Wayne County Life

  
















By John Addyman
johnaddyman@WayneCountyLife.com

     LYONS (Oct 1 10) -- South Seneca junior running back Matt Wyckoff moved the ball 191 yards on 29 carries and scored three touchdowns in the second half to lead the Falcons to a 34-6 win over Lyons tonight.

     Effective up the gut and around right end, Wyckoff had 96 carries on 14 carries in the first half and lugged the ball 15 more times for 95 more yards in the second. He had very few minus-yardage efforts, and in the drive that started the second half and pretty much put the Lions away, he carried every time on a six-play charge from the Seneca 24-yard-line to the end zone.

     Lyons had a plan to start the game, taking the opening kickoff and using a no-huddle offense to bring the ball rapidly upfield, covering 61 yards in nine plays and featuring three completed passes. But the drive got as far as the Falcon 8-yard line and stopped.

     South Seneca scored on its second possession, moving the ball 41 yards on four plays, with fullback Brandon Morgan taking the ball the last 10 yards for the TD.

     On the next Lyons possession, quarterback derrick Fera completed a 4-yard pass to James DiSanto, who caught the ball and lost it. The Falcons set up shop on their own 47-yard line and six plays later connected on their first pass of the game, a 7-yard touchdown toss from quarterback Josh Szymanski to Morgan, and the lead was 13-0.

     Lyons had a drive late in the first half that ended up on the South Seneca 5-yard line, but Alex Musolino fumbled, and again the Lyons were thwarted.

     The Falcons began the second half with Wyckoff’s first touchdown and a 19-0 lead. The Lions’ ensuing drive lasted just one play, cut short by an interception by Seneca’s Shane Farr at the Lyons’ 6-yard line, and Wyckoff scored on the next play.

     Lyons finally engineered a scoring drive midway through the third quarter, helped along by two crucial penalties. Alex Musolino, who rushed for 101 yards in the game, got the touchdown from seven yards out on a pitch-out around left end that featured a nice cutback slice into the end zone.

     South Seneca would get one more score in the fourth quarter – Wyckoff doing it from two yards out this time – as Lyons suddenly found it very hard to get first downs or maintain any kind of momentum.

The Falcons put down 371 yards of total offense to Lyons’ 271. In many ways, the game stats are remarkably close – except for the 51 rushing attempts South Seneca made.

     What made the loss even worse is that it was on Senior Night, and Homecoming.

     Lyons coach Dom Monacelli told his kids after the game they still had a season to play, and could still make Sectionals – but they had to develop a toughness he hadn’t seen tonight.

     “We moved the ball,” he said. “We had drives stop near the goal line. But we didn’t make the plays when we had to. We were knocking on the door but then we’d shoot ourselves in the foot. South Seneca is a good team and you can’t give a good team opportunities. We played a physical game, but we aren’t consistent enough.”

     Lyons also lost two players to injury during the game – linebacker Alex Helmer, one of the better defensive players, who sustained a gash on his leg from a cleat…and quarterback Fera, who left late in the game with a leg injury of his own.

     “We didn’t have all our horses healthy,” said Monacelli.

     The Lions face DeSales next week, hoping for the turnaround that just seems to be a couple of big plays away for this team.

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S. Seneca 6 7 14 7 - 34

Lyons 0 0 6 0 - 6

S – Morgan 10 run (Dey kick wide) 3:19

S – Morgan 7 pass from Szymanski (Dey Kick) 11:13

S – Wyckoff 2 run (pass fails) 9:21

S – Wyckoff 6 run (Szymanski pass to Farr) 8:37

L – Musolino 7 run (pass fails) 6:37

S – Wyckoff run (Dey kick) 6:24

First downs 18 16

Rushes-Yds 51-325 33-164

Passing Yards 46 107

Return Yards 50 77

Comp-Att 4-9-0 10-25-1

Sacked-yds lost 0-0 1-3

Punts – avg 1-52 3-32

Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-2

Penalties – Yds 6-71 7-75

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Fera 5-12, Unknown 1-10, Petty 5-8. South Seneca:

Wyckoff 29-177 3TDs, Morgan 11-90 TD, Wickum 4-40,

Szymanski 4-5, Farr 1-5, Ripa 2-(-6)

0-1-1, 0 yds. SS: Szymanski 4-9-0, 50 yds TD.

DiSanto 3-26, Romaiser 1-1. SS: Pinnette 2-35, Morgan

2-11 TD.

1-13, Petty 1-5. SS: Farr 3-33, Ripa 1-17, Morgan 1-0.