Berwick Survives Late Rally from Hazleton, Emerges Victorious 24-21

Tagged under: District 2, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

Davin Ridall | October 10, 2026

BERWICK – For most of the game, it was the Berwick Bulldogs who were in control, taking a commanding 24-7 lead into the fourth quarter. However, in the game’s final quarter, Hazleton found momentum, scoring two touchdowns to cut Berwick’s lead down to just three points. In the end though, Berwick ultimately prevailed, securing a 24-21 win on homecoming night.

The Bulldogs entered the matchup against the Cougars without starting quarterback Brady Cleaver who was sidelined with an injury. This forced Berwick to use a combination of Shiloh Escobar and Jake Lisnock to each take snaps. Escobar did most of the throwing, while Lisnock was in a couple times for some designed runs.

“We’ve had to adapt offensively, the last two weeks being down a couple guys, we’ve been in a heavy personnel,” Berwick head coach CJ Curry said about his team’s ability to adapt. “We’ve been running the rock, last week we were one for three for negative two yards throwing the ball, we knew that wasn’t a recipe for success throughout the rest of the season, we had to be much more multiple on offense.”

Early on in the game, it was Gavin Galutia making stuff happen for the Bulldogs, he had three carries on Berwick’s four play opening drive. On a first and ten from the Hazleton 35 yard line, Galutia took the handoff to the right, cut back to the left and sprinted his way to the end zone for the game’s first touchdown, putting Berwick ahead 7-0.

Hazleton struggled to move the ball on their first two drives of the game. On the Cougars’ opening possession of the night, they got past their own 40 yard line before two holding penalties killed any chance Hazleton had at converting on third down. The Cougars then went three and out on their second possession, handing the ball right back to Berwick’s offense.

After a couple of empty possessions by both sides, Berwick began to drive once again, after two big runs from Galutia got Berwick inside the Hazleton 30 yard line. The next play for Berwick unfortunately resulted in a fumble that was recovered by Hazleton, halting what seemed to be a very promising drive for the Bulldogs.

While Hazleton had struggled to move the ball up to this point in the game, the Cougars’ next drive featured them getting down inside the Berwick 10 yard line after just two plays. On the opening play, JJ Lantigua connected with Daniel Colon down the sideline who got free for a 51 yard gain, followed up by an 18 yard burst up the middle from Xavier Heck. Two plays later, Lantigua connected with Heck who made a leaping catch in the end zone for the 7 yard score, tying the game back up at 7.

Berwick responded to Hazleton’s quick drive with a slow and steady drive that spanned 72 yards and 10 plays. This time it was Shiloh Escobar that provided the Bulldogs’ ground game with some fire, as he had a couple big runs on the drive, including a quarterback sneak from a yard out that resulted in a touchdown.

Hazleton was looking to answer quickly after the touchdown from the Bulldogs, however just two plays into their next drive, Lantigua’s pass over the middle was intercepted by Escobar and returned back to Hazleton’s 25 yard line late in the first half. This allowed Berwick to get a few more points going into halftime, thanks to a 33 yard field goal from Caleb Yost that extended Berwick’s lead up to 17-7.

Berwick opened the second half with another long drawn out drive that featured almost exclusively run plays. The Bulldogs’ 9 play drive featured 7 runs from Gavin Galutia, including the run to cap off the drive, a one yard touchdown from Galutia for his second of the game, extending the Bulldogs’ lead up to 24-7. Galutia really had a night for himself running the ball, turning 28 carries into 142 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Berwick’s defense did a really good job in the second half continuing to contain Hazleton’s offense, forcing a punt on their opening possession of the third quarter, and coming up with some big defensive plays as well. Early in the fourth quarter, Hazleton found themselves driving, as the Cougars stared at a fourth and short from inside Berwick’s 30 yard line. Lantigua took the snap and rolled right, but before he could make anything happen, Jake Lisnock and Henry Snyder got to him and forced the ball out, before Galutia recovered the fumble.

That drive seemed to end any chance Hazleton had at coming back in this football game, but this one was far from over. Hazleton capped off their next drive with a 46 yard touchdown pass from Lantuigua to Derek Radzwich on fourth down, giving the Cougars life again. The touchdown cut Berwick’s lead down to just 24-14 with a little over 8 minutes left in the fourth.

Hazleton’s defense followed that up by forcing Berwick’s offense to go three and out, giving their offense the ball right back. The game then turned into the Xavier Heck show, as it took the Cougars’ just two plays to go 64 yards, a 23 yard carry from Heck, followed up by a 41 yard sprint up the middle by Heck for a touchdown. All of the sudden, Hazleton had turned this into just a 3 point game with still 5 minutes left to play.

On the ensuing drive, Berwick picked up a first down, then Escobar took a big sack on second down that seemed to put Berwick back into a punting situation. On third down was a big completion to Lisnock that got Berwick closer, but it still left the Bulldogs five yards shy of the first down marker, forcing them into a punting situation.

Berwick head coach CJ Curry sent out the punt team and lined them up in the formation. However the snap never went to the punter, instead it was a direct snap to Jake Lisnock who ran with the ball and picked up the first down and then some, running all the way to the Hazleton 35 yard line, that essentially sealed the win for Berwick.

“They had all the momentum offensively, so we knew if we gave the ball back to them it might be tough for us to get another stop,” Curry said about the fake punt decision. “We’ve been practicing that for a long time, and we went out and executed it. Lisnock, he’s one of our senior guys who we’re counting on and he makes a big time play in a big time moment.”

Berwick needed just two more hand offs to Gavin Galutia to seal the win for the Bulldogs, one that was probably a lot closer than Berwick was expecting when they were up 17 heading into the fourth quarter.

“We certainly had some bend moments on defense, but they never stopped believing, they never stopped fighting for each other,” coach Curry said. “There’s gonna be some times where you have to overcome adversity, that’s what we talk about all offseason and our guys did a good job of doing that tonight.”

Berwick improves to 4-3 on the season with the victory, and they will have another 6A squad coming to town next week when the face Williamsport. Hazleton’s struggles continue as they fall to 1-6 with the loss, and they will be back at home next week facing Wyoming Valley West.