Flying to Five: Wildcats Earn 5th Straight Win in 51-20 Victory Over Comets

Tagged under: District 6, Gameday Hub, News

Luke Rainey | October 1, 2021

KENWOOD–The Wildcats’ streak continues without interruption, and there are no signs that suggest they are slowing down any time soon.

Homer-Center added a fifth consecutive tally to their 2021 Wins column in an eviscerating 51-20 victory over the Comets.

For Penns Manor, the loss seemed to duplicate what has become a demoralizing theme for their 2021 season, where the game slid far out of their reach after a brutal sequence to start the game. Against the Wildcats, they fell behind 31-0 after Homer-Center scored their fourth touchdown with 3:27 in the second quarter.

Wildcats’ Head Coach Greg Page explained what has driven his team’s growing winning streak.

“They’ve been a good, cohesive unit,” he said. “We have guys that are making plays and guys working really hard up front.”

Penns Manor deferred to the Wildcats at kickoff, who began with a slow-paced drive and ran with Collin Troup on eight occasions during their 10-play drive. He finished it with a 7-yard touchdown, accumulating 53 rushing yards throughout the drive.

A three-and-out for the Comets returned the Wildcats’ offense to the field. They faced third-and-8 on the first dset of downs, but it merely presented the opportunity for McAnulty to throw a 76-yard strike to Michael Krejocic for Homer-Center’s second touchdown.

The Comets briefly pushed into midfield after a 12-yard carry by Max Hill moved them to Homer-Center’s 48-yard line, but the drive stalled and led to another punt.

Landon Hill took command of the rushing attack for the Wildcats. He had six runs on the possession, including a 36-yard zig-zagging carry through multiple Comet defenders. He followed it with a 23-yard run, and then a touchdown for 2 yards.

One of the few weaknesses for Homer-Center in the 2021 season has been an absent kicking game. However, after Hill’s touchdown, the Wildcats successfully attempted their first of three extra point kicks from Michael Krejocic to make a 23-0 lead.

Coach Page outlined the rationale and benefits of having the ability to kick extra points.

“We got a couple 2-point conversions, but it’s nice to be able to do both things. We’ve been working on it, so depending on the situation and the score in the game, we can now make our decision on that.”

“That was a major positive tonight,” he added.

Justin Marshall moved the Comets into Homer-Center’s 22-yard line to open their drive, but the scoring opportunity fell short when Hill was intercepted by Anthony Rowland on fourth-and-15. He returned it to the 45-yard line to set up another touchdown for the Wildcats. Troup ran for an additional seven carries and 55 yards, scoring his second touchdown on a 14-yard run.

Perils continued for the struggling Comets’ offense, but a rare mistake by the Wildcats helped Penns Manor score their first points. McAnulty threw a backward pass on the drive’s opening play, but it was dropped. Deemed a fumble, Marshall picked up the ball and returned it for a 35-yard touchdown.

Nonetheless, the Wildcats still squeezed in an additional touchdown prior to halftime. With less than 1 minute remaining, McAnulty threw a 42-yard completion to Rowland, who was tackled at the Comets’ 1-yard line. Hill completed the drive and scored with 25 seconds to spare, cementing a 38-8 advantage at halftime.

Homer-Center wasted little time in returning to business at the start of the second half. Penns Manor failed to execute after receiving the kickoff, and the Wildcats scored again through an 11-yard run by Anthony Rowland on a 6-play drive.

Penns Manor was able to chain together a clean offensive possession, running on thirteen consecutive plays and gaining four first downs. The largest carry was ten yards on a run from Marshall, but Alec Johnson scored the Comets’ first offensive touchdown on a five-yard carry.

The secondary starters for both teams entered the game in the final minutes. Freshman quarterback Angelo Alexander scored a 30-yard touchdown for the Wildcats, but the Comets responded with a rushing touchdown from sophomore fullback Dallas Leasure to end the game at 51-20.

Homer-Center appears to be in the early stages of building another team capable of mounting a serious run in the postseason. Their success has been commonplace for the Wildcats under Coach Page, who oversaw the team’s 2017 PIAA 1A State Championship game appearance.

“There are two things that have always made our team work,” he stated. “We have great kids in Homer-Center that work hard and love the game of football. We also have tremendous assistant coaches that have been so consistent through these years.”

“That’s what you always have to do, because everybody else is bringing their best. We just do what we need to do each week to try and win games.”

For the Comets, the loss drops them to a 1-5 record, and Head Coach Bill Packer explained the impact of his team’s struggles to make quick and effective tackles.

“If we do not clean up the tackling, then we’re not beating anybody. We’re just going to come out and work on our tackling. We thought we made improvements since last week, but it was just not acceptable.”

He also recognized the need to make improvements in defensive passing coverage.

“They should know to never let any receiver behind them, and it happened a number of times tonight before halftime. We need to be smarter than that.”

Homer-Center and Penns Manor both face the challenge of battling an undefeated team in Week 7.

The Wildcats will travel to River Valley, while the Comets visit Cambria Heights.

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