WRIGHT TWP. — If there was one ingredient the Wilkes-Barre Area spread offense was lacking, Evan Laybourn-Boddie might just be it.
A West Scranton transfer that recently won his PIAA appeal to be eligible to play, Laybourn-Boddie provided the chef’s kiss on the Wolfpack’s fourth consecutive victory.
Wilkes-Barre Area relied on its skill players to down Crestwood 34-14 on Friday. The Wolfpack evenly distributed his rushing and passing attacks – a rarity in District 2 football – to take away any glimpse of Comet momentum throughout the game.
“We played for four quarters,” Wilkes-Barre Area coach Ciro Cinti said. “That’s exactly what happened over the past four weeks. If you play better defense and you play for four quarters, good things happen.”
Playing in just his second game with the Carolina Blue and Black, Laybourn-Boddie was a favored target for quarterback Jake Howe. He caught seven passes for 47 yards and a touchdown, repeatedly giving the Wolfpack first-down opportunities along the way. It was his second straight game of seven receptions.
“You see the talent,” Cinti said. “He does things you can’t coach. He makes me look like a better coach because he does things you can’t coach. He’s an incredible athlete, very smart, very intelligent. It was a shame he missed the first four games of the year, but he’s making up for it.”
With one more option available, Howe completed 15 of 22 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns. He added a score of his own on the ground.
Howe put the Wolfpack ahead on their first drive. He connected with Connor Courtney for a 34-yard pass to set up his rushing touchdown.
Crestwood matched Wilkes-Barre Area’s scoring twice in the first half to stay in stride with the Wolfpack. Matthew Sklarosky broke open on a perfectly executed fake run by quarterback Jaden Shedlock. The Crestwood gunner found a wide-open Sklarosky deep for a 38-yard touchdown play to even the score at 14-14 with 6:52 left in the first half.
That is precisely when Cinti’s offense turned its eyes to the running back duo of Howie Shiner and Davon Underwood.
Underwood capped a two-play drive for a 13-yard touchdown to retake the lead. Shiner ran 5 yards to give Wilkes-Barre a two-touchdown lead just before halftime.
Shiner finished with 159 yards on 16 carries. Underwood garnered 56 yards on 10 touches.
The Wilkes-Barre Area defense pressed down on the Comets, keeping them out of the end zone for the last 30 minutes of the game.
“It was a great team effort,” Cinti said. “The defense was prepared. We knew Crestwood was a hell of a team running the ball. If we were able to get them into passing situations, we had a much better chance of winning. And that was the bottom line. Against a good running team, you have to make them uncomfortable.”
Wilkes-Barre Area defensive back Treyvon Gembitski had a pair of interceptions.
“In 39 years, I’ve never had a sophomore captain until now,” Cinti said. “He’s a good leader. He works extremely hard, and he wants to get better.”
Wilkes-Barre Area 34, Crestwood 14
Wilkes-Barre Area`14`12`8`0 — 34
Crestwood`7`7`0`0 — 14
First quarter
WBA — Jake Howe 1 run (kick failed), 8:01
CRE — Jaden Shedlock 3 run (James Barret kick), 4:26
WBA — Evan Laybourn-Boddie 6 pass from Howe (Howie Shiner pass from Howe), 3:05
Second quarter
CRE — Matthew Sklarosky 38 pass from Shedlock (Barret kick), 6:52
WBA — Davon Underwood 13 run (pass fail), 6:06
WBA — Shiner 5 run (pass failed), 2:05
Third quarter
W — Treyvon Gembitski 12 pass from Howe (Laybourn-Boddie pass from Howe), 2:52
Team statistics`WBA`CRE
First downs`17`13
Rushes-yards`31-207`41-167
Passing yards`180`118
Total yards`387`285
Passing`15-22-0`7-14-2
Sacked-yards lost`1-10`2-5
Punts-avg.`3-19.67`4-33.5
Fumbles-lost`3-1`1-0
Penalties-yards`5-44`7-46
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WBA, Shiner 16-159, Howe 3-(minus-7), Underwood 10-56, TEAM 2-(minus-1). CRE, Shedlock 14-47, Barret 13-66, Colin Lazo 6-22, Eli Meadows 1-2, Osten Grigas 4-25, Matthew Bealla 2-5, TEAM 1-(minus-7)
PASSING — WBA, Howe 15-22-0-180. CRE, Shedlock 7-14-2-188
RECEIVING — WBA, Connor Courtney 1-34, Laybourn Boddie 7-47, Jovan Goodwin 2-24, Gembitski 2-42, Underwood 2-24, Rajan Watson 1-9. CRE, Lazo 3-22, Barret 2-43, Sklarosky 2-43.
INTERCEPTIONS — WBA Gembitski 2-5
MISSED FGs —None
