Lukas Gumble led a 318-yard Lackawanna Trail ground attack and scored three first-half touchdowns Thursday night while leading the Lions back into the state football playoffs with a 40-7 romp over visiting Jenkintown in the District 1-2 Class A Subregional championship game.
Gumble helped the District 2 champion Lions open leads of 13-0 after one quarter, 28-0 at halftime and 34-0 through three quarters.
The Lions (8-4) advance into the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A playoffs where they will play at District 11 champion Northern Lehigh (11-1), the team that knocked them out of last season’s state tournament when both participated in Class 2A.
Gumble needed just 8 carries to produce 125 yards and 2 of his 3 touchdowns.
Jacob Bartush (7-for-77), Demetrius Douglas (5-for-62) and Stephen Jervis also ran for touchdowns.
The Lions averaged more than 8½ yards per carry.
Gumble scored touchdowns a minute apart in the middle of the first quarter for a 13-0 lead. He ran 66 yards to set himself up for the first score on a 5-yard run, then picked up an errant option pitch and ran 24 yards for the score.
Lackawanna Trail’s defense knocked Jenkintown starting quarterback James Martin out of the game with an injury in the second quarter.
The Drakes still managed to drive inside the 10 before a Hunter Patterson sack forced them to settle for a 38-yard field goal that missed.
Jervis scored from the 1 and Gumble added a 13-yard touchdown for the 28-0 halftime lead.
Douglas ran for a touchdown in the third quarter and Bartush opened the fourth quarter with a touchdown to invoke the Mercy Rule at 40-0.
