HAZLETON — It was like clockwork Friday night. Whenever Hazleton Area needed a big play to keep a drive alive, Magnus Bibla was there to lay the hammer.
The Crestwood senior had five sacks and a forced fumble, his younger brother Lincoln added a sack of his own and the Comets defense shut down Hazleton Area’s high-powered offense, downing the Cougars 35-14 at Harman-Geist Memorial Field.
“We had a game plan to reset the line and manipulate the offensive tackles,” Bibla said. “We set up in good position and we had lots of ideas for them.”
The Comets defensive front kept Hazleton Area quarterback Tyler Wolfe uncomfortable all night and forced two turnovers, a big key for Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli.
“We had to win the turnover battle, we had to get at least one, two would be great,” Arcangeli said. “Getting that was enormous.”
After a 46-yard touchdown pass from Wolfe to Ryan Matyas on the Cougars’ first drive of the game, it looked as though Hazleton Area was primed to shake off the cobwebs from last week’s loss to Dallas and get back to playing the football that’s made them such a dangerous team all year.
Instead, they wouldn’t score again until a late touchdown run from Connor Kundrat with the game all but out of reach, as Crestwood stuffed the Cougars a number of times on fourth down, in addition to the two turnovers.
The first of those turnovers proved to be an early tipping point for the Comets.
With Hazleton Area trailing 7-6 late in the first half, the Cougars moved the ball into the Crestwood red zone, looking to go two-for-one as they would be receiving the second-half kickoff.
A fumbled exchange between Wolfe and Matt Buchman gave the ball right back to the Comets, who went about 80 yards in under two minutes. A 7-yard score from Robert Knight on the last play of the half made it a 14-6 Crestwood lead heading to the locker room, a turn of events from which Hazleton Area could not recover.
“That was huge for us,” Arcangeli said. “Credit to our offensive staff to be patient, to be very calm … fantastic job by them.”
In the second half, the Comets let senior running back Noah Schultz, coming off a 353-yard performance against Wilkes-Barre Area, take over.
Schultz ran for three touchdowns in the second half and finished with 177 yards.
He also had the defense’s second turnover, effectively ending the game with an interception after Hazleton Area had scored late and recovered an onside kick.
With the win, Crestwood improves to 6-1 and will return home next week, hosting Hanover Area. Hazleton drops to 5-2, and the Cougars will hit the road to take on Wyoming Valley West next.
Crestwood 35, Hazleton Area 14
Crestwood`0`14`7`14 — 35
Hazleton Area`6`0`0`8 — 14
First quarter
HAZ — Ryan Matyas 46 pass from Tyler Wolfe (pass failed), 4:23
Second quarter
CRE — Jaden Shedlock 26 run (Logan Rolles kick), 5:12
CRE — Robert Knight 7 run (Rolles kick), 0:02
Third quarter
CRE — Noah Schultz 6 run (Rolles kick), 6:08
Fourth quarter
CRE — Schultz 4 run (Rolles kick), 8:44
CRE — Schultz 52 run (Rolles kick), 6:10
HAZ — Connor Kundrat 5 run (Matt Cusatis pass from Wolfe), 2:49
Team statistics`CRE`HAZ
First downs`13`10
Rushes-yards`43-329`22-107
Passing yards`43`183
Total yards`372`290
Passing`4-8-0`11-20-1
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`6-35
Punts-avg.`1-33`2-14.5
Fumbles-lost`2-1`1-0
Penalties-yards`5-45`4-31
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — CRE, Shedlock 12-51, Schultz 19-177, Brendan Dennis 4-16, Robert Knight 5-43, Colin Lazo 2-12, Rolles 2-30. HAZ, Matt Buchman 7-17, Cusatis 1-(minus-4), Matyas 1-10, Wolfe 3-12, Kundrat 10-71.
PASSING — CRE, Shedlock 4-8-0-43-0. HAZ, Wolfe 11-20-0-183.
RECEIVING — CRE, Rolles 1-10, Schultz 2-14, Dennis 1-19. HAZ, Connor Shamany 5-68, Matyas 1-46, Kundrat 1-2, Cusatis 3-53, Zander Coleman 1-14.
INTERCEPTIONS — CRE, Schultz 1-0. HAZ, none.
MISSED FGs — none.
