Athens dominate Hornets.

presented by:

The Wellsboro Hornets suffered a 7-40 blow on Friday night, October 10, at their annual homecoming celebration, taking on the Wildcats of Athens.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, with Shane Raupers garnering an 80 yard punt return and Derrick Williams snagging a 27 yard interception, both to score for Athens.

In the second quarter, Athens again added to their lead with a four yard run by Josiah Lesser, taking it to 20-0 at the end of the half.

Returning in the third quarter, Athens' Garrett Morgan ran with a two yard gain to score, and Jarred Gambrell with a 45 yard pass from Raupers, dominating the field possession for a 33-0 lead.

In the fourth, after Athens' Dillon Rudloff took a 33 yard pass into the end zone. The Hornets' Pat Driebelbies eliminated the possibility of a shutout with an 80 yard run, suffering the loss in the final minutes 7-40.

Wellsboro's Driebelbies rushed 21 times for 176 yards.

"The bottom line," stated Wellsboro head coach Chris Morral, "We just can't put the three special teams together and finish."

If you look at the stats vs. Athens and Towanda, Wellsboro recorded 310 yards on offense to the Wildcats 248, and passing 119 for the Hornets, 140 for Athens.

"We didn't have good field position all night," continued Morral. "We played better against Athens than we had the previous week with Towanda. We made some mistakes, and we now need to eliminate those mistakes."

"In the beginning of the season, when we were winning, the team was focused, they had confidence and the attitude to win," commented Morral. "We need to gain that confidence back and play hard."

Wellsboro will face Canton this Saturday, October 18. The Warriors are a small school and should match up well. The Hornets should be on the mend with their injured players back in the lineup.

"We are finally healthy," Morral said. "Since the first week, we will finally have our starting players back on the field."

Finishing out the season with only two games remaining after Canton, the Hornets will face East Juniata and North Penn, both 3-4 on the season presently.