Thunder no match for Pioneers in 62-33 loss

By TOM ROBINSON

Mahoning Valley will finish the season in last place in the af2 East Division.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers had already locked up a repeat of their af2 East Division championship.

Saturday night, the Pioneers locked the Mahoning Valley Thunder in the cellar.

Ryan Vena threw for five touchdowns and Kirby Griffin ran for three as the Pioneers posted a 62-33 victory to assure that the Thunder will finish the season in last place in the East.

“In the first half, our offense was pretty good but we couldn’t get any stops,” Thunder coach Mike Hold said. “In the second half, we turned the ball over.

“We can’t get both sides going at the same time. Give them credit, but we can’t fumble three times in the second half and expect to be in it with a team like that.”

The game kept alive two long streaks while completing an unbeaten home season for the Pioneers and a winless road season for the Thunder. The Pioneers (13-2) finished their second straight perfect season at the Wachovia Arena with their 20th straight regular-season home victory. The Thunder (3-12) lost its 11th straight on the road.

Royce Morgan had three sacks and forced two fumbles as the Thunder held the Pioneers to 20 points in the second half after allowing 42 in the first half. The offense, however, responded with just one score in the final 30 minutes.

“[Morgan] caused us problems,” Pioneers coach Rich Ingold said. “Our fullbacks got exposed. They slowed us down and we turned the ball over because of him. He caused havoc.”

There was no stopping the Pioneers in the first half.

Three of the game’s first four passes resulted in touchdowns of at least 30 yards.

Quorey Payne got behind the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defense and Shane Adler floated a pass to him for a 36-yard touchdown less than four minutes into the game. The score was sandwiched between touchdown passes by Vena of 30 yards to Rich Musinski and 32 yards to J.J. Outlaw.

The teams combined to score touchdowns on their first seven possessions, but eventually the Thunder was unable to keep pace with the Pioneers.

Mahoning Valley never led, but forced two ties before a missed extra point left Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with a 21-20 lead early in the second quarter.

Micheaux Robinson, a Fostoria, Ohio native and former Otterbein College player, stopped the trading of touchdowns when he intercepted an Adler pass to end the Thunder’s fourth possession.

“They whipped us up front,” Hold said. “Our quarterback was on his butt all night long.

“When you don’t have time to set up and go through your reads, you’re just dropping back and hoping a guy’s open.”

The Pioneers kept rolling, producing touchdowns on all six first-half possessions for a 42-26 lead at intermission. Vena, the reigning af2 Offensive Player of the Year, threw five touchdown passes in the half, three to Outlaw and two to Musinski.

Outlaw caught a fourth touchdown pass in the second half from back-up quarterback Matt Schabert.

Adler finished with four touchdown passes – two each to Payne and Clenton Rafe. Tim Murphy and John Tackmann ran for touchdowns for the Thunder, which finishes its season July 26 at home at 7:05 against Green Bay.