Green Hornets dominate, Canton ekes out 7-6 win.

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Wellsboro turned out the lights on the Canton Warriors Friday night, September 23. Literally.

During the opening minutes of the second half, the lights illuminating the Wellsboro football field were shut off to avoid a transformer burnout. The lights came back on but things didn't get any brighter for the Green Hornets.

Although the Green Hornet defense stung the Warriors progress on the ground while two Hornet running backs led the offensive by zipping through the Warrior defense for 183 yards on the ground, one extra point dealt Wellsboro their third consecutive loss, 7-6.

Key penalties and special team errors were a big factor on the outcome of the game. As in weeks past, penalties proved costly to Wellsboro.

Wellsboro's potency on offense led to a scoring drive early in the first quarter but a clipping penalty called against Wellsboro negated the score.

"It had a factor in the game but the players didn't get down," Wellsboro coach Mike Pietropola said. "But we just couldn't get the ball in the end zone."

After two weeks of a less than desirable Wellsboro offense, things started to click for the Green Hornets running game.

Dave Russell and Derek Harsch and paced the team with 40 yards each. Pietropola was pleased with the progress of the Wellsboro offense between the 20's but the failure to punch in for the score was frustrating.

"Russell and Harsch did a nice job running," Pietropola said. "But once inside the red zone, we couldn't punch it in."

After the touchdown was called back, Wellsboro later formulated another scoring drive only to go away empty handed when the placement of a Jason Johnston field goal attempt missed it's mark.

Special teams is another area Pietropola hopes to improve.

In the first quarter Canton turned a near fatal fumble on a punt return into a 7-0 lead.

The special teams coverage collapsed and Canton's Herman recovered the fumble and scampered 56 yards for the score with 9:11 remaining in the first frame. Wellsboro kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalties on both sides of the ball.

"We stopped Canton on fourth down and then committed a late hit," Pietropola said. "We committed a lot of dumb penalties."

Wellsboro came back in the second quarter and finally managed to punch the ball in midway through the second frame. Harsch took the handoff and raced downfield 57 yards for the score.

A penalty on the point after attempt added extra distance to the kick attempt. The extra yardage proved fatal and the kick was off and Canton led 7-6 at the half.

In the second half after an intermission due to lighting problems, Wellsboro continued to drive the ball only to come up short in the Red Zone.

At the end of a long and scoreless second half, Wellsboro battled their way down field.

With 24 seconds remaining on the clock Wellsboro went for their second field goal attempt of the game, this time a win depended on it. But the placement was wide enough to give Canton (1-3) their first win of the season.

The Wellsboro defense did their job as well by holding Canton under 100 yards rushing and negative four yards passing. Luke Straniere led the Wellsboro passing game going 4-of-12 for 71 yards.

Wellsboro (1-3) will travel to Towanda to take on the unbeaten Northern Tier League powerhouse Friday, September 29.

Wellsboro will have to shut down Towanda's backfield in order to win.

"Towanda has a tough quarterback and a big running back," Pietropola said. "If we can hold them we can win the game."

"Like I told the team, Towanda is 4-0 but we have the opportunity to bring things back and beat a undefeated team," Pietropola continued.