Hornets snag Jones trophy with 32-12 win over North Penn.

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After a two year hiatus, the Morton Jones Trophy returned to Wellsboro as the Hornets defeated the North Penn Panthers, 32-12.

The bright spot for the Panthers was running back Nick Mahosky who broke 1,000 yards for the season on a third quarter run.

Hornets head coach Chris Morral beamed, "The team came out here today and played a great game and won."

Big plays were the scoring theme of the night, led by the Hornets' Tom brothers.

For the first quarter, both teams traded several punts, with defenses on both sides dominating.

Early in the second quarter, Shawn Tom took a hand off from Tim Shaw and headed right, A cut back left allowed Tom to complete a 28 yard run for the first score of the game to put Wellsboro up 6-0.

On their next possession, Shawn Tom took a Shaw pass for 41 yards to increase the Hornets' lead to 12-0 with 8:18 left in the half.

However it was the following series which proved decisive.

North Penn's Adam Breon ran the kickoff 42 yards. Two plays later the Panthers had a first down on the 16-yard line. When their running game stalled, they turned the ball over on downs at the 11-yard line.

With five and a half minutes left in the half and backed up deep in their own territory, Wellsboro went on a punishing eleven play drive to score with 1:11 still on the clock. A key was the sixth play of the drive.

With a second-and-five at the 40-yard line, Wellsboro had two false starts and a delay of game to make it second-and-20 at their own 25-yard line. Pat Coolidge then took the ball 23 yards for a first down, thereby deflating the Panther defense; Coolidge also took a pass for the last 15 yards and a Hornet score to make it 19-0 at half time.

In the opening drive of the third quarter, it was Jesse Tom's turn. On .the third play, he took the handoff and raced 55 yards to make it 26-0 with only a 1:25 gone in the half.

Senior Shawn Tom did his best to equal his younger brothers' feat on the first play of the next possession by racing 61 yards to make it 32-0 with 7:57 showing on the clock. North Penn's vaunted running game never showed itself until late in the fourth quarter.

After a fumble recovery at the Wellsboro 23-yard line, Kyle Stockton ran down to the nine and Nick Mahosky took it in for the score to make it 32-6.

After driving to the Panthers' 35-yard line, a Hornet punt put North Penn starting at their own three-yard line. The Panthers ran eleven plays, capped by a 49 yard Stockton dash with 18.8 seconds left in the game, fo make the final score Wellsboro 32, North Penn 12.

This was only the second start for Hornet quarterback Tim Shaw (both wins).

"He's a tough kid," Morral said. "Very smart and good. He'll be a good one next year."

One highlight for the Panthers came early in the third quarter when Mahosky ran for five yards to go over a thousand yards rushing for the year.

An obviously disappointed North Penn head coach, Tom Dickinson, said "We'll miss our seniors. But we have a good class of underclassmen. We'll have to work hard in the off season and come back next year."

For now though, the Jones Trophy has returned to Wellsboro.