:19
Fourth Quarter
T: Tanner Vanderpool 5-yard run (Brown run), 2:09
Individual Stats
Towanda
Rushing
Jazick Brown 13-128-3, Reese Sluyter 13-12, Tanner Vanderpool 6-58-1, Curtis Maynard 1-2, Joey Montonya 2-13, Team 1-0
Passing
Reese Sluyter 8-13-128-0-0
Receiving
Jazick Brown 3-35, Tanner Vanderpool 1-2, Curtis Maynard 2-62, Joey Montonya 1-(-1), Kole Heyer 1-20
Wyalusing
Rushing
Jonathan Earle 28-120-1, Ethan Vanderpool 6-16, Reuben Kinney 6-17
Passing
Reuben Kinney 2-9-95-1-1, Jonathan Earle 0-1-0-0-1
Receiving
Jonathan Earle 1-86-1, Brian Dietz 1-9
Team Stats Towanda Wyalusing
Rushes/Yards 36/201 40/165
Passing Yards 128 95
First Downs 15 7
Penalties/Yards 3/30 7/60
Fumbles/Lost 4/1 1/1
Interceptions: Towanda - Jazick Brown, Aaden Blokzyl
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
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