Hornets rout Warriors 27-7 and honor small fry.

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The Wellsboro Small Fry is rewarding and enjoyable for all the youths that participate. The Small Fry is a feeder program for the Rock L. Butler Middle School and eventually the Wellsboro Hornets.

Matt Sampson and many other volunteers make the program successful. Wellsboro Hornets defeated the Canton Warriors October 1 by a 27-7 score. Canton struggled to hold onto the football which led to Wellsboro dominating the game. The Warriors fumbled six times and lost four of them to the Hornets. Canton fumbled twice in the first quarter.

Wellsboro took advantage of the second fumble and drove down the field for a touchdown. Pat Coolidge delivered a floating pass to the one-yard line, but the Warriors' defense stopped them short of the goal line. Coolidge converted on the next play with a quarterback sneak through the pile. Coolidge converted on the extra point to make the score 7-0.

The Hornets nearly struck again after a long screen pass in the second quarter. However, an interception on the next play returned the ball to the Canton 41-yard line.

Canton threatened next with seven minutes to go in the first half. Canton faced a fourth-and-one deep in Hornet territory. A Canton conversion was thwarted by a penalty. Wellsboro stopped Canton for a loss on fourth-and-six.

Shawn Tom struck on the next drive with a 56 yard touchdown run for the Hornets. Tom broke through the defensive line and outran the defensive backs to the end zone. Wellsboro missed the extra point because of a high snap.

The Warriors again fumbled the football with five minutes remaining in the half. The Hornets drove down the field and scored when Coolidge lobbed a pass into the end zone. The Hornets faked the extra point and were successful for a two point conversion. A penalty erased the points and forced the Hornets to kick an extra point. Wellsboro led 20-0 at halftime.

The Warriors threatened again in the third quarter when the Hornets punted but the Warriors managed to partially block the kick. The ball rolled back to the line of scrimmage and gave Warriors good field position. The Hornets stopped the drive by intercepting Brad Watkins on a pass intended for Bryant Seeley.

The turnover led to a three yard touchdown run by Jeremy Walrath. The run gave the Hornets a 27-0 lead.

Canton ended the Hornets shut out bid when Quarterback Bryce Weaver ran for a touchdown on a bootleg run against the Hornet's second team defense.

The run was the last score of the game. Wellsboro's record improved to 2-3 with the 27-7 victory, Canton's record fell to 1-4.

The Hornets had only scored 19 points combined in their previous three games. Coach Morral spoke about what the Hornets did to reverse the offensive slump. He said, "We moved some guys around to different positions. The guys really got the job done and stepped up. I'm very happy with the results."

Coach Morral was also happy with his team's performance and the overall intensity of the team was definitely up.

He said, "Every single guy got it done, I'm very pleased with their effort."

Jeremy Walrath was the workhorse on the ground for the Hornets. Walrath rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown on 18 attempts. Shawn Tom's 56 yard touchdown run was the biggest play of the day. He finished with 89 yards on seven attempts.

Quarterback Pat Coolidge threw for 135 yards on eight completions. Coolidge also ran for nine yards on five attempts. Three different receivers contributed to the Hornets passing attack: Ed Baxter, four catches, 43 yards; Eric Miller, two catches, 31 yards; Jeremy Walrath, two catches, 61 yards.

Warrior's Quarterback Bryce Weaver completed four passes for 11 yards.

The Warriors rushed with six different players against the Hornets. Rushing for the Warriors were: Brad Watkins, 16 attempts, 68 yards; Bryce Weaver four attempts, 19 yards; Quay Ward five attempts, 30 yards; David Hedrick eights attempts, eight yards; Jesse O'Conners. one attempts, two yards; Nick Petrowski three attempts, 31 yards.

Three receivers caught passes for the Warriors: Nick Petrowski two catches, one yard; Korey Seeley one catch, three yards; Bryan Bennett one catch, seven yards.

Wellsboro honored the Small Fry football teams at half time of the game. Coach Matt Sampson was very pleased with the chance the kids were getting.

Sampson said, "This really means a lot to the kids. Anytime they can be around the high school athletes it is a really positive experience. Some of the high school players are refereeing our games, and it really excites the kids. All of the kids were really fired up about tonight."