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Littlestown runs wild on Hanover homecoming


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The great thing about high school football is that there's always another game next week.

After last week's loss to York Catholic dropped the Littlestown Thunderbolts from the ranks of the unbeaten, and precariously close to the outside of the District 3 Class 3A playoff bubble, Mike Lippy's squad was flying high again Friday night.

Wes Storey rushed for 129 yards and two scores as the Bolts crashed Hanover's homecoming party with a resounding 49-0 victory.

"Everything feels better when you win Friday night, man," Lippy said. "The weekend feels better, the whole week at school feels better."

The Nighthawks defense looked to make a goal-line stand on the first possession of the game.

On fourth down, Storey ran right, but was stacked up at the 5 and stopped. However, his offensive linemen had his back.

Zach Heininger and Malachi Fodor, along with a few others, piled in behind the ball carrier and picked up the fight for the 6-foot, 180-pound Storey, driving him toward the goal line.

He extended the ball across the line as the pile churned downfield.

"I felt that push. I was, like, stopped on my feet, I was just walking," Storey said. "I felt weightless."

Storey was anything but weightless the rest of the night, churning, and charging, and breaking tackles with strong legs and efficient hips. He capped the next drive with a 23-yard slash through the the right side of the defense on third-and-1, then slammed up the middle on the two-point conversion to make it 14-0.

Littlestown ran the ball 18 of 19 plays on its first two drives.

"We love to share the love," Storey said. "We get the ball around to everyone."

Andrew Matthews ran for a first down to start the third drive, and Storey accounted for 13 yards on two wildcat runs before Austin Watters shimmied out of an ankle tackle and scored on a run up the gut to make it 21-0.

"We've got six or seven backs," Lippy said. "If you get in, you get in. If you don't, get happy for the guy that's in."

Littlestown has only one Tyler Barthel, however.

The 6-foot-3 receiver hauled in the second of two touchdowns in the final minute of the first half on a Hail Mary. The ball was tipped by Logan Brown at the 2, but dropped right into the hands of Barthel.

Brown, playing quarterback for Cam Mumma who injured his collarbone a few weeks ago, had his arm in a sling after the game.

Littlestown_6_29_0_14_—_49    
Hanover_0_0_0_0_—_0 
First Quarter

Lt -- Wes Storey 5 run (kick failed), 6:32  
Second Quarter 
Lt --
Storey 23 run (Storey run), 11:53 
Lt -- Austin Watters 15 run (Alex Potts kick), 4:33 
Lt -- Tyler Barthel 8 pass from Tanner Noble (Potts kick), 0:36
Lt -- Barthel 32 pass from Noble (Potts kick), 0:00
Fourth Quarter 
Lt --
Jacob Thomas 18 pass from Jakob Lane (Potts kick), 8:14 
Lt -- Trent Stonesifer 8 run (Potts kick), 1:20
Team statistics
_._Lt_ Han
First downs_22_8 
Rushes-Yards_43-252_30-47 
Passing_11-15-0_8-12-1 
Passing Yards_132_55 
Total Yards_392_102 
Punts_1-28.0_4-30.5 
Fumbles-Lost_1-0_2-1
Penalties-Yards_1-0_5-30 
Individual statistics
Rushing —
Littlestown, Wes Storey 18-129, Andrew Matthews 11-77, Jason Penton 4-26, Austin Watters 2-17, Trent Stonesifer 4-9, Jakob Lane 1-0, Tanner Noble 3-(-6), . Hanover, Justin Barnes 10-28, Griffin Driscoll 3-11, Logan Brown 12-10, Resean Williams 1-1, Jeff Jacoby 4-(-3).  
Passing — Littlestown, Noble 10-13-0-114, Lane 1-2-0-18, Devin Gullickson 0-0-0-0. Hanover, Brown 7-10-1-51, Jacoby 1-2-0-4, Sam Duvall 0-0-0-0.
Receiving — Littlestown, Tyler Barthel 5-66, Alex Potts 3-25, Matthews 1-19, Jacob Thomas 1-18, Ben Snouffer 1-4, . Hanover, Hunter Martz 3-15, Williams 2-19, Fabian Lara 1-10, Theo Johnson 1-7, Josh Postell 1-4.