The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA

Shamokin News Wire

October 1, 2012

Smith, defense leads Lewisburg past Shamokin

By Todd Hummel The Daily Item

LEWISBURG — Mark Twain once said there were three kinds of lies — lies, damned lies and statistics.

Well the statistics didn’t lie in the first half of Lewisburg’s homecoming game on Friday night against Shamokin.

Take away the Green Dragons’ lone big play of the first half — an 84-yard catch-and-run by Brandon Smith — and Lewisburg was limited to 12 plays, four yards and zero first downs.

“We knew we had to get the offensive line going in the second half,” Lewisburg tight end Ty Turner said. “We just wanted to come out and drive it down the field.”

“Shamokin presented some challenges (in the first half),” Lewisburg coach Jeremy Winn said. “We had something like 12 plays of offense in the first half. We just couldn’t find any rhythm.”

Despite their offensive issues, the Green Dragons still led by a touchdown at the half.

And when Lewisburg finally got rolling in the second half, the Indians had no answer.

Lewisburg scored touchdowns on all three of its offensive possessions and averaged nearly 10 yards per carry in the second half as it picked up a 35-14 Heartland Athletic Conference crossover victory at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.

“It came down to execution in the second half. We were running the same plays,” Smith, who scored three second-half rushing touchdowns, said. “We needed the offensive line to step up in the second half and they certainly did.”

The game didn’t get off to a scintillating start as the first quarter featured three punts and two turnovers, the second of which led to the first score of the game. Shamokin recovered a fumble at the Lewisburg 32, but one play later Turner picked off a Tucker Yost pass and returned it 84 yards for a touchdown. Turner caught the ball in the flat and made a man miss at the 50. That allowed his teammates to set up a wall and Turner went the final 50 yards without being touched to give his team a 7-0 lead with 5:30 left in the first quarter.

“They had thrown that pass before. It was a slant and I stepped in front of it,” Turner, a linebacker, said. “I made a move and got some great blocks.”

The Indians (1-4) then put together a 13-play drive deep into Lewisburg territory, but that 13th play was unlucky as Shamokin fumbled the ball away and Luke Smith recovered for Lewisburg at its own 16. On a third-and-10 play, the Green Dragons lined up in the pistol with four wide outs and Brandon Smith lined up in the backfield. Smith motioned and caught a short swing pass and turned into an 84-yard TD to make 14-0 with 9:31 left in the second quarter.

Shamokin caught a break with 55 seconds left in the first half when a fumbled punt deep in Lewisburg territory led to a two-play, nine-yard touchdown drive shortly before the half. Yost hit Erik Taylor with a four-yard scoring strike to cut the lead to 14-7.

Lewisburg came out in the second half and put together a seven-play, 71-yard drive, capped by a Brandon Smith seven-yard TD run to take a 21-7 lead with 8:22 left in the third.

Shamokin answered with a Julian Deitrick touchdown run to cap a 15-play, 75-yard drive to make it 21-14 with 2:07 left in the third.

However. Brandon Smith and the Lewisburg offensive line turned out to be too much for the Indians’ defense in the second half as the Green Dragons added touchdown drives of 78 and 56 yards in their final two possessions to salt the game away.

 

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Shamokin News Wire
  • Heartland Division I
    Team W L PF PA
    Danville (11-3) 6 0 301 196*
    Selinsgrove (10-4) 5 1 324 212
    Milton (7-5) 4 2 267 211
    Shikellamy (5-6) 3 3 223 250
    Shamokin (2-9) 2 4 143 289
    Mifflinburg (2-8) 1 5 136 234
    Jersey Shore (0-10) 0 6 143 383
             

    *-denotes division champion

    July 11, 2012

  • Nine local football stars earn all-state nods

    LEWISBURG - For the third consecutive season Lewisburg linebacker Brandon Smith headlines the Valley’s contingent on the Pennsylvania Sports Writers All-State Football team.

    December 20, 2012

  • HAC champions dominate all-star teams

    In addition to claiming its first District 4 Class AA title since 1999, Danville also put the most players onto the 2012 Heartland Athletic Conference All-Star team, as selected recently by the league’s head coaches.

    December 3, 2012

  • _dsc3026(1).jpg High School Football Podcast

    Listen as Daily Item Sports Editor Bill Bowman and Assistant Sports Editor Harold Raker break down every high school football playoff game set for this weekend.

    November 21, 2012 11 Photos

  • High School Football Scoreboard

    PIAA Playoffs
    Friday
    PIAA Class AAA Quarterfinal
    at Bethlehem
    Allentown Central Catholic 41, Selinsgrove 13 FINAL

    Saturday
    P    IAA Class AA Quarterfinal
    at HersheyPark Stadium
    Wyomissing 52, Danville 0, FINAL
     

    November 16, 2012

  • Selinsgrove storms into district title game

    Just a year removed from one of its worst seasons, Selinsgrove is back in the title hunt.
    The Seals are only a win away from claiming their 12th District 4 Class AAA title as they trounced Shamokin 41-0 in Friday’s semifinal game at Harold L. Bolig Memorial Field.

    November 10, 2012

  • Selinsgrove 41, Shamokin 0

    Statistics from Friday's game

    November 9, 2012

  • Twitter Feed

    August 14, 2012

  • Defense lifts Mount Carmel to Coal Bucket

    Shamokin decided to try some trickery on  third-and-10 from its own 32. Tucker Yost snapped the ball and handed it off to Preston Burns who started to run before stopping and looking back at Yost to try and throw it back to him.
    Burns let the pass go but could only cringe as Mount Carmel’s Mike Gilger read the play perfectly and made an interception he returned 36 yards down the far sideline for a Red Tornado touchdown.

    November 3, 2012

  • Mount Carmel 21, Shamokin 7

    Statistics from Friday's game

    November 2, 2012