Hornets Trounce Montgomery

By: Chris McGann  /  October 22, 2007  /  Photo: Tim McBride

The Wellsboro Hornets recorded their largest margin of victory during Friday night's Homecoming game and pitched their first shutout of the season as they downed winless Montgomery 54-0.

The win boosted the Hornets (4-3) above the .500 mark for the first time since week one.

On Friday, the Hornets wasted little time impressing their last home crowd of the season as they took the ball first and marched 95 yards for the score. Cameron Jones hit Colton Acorn for a 68 yard completion to open the scoring. Pat Driebelbies' kick put Wellsboro up 7-0 with just over a minute played in the game.

That is all the scoring Wellsboro would need, but hardly all that they would do.

One and a half minutes after scoring for the first time, Wellsboro struck again. This time, Driebelbies did the honors, taking the ball in from one yard out. His extra point extended the Hornet lead to 14-0.

The special teams unit had a chance to shine one minute later. Montgomery was punting from deep in their own territory when the Hornet coverage team recorded a safety to extend their lead to 16-0.

Jones was the next Hornet to score on the ground. He took the ball in himself from one yard away at the 5:25 mark of the first quarter. Wellsboro missed the extra point, but still took the 22-0 lead.

With just five seconds left in the quarter, Jones found Acorn again on a three yard touchdown pass to give Wellsboro the 28-0 lead heading into the second quarter.

The second quarter could have been billed as the Jake Coolidge show as he scored twice, once on a rush of five yards and once on a five yard pass from Jones. He scored at the 8:37 mark and again at the 2:31 mark of the quarter. Driebelbies connected on the first extra point attempt, but the two point conversion failed after the second score.

Just 14 seconds after Coolidge scored his second touchdown, Sean Gleason add a touchdown run of his own from nine yards out. The extra point by Driebelbies extended the Hornet lead to 48-0 at halftime.

After the intermission, the mercy rule went into effect. The only second half scoring was a 38 yard run by Driebelbies and his extra point to seal the victory.

Offensively, the Hornets put up some stellar statistics. Jones completed six of his seven passes for 149 yards. Acorn caught three of those passes for 110 yards.

On the ground, Coolidge rumbled for 84 yards on eight carries while Driebelbies had 81 yards on nine rushes. Steve Mengee added 61 yards on six carries.

The Wellsboro defense held the Montgomery rushers to just 68 yards on 29 carries and four Red Raider passers combined for just six completions on 12 attempts for 68 yards. The Wellsboro defense came up with four interceptions, two fumble recoveries, and two sacks.

The next test for Wellsboro is a Friday night trip to Westfield to take on Caowanesque Valley (1-6). The Indians' only win this year was a 12-6 decision to Montgomery in week four.