Hunter Patterson ran for touchdowns on consecutive Lackawanna Trail offensive plays early in the fourth quarter Friday night as the Lions pulled away to defeat visiting Riverside, 41-19, in a District 2 Class 2A football semifinal.
Lackawanna Trail (7-3) stopped a two-game losing streak and will host Dunmore (4-6) for the district title.
Riverside, which finished 2-9, used two Noah Parchinski touchdown passes in the third quarter to close within 21-19 going into the fourth quarter.
Lackawanna Trail began ripping off chunks of yards on the ground in a scoring drive that began in the third quarter.
The Lions, however, wound up with third-and-12 two plays into the fourth quarter.
Owen Lisk hit Miles Edwards for 19 yards and a first down and Patterson ran right up the middle for an 18-yard touchdown on the next play.
R.J. Schirg stopped the next Riverside play for no gain, then Lisk, Lukas Gumble and Max Kimmel broke up passes on the next three plays to set up the Lions on the Vikings 29.
Patterson scored from there on the next play.
Josh Oliver added a 4-yard touchdown run on the game’s final play.
Lackawanna Trail’s wing-T offense churned out 24 first downs, 363 rushing yards on 50 carries and 445 yards of total offense.
Patterson carried 15 times for 150 yards and 3 touchdowns, Kody Cresswell carried 18 times for 120 yards and Gumble ran 8 times for 48 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Lisk was 3-for-6 for 82 yards passing.
Johnny Halter had 2 catches for 63 yards to go along with 2 interceptions.
Lackawanna Trail won the first meeting of the two teams, 34-0, on the same field in the third week of the season.
The Lions had more difficulty this time.
Patterson ran for the only touchdown of the first quarter and a 7-0 lead.
Reese Gaughan took a reverse 34 yards for the tying touchdown to begin the second quarter.
Lackawanna Trail opened a 21-7 halftime lead on a pair of Gumble touchdown runs.
Parchinski’s third-quarter touchdown passes were 38 yards to Casey O’Brien and 10 yards to Gaughan, but an attempt for the tying two-pointer failed.
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Scoreboard: https://nepasportsnation.com/fridays-district-2-football-scoreboard/.
