Wellsboro falls to Jersey Shore.

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"Mental mistakes and a lack of focus hurt us early in the game," Wellsboro head coach Chris Morral said of the 26-19 non league loss to Jersey Shore Friday, September 12.

Although those mental mistakes had and early bearing on the game, Wellsboro still held a 6-0 halftime lead.

The combination of Wellsboro quarterback Will Osgood and receiver Pat Coolidge accounted for 134 yards of Wellsboro's 216 yards passing on the night.

"Pat (Coolidge) had an outstanding game," Morral said. "On Thursday I told him he needed to step up and be and be an impact player. Will made very good decisions."

Osgood posted stellar stats completing 18 of 35 passes for an impressive 216 yards.

Rushing was again paced by Brandon Keck who carried the ball 13 times for 75 yards.

Be that as it may, it was two plays in the second half which all but denied the Green Hornets a 3-0 start.

With less than six minutes remaining in the game, Wellsboro increased their lead to 19-7 following a Brandon Keck 10 yard touchdown run and a Pat Coolidge extra point.

On the ensuing kickoff, Wellsboro squibbed the kick. Jersey Shore's Don Erlston fielded the ball and raced 71 yards for a touchdown to whittle Wellsboro's lead to 19-13.

Less than 20 seconds later when Wellsboro started their offensive drive from their own 21-yard line, tragedy struck again for the Hornets.

As Shawn Tom took the hand off and began his run, Jersey Shore's Bo Yost raced in and stripped the ball from his arms and raced into the end zone to knot the score at 19-all.

"In a matter of minutes they scored 12 unanswered points without a single offensive play," Morral said. "I think what we need to take from this loss is that we have to come in expecting every team to give their best and step up to beat us."

The Bull Dogs took their first lead of the game with 1:03 remaining in the contest. Jersey Shore pushed their way into Wellsboro territory but were held and tried for a field goal. Jake Haldeman recovered a bad snap on the attempt but managed to forge ahead five yards for a first down. The Bull Dogs took the lead when Sam Eck took the hand off and raced into the end zone from 10 yards out.

With Jersey Shore leading 26-19, Wellsboro took over with 1-30 remaining and drove to the Jersey Shore three-yard line. With time running out, there was an interference call after a Osgood pass went in and out of the hands of Coolidge.

With no time on the clock Wellsboro received a final shot at the win due to an interference call but fate was not on the side of the Hornets.

"It should not have come down to one final play and I stressed to guys," Morral said. "With a few less mental mistakes I know we are capable to play together," Morall said. "I did stress, in order to become better as a team, we have to focus on individual assignments."

According to Morral, the first half is where the Hornets could have prevented the need of a last minute drive.

"In the first half we had poor field position and had two bad snaps on punts," Morral said. "We had a blocked punt that gave them good field position. The defense stepped up huge with a goal line stand to keep them out of the end zone."

Following one of Wellsboro stellar goal line stands, the offense drove down field only to turn the ball over. Despite the lapse in focus and the mental mistakes, Morral admitted he was pleased with the first half performance.

"I came out at halftime feeling positive," Morral said. "We had great field position but the offense was not able to capitalize.

Wellsboro opened the second half and took the ball right down and scored to pick up a 12-0 lead. Wellsboro scored their first touchdown of the game when Osgood connected with Coolidge for a six yard strike with 32 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Despite the loss Morral admitted there is a great lesson the team can learn from and build on to be more successful on the remainder of the season.

"The major think we have to do is focus, know our assignments and execute from special teams to defense to offense," Morral said. Offense wasn't the question," Morral said.

"When your offense plays well we still have to have other teams step up."

Wellsboro returns home this Friday, September 19 to host Muncy.

"Muncy is a good football team. They bring in a potent offense with senior leadership and a real disciplined passing game," Morral said.

Wellsboro's defense will face one of their largest test of the season as they try and limit Muncy's passing game.

"I think the tale is going to be how well our defense responds. This is one of our first real tests for our secondary and I'm anxious to see how they respond," Morral said.