Hazleton Dominates Coughlin

By JOE PETRUCCI [email protected]
Saturday, October 20, 2001 Page: 3B

HAZLETON – Pick a number: 22, 20, 7 or 0.

Either of those four numbers alone likely would’ve given Hazleton Area a
victory over Coughlin on Friday night.
Hazleton’s No. 22 Matt McGowan scored four touchdowns. Teammate No. 20 Josh
Heck rushed for 197 yards. Cougar quarterback, No. 7 Scott Bisco, threw for

through two and a half quarters.

All four numbers gave the Cougars a 40-7 rout of the Crusaders in Northeast
Pennsylvania Football Conference interdivision action.

McGowan, a sophomore, rushed eight times for 75 yards and two scores and
caught three balls for 99 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He scored the game’s
first four touchdowns in the first half.

“He made some moves I can’t even describe,” Hazleton coach Rocco Petrone
said. “There’s always good blocking up front and downfield. You have them
respecting Bisco and the pass. We had to take what was there and McGowan is an
outstanding runner.”

So is Heck. The Cougar junior scored the final two touchdowns for Hazleton
(6-2, 2-1 NEPFC Div. 1) on an 11-yard run off tackle late in the first half
and an 80-yard scamper on a lead draw with 1:17 left in the third quarter to
invoke the mercy rule.

“It’s only a matter of time when Josh is going to break out. He’s one of
the best backs in the conference and we’re going to continue to give him the
ball the rest of the year,” said Petrone.

McGowan opened the scoring, taking a screen pass 71 yards for a touchdown.
Midway through the first quarter, he scored on a 5-yard run. Just over three
minutes into the second, he scored on a counter play, rushing 51 yards for the
score. Three minutes later, he scored on a double screen, taking a Bisco pass
in the left flat 28 yards into the end zone.

“They played a helluva game,” said Coughlin coach Pat Patte Jr. “We had
a tough time tackling them and they did a nice job cutting back. We were good
at the point of attack, but we missed them on the back side.”

The Crusaders (0-8, 0-3 NEPFC Div. 2 South) missed almost everything on
offense. Through three quarters, they only had two rushes for more than 5
yards and just one pass over 10 yards.

Frank Sipple scored the lone Coughlin touchdown when he picked off Cougar
backup Marty Budda and returned it 39 yards.

Hazleton hosts Wyoming Valley West next week in a game that will likely end
one of the teams’ district playoff hopes.