Susquehanna rolls past Nanticoke

BY BRANDON STYCZEN

Times-Shamrock Correspondent

Dan Kempa led Susquehanna with 151 yards passing including four touchdown passes and rushed for 86 yards in a 54-19 win over Nanticoke on Friday night.

Susquehanna improved to 3-0, while Nanticoke fell to 2-1.

Susquehanna is known for running the football, but decided to turn to its passing attack to get by the Trojans defense.

Kempa threw two of his touchdown passes to Austin Cowperthwait for 60 and 11 yards. Cole Mallery had a 42-yard touchdown reception and Sean Stanley added a 38-yard touchdown.

“Nanticoke was putting eight to nine guys in the box, so we knew we had to throw the ball to back them up,” Susquehanna coach Dick Bagnall said. “Nanticoke was a scrappy group. They will be a tough team to compete with next year.”

Nanticoke had trouble stopping the Susquehanna attack. After Nanticoke stopped the Sabers with a three and out on the first series, they scored on their next two possessions.

Susquehanna’s scoring started on its second position. Kempa threw a 20-yard pass to Mallery, who then turned up field and jumped over a Nanticoke cornerback into the end zone.

On the ensuing kickoff, Nanticoke fumbled, giving the ball right back to the Sabers. On the next play, Kempa found Stanley 38 yards in the back right corner of the end zone, giving the Sabers a 13-0 lead.

On the next series, Susquehanna running back Greg Price broke a 42-yard run for a score giving the Sabers a comfortable lead. Susquehanna iced the game when Stanley intercepted a pass and ran 57 yards for a touchdown, putting increasing the margin to 28-0 in the first quarter.

“Our goal was to stop the big play and jump out on them early and we didn’t do that,” Nanticoke coach Ron Bruza said.