Hornets suffer second loss of season.

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The Wellsboro Green Hornets suffered their second loss of the season Friday night at the hands of the Wyalusing Rams.

The 21-13 loss continued the Rams home winng streak against the Hornets. Wellsboro has never won a game at Wyalusing since the series begain in 1964. The Hornets record is now 5-2 with two games remaining.

It looked like it was going to be a good night for the Hornets when they received the opening kickoff andd rove 80 yards in 15 plays to score. Keeping the ball entirely on the ground the Hornet offense moved the ball, reeling off five first downs and 5:35 of time.

The drive was capped when quarterback Jeff Coolidge ran the keeper play on fourth and three from the trhee yard line for the score. Randy Gross booted the extra point and the Hornets led 7-0.

The Ram offense wasted no time moving goalward with their first possession. Aided by a Wellsboro penalty on a third down play the Rams pushed into Hornet territory. The drive was stopped when middle guard Terry Ingerick forced a fumble and defensive tackle Steve Gobble recovered on the Hornet 16-yard line.

Wellsboro was forced to punt and the Hornet defense dug in and Wyalusing on their second possession had to punt. The punt was too short for Wellsboro to field and as the ball bounced around it struck a Wellsboro player from behind and was recoverd by Wyalusing on the Hornet 35-yard line. The Rams took advantage of this break and pushed the ball into the end zone and tied the score at 7-7.

After an exchange of possessions the Hornets had the ball on the 50-yard line facing a fourth down and five situation with time running out in the first half. The Hornets lined up to punt the ball but punter Jeff Coolidge threw the ball to senior halfback Mark Bell, who gathered in the pass and behind a wall of blockers scampered 25 yards for the first down.

The offesne took advantage of the break and pushed the ball over with less than a minute left of the clock. It was again quarterback Coolidge who followed solid wedge blocking from his offenseive line to sneak in from the one-yard line. The kick for point was wide and the Hornets led at half time 13-7.

The second half did not go as well for the visiting Hornets who were plagued by poor field position the entire half. The Hornets kicked off to start the second half and the Rams wasted no time putting the offense in high gear. The first drive was stopped when defensive back Randy Gross intercepted deep in Wellsboro territory. Unable to drive the ball the Hornets were forced to punt.

The Hornets were put out of trouble momentarily when senior punter Jeff Coolidge bounced one 70 yards to back the Rams deep into their own territory. Wyalusing would not be denied as they mounted a scoring drive that put them ahead 14-13 in the third quarter.

Following the touchdown, Wyalusing employed an onside kick to regain possession of the ball in Wellsboro territory. From this point on the remainder of the game was played inside the Wellsboro 30-yard line. The Wellsboro goal line defense played well stopping the Rams on the one-yard line, the one foot line, the five-yard line, and the eight-yard line. Starting out from deep in their own territory the Hornet offense could not muster a drive against the stubborn Ram defense.

Wyalusing then maganged to score again with less than three minutes left in the game and the final score was Wyalusing 21-13.

Wellsboro's next home game is this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. against Cowanesque in this year's Homecoming game.