Special teams edges Wellsboro by Sayre.

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The punt return team of the Wellsboro made the difference in the game against Sayre Saturday, September 11 as the Green Hornets avoided their second loss of the season narrowly edging Sayre, 21-20.

With 3:45 remaining in the third quarter, the Wellsboro defense had held Sayre deep in their own territory and forced the Redskins to punt from their own end zone.

"The punt was bobbled and went right into Derek Harsch's hands," Wellsboro Mentor Mike Pietropola said. "He took it and ran it in from five yards out."

Harsch, who plays linebacker for the Green Hornets, took the ball and scampered across the goal line from five yards out.

This touchdown proved to be the winning factor in the game and gave the Hornets their first win of the season. With the win, Pietropola hopes the momentum will carry on into the season.

"The win really helped the kids mentality," Pietropola said. "You could see the difference on the bus ride home and during practice Monday."

Wellsboro had jumped to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter as Green Hornet quarterback Jake Banik connected with Dave Laczi for a 21 yard touchdown pass with 6:55 remaining in the first quarter. The Laczi extra point was good taking Wellsboro up 7-0.

Three minutes later the Banik went to the air again by rocketing a pass to Colin McBride on a 18 yard pass and a touchdown. Following Laczi's second extra point, the Hornets held a 14-0 lead.

"Banik has improved from the previous week and has made positive strides," Pietropola said. "Our receivers did a nice job. We have two good position receivers."

Banik completed five of nine passes for 60 yards. The two touchdown passes caught by Laczi and McBride were their only receptions during the game.

Following a scoreless second quarter, each team exchanged touchdowns in the third quarter.

Sayre struck first nearly four minutes into the third quarter when Trevor Twigg took the handoff and bolted 29 yards for a touchdown. Sayre followed with a two-point conversion run by Luke Wheeler which narrowed Wellsboro's lead to 14-8.

After holding the Redskins late in the third quarter in their own territory, Wellsboro capitalized on a bad kick which resulted in Harsch's touchdown.

After Laczi's third extra point of the game, Wellsboro pulled away from Sayre with a 21-8 lead.

The Wellsboro defense experienced difficulty stopping the sweep in the fourth quarter and Sayre scored twice. Each two-point conversion attempted by Sayre was stopped by the Green Hornet defense.

Twigg, who ended the night with 182 yards rushing on 25 carries, scored each of Sayre's fourth quarter touchdowns.

"Late in the second half, Sayre started to run a sweep out of the Wishbone formation," Pietropola said. "We needed to stop the sweep to the outside and we found something at the end of the game that finally worked."

The first of Twigg's touchdowns came in the opening minute of the quarter when the took the ball and raced into the end zone from 12 yards out. The two-point conversion failed and Sayer trailed 21-14.

Five minutes later the Redskin's offense found success on another scamper by Twigg. Sayre scored their final touchdown of the game with 6:43 remaining when Twigg bulled his way across the line from eight yards out.

The Wellsboro defense once again held Sayre and took the win by holding the offense at bay on their last two-point conversion attempt of the game.

"The kids played hard and got worn down in the second half," Pietropola said. "They refused to quit, hung on, and fought with their backs to the wall for the win."