West York wins first game of season for a confidence boost

Friday night's game at Fawn Grove was a battle of two young teams looking for a positive result.

West York beat Kennard-Dale,33-6, for its first win of the season behind a stout rushing attack and a defense that gave up only one first down in the first three quarters.

"These kids needed something positive," West York head coach Jeremy Jones said. "We knew after the beginning of the season, we needed to get something positive, and we finally got that today."

West York played a brutal early-season schedule, but now the Bulldogs get to face some teams their own size in the YAIAA Division II slate.

Friday night, they kicked off their second division game with a bang, when on their third offensive play of the game, Cadence Thomas took the handoff and ignited the burners for a 46-yard touchdown run down the visitors' sideline. Thomas galloped for 181 yards on 20 carries in the contest.

"I think getting Ay'Juan Marshall helps," Jones said. "It allows us to rotate tailbacks a little more, and keeps us fresher, it's a tremendous help."

Jones inserted a rather spry Marshall on the second drive or the game, and he dashed around to the left and and inside the pylon for a 6-yard score to make it 14-0.

While Kennard-Dale is still searching for that elusive first win, the Rams found some positives.

After giving up a 33-yard run to Thomas on the third West York drive, the Rams stacked the line and stopped two attempts by Thomas to score on the goal line. On third down, fullback Nick Spadafora barely fought his way across the line to make it 20-0.

Later, West York quarterback Anton Johnson scored on a 5-yard keeper before the half to make it 26-0, but Tanner Harkins broke through the line and swatted down the extra point kick.

Nothing came easy for West York in the second half. Their 15-play drive to start the third came up empty. Then, it took them eight plays to go half the field and put up another score on the legs of Thomas.

"We made some adjustments at half," Kennard-Dale head coach Christopher Grube said. "Only giving up seven points in the second half, I'm very happy with that."

Grube also noted that all of his team's defensive captains missed the game with injuries, and that the Rams have six or seven underclassmen starters on each side of the ball.

The Rams put together an impressive two-minute drive with backup quarterback Dalton Stike in the game, scoring with eight seconds left.

West York_14_12_0_7_—_33    
Kennard-Dale_0_0_0_6_—_6 
First Quarter
WY -- Cadence Thomas 46 run (Evan Keim kick), 9:14 
WY -- Ay' Juan Marshall 6 run (Keim kick), 8:14 
Second Quarter
WY -- Nick Spadafora 2 run (kick blocked), 10:37 
WY -- Anton Johnson 5 run (kick blocked), 4:38 
Fourth Quarter 
WY -- Thomas 5 run (Keim kick), 9:51
KD -- Wyatt McCleary 5 pass from Dalton Stike (kick failed), 0:08 
Team statistics
 _._WY_ KD
First downs_18_9 
Rushes-Yards_50-300_33-91 
Passing_3-10-0_7-14-0 
Passing Yards_36_37 
Total Yards_336_128 
Punts_2-41.5_5-36.8 
Fumbles-Lost_5-0_4-0
Penalties-Yards_8-65_3-35 
Individual Statistics

Rushing — West York, Cadence Thomas 20-181, Ay' Juan Marshall 10-43, Anton Johnson 10-39, Joe King 1-21, Jamal Anderson 2-16, Nick Spadafora 4-11, Willie Martin 2-(-5), Tyshaun Powell 1-(-6). Kennard-Dale, Dalton Stike 8-41, Wyatt McCleary 13-40, Michael Lizzi 4-14, Mark Hushon 4-13, Noah Hulslander 4-(-17).
Passing — West York, Johnson 3-10-0-36, Martin 0-0-0-0. Kennard-Dale, Hulslander 3-7-0-4, Stike 4-7-0-33.
Receiving — West York, Andrew Lamanna 2-14, King 1-22. Kennard-Dale, McCleary 3-13, Jonathan Brown 1-14, Joshua Vipperman 1-7,  Hushon 1-5, Lizzi 1-(-2).