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BAKER'S SPORTS PEN: NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE NTL, DISTRICT 4 FOOTBALL (2020-10-23)

High school football is back and the Friday night lights are shining brightly. With this column and future writings, I hope to offer some weekly news and notes from around the Norther Tier League and District Four football.

Kicking off the schedules with "Rivalry Games" was interesting ... something to consider down the road?

No letdown or rebuild necessary with Southern Columbia. The defending state champions opened their season with a 41-0 shutout of Bloomsburg.

Montoursville is also off to a good start with huge wins over Midd-West (56-7) and Central Columbia. The defending D-4, Class AAA champions defeated the Blue Jays 55-3 this past Friday. The Warriors piled up nearly 400 yards of total offense.

Some additional District 4 teams pocketing wins in their opening two games included Muncy and Jersey Shore. On the other side of the field, Loyalsock has yet to play - the Lancers were forced to postpone their opening two games. A 10-day quarantine took away contests against Warrior Run and Mt. Carmel. Loyalsock looks to kick off it's season Friday at Hughesville.

South Williamsport is also opening its season with a game Friday on the road with Montgomery.

Just two weeks into the campaign and Wyalusing appears to be one of the NTL's more exciting team. The Rams have started out 2-0 with big wins over Towanda (25-0) and Cowanesque Valley (46-21). Kashawn Cameron electrified the home crowd with end-around touchdown runs of 40 and 90 yards against Cowanesque.

Wyalusing has already equaled last year's win total and looks to make it three straight Friday, tentatively scheduled to host Athens. The Wildcats remained at 1-0 following the postponement of their game with Canton.

Balanced offensively, the Rams have averaged 376 total yards in their two wins, including a 500-plus effort against CV.

Quarterback Mitchell Burke totals 384 yards - 179 of them on the ground. Alex Mosier is taking care of the tough yardage with 154 yards rushing to go with three touchdowns.

Burke has two excellent receivers in Cameron (7 receptions for 100 yards) plus Isaiah Way (7 catches for 82 yards).

Put them all together and it's one potent offense that's sure to be lighting up the Raffin Field scoreboard at the Peterson Sports Complex.

Wyalusing also collecting just its fourth win of the decade in the battle for the Bronze Helmet in the Week 1 series matchup with Towanda. The Black Knights maintain their lead in the Helmet series, 21-17.

The battle for the helmet remains a great seasonal matchup, sponsored by the local Lions Clubs. At the conclusion of the season the Lions host a banquet for the seniors of each squad.

After allowing 34 points to Canton in it's Week 1 Old Shoe loss to the Warriors, Troy bounced back with a solid defensive effort in a shutout win over Towanda. The Trojans permitting just 52 total yards to the Black Knights while evening their record at 1-1. Caleb Binford upped his touchdown total to four with a pair of scores against the Knights.

Week 3 serves up a huge matchup for Troy against North Penn-Mansfield (1-0) at Blossburg.

Wellsboro's Matt Hildebrandt became the school's all-time leader in coaching victories with 67 following his team's season-opening win over Cowanesque Valley. The Green Hornets are now 67-15 during Hildebrandt's eight years at the helm.

Some additional Week Two scores of interest from around District 4: Hughesville 37, Warrior Run 13; Jersey Shore 53, Shikellamy 0; Muncy 42, Bucktail 24; Danville 55, Midd-West 22; Shamokin 37, Milton 6; Mifflinburg 17, Lewisburg 14; North Penn-Mansfield 17, Wellsboro 14.

This week's NTL schedule: Athens (1-0) at Wyalusing (2-0); Cowanesque (0-1) at Sayre (0-1); Troy (1-1) at North Penn-Mansfield (1-0); South Williamsport (0-0) at Montgomery (1-1); CMVT (0-1) at Muncy (2-0); Northwest (2-0) at Bucktail (0-2); Wellsboro (1-1) at Canton (1-0), postponed.

With limitations on how many fans are allowed to attend area games, live steaming is now the way to go. A number of schools are using that choice to present Friday Night Lights.

There are also traditional media available for fans – including this web site for roundups of the games. It's important we support our local teams the best way we can.

"”"”"”"”"”"”

Bob Baker is a lifelong resident of Bradford County, and was a longtime sports editor at The Daily Review.

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