Pioneers avenge loss with blowout of Thunder

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s potent offense leaped out to a 35-3 lead.

By DAVE LAURIHA

SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR

WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — It wasn’t supposed to be worse this week for the Thunder.

Granted, Mahoning Valley was in the middle of a brutal three-game stretch with its trip to Pennsylvania to face the strong Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers, who were ranked seventh in the latest af2 poll.

The Pioneers, bitter about suffering their first defeat of the season last week, took out that frustration on the Thunder on Saturday.

Scoring the first seven times it had the ball, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton lowered the boom on the Thunder, 80-43.

Mahoning Valley, 1-3 in the Eastern Division of the American Conference, was the wrong team in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When David Davis kicked a 23-yard field goal to give the Pioneers an 80-30 lead, it was the most points the Thunder have allowed in franchise history, and there was still 11:41 to play in the game.

The Pioneers galloped to their 20th straight win at Wachovia Arena, and improved to a 3-1 to stay atop the East.

“That’s the best team we’ve played this season,” Thunder coach Mike Hold said. “No disrespect to Tulsa [which beat the Thunder last week, 79-35].”

Last week’s 63-56 road loss to Kentucky lit a fire under the Pioneers, and no facet of the Thunder game was left unscathed.

On the Thunder’s first seven plays from scrimmage, quarterback Blake Powers misfired on his first five passes, and was sacked for a loss on another. The only gain was a 19-yard scramble by Powers on the Thunder’s first play.

The defense gave up five touchdowns on the Pioneers’ first 10 plays of the game.

On special teams, a lost fumble on a kickoff set up a 1-yard scoring drive.

All the hopes of improving on last week’s 34-point loss to Tulsa seemed gone by the first minute of the second quarter, when Kirby Griffin caught a 6-yard scoring pass from Ryan Vena. When Davis booted his fifth extra point of the game, the Pioneers had a 35-3 lead and the Thunder had completed just one pass.

The second quarter did not go much better for the Thunder, even though the offense scored a pair of touchdowns.

The Pioneers did not even need to go on offense to make it 56-17 late in the first half. Powers was hit, fumbled the ball, and Troy Blackwell picked up and rumbled for a touchdown.

Another lost fumble — recovered by former Thunder defensive end Royce Morgan with five seconds left in the first half — did not result in any points as Davis missed a 28-yard field goal as time expired.

“We had a couple of fumbles, but those were forced, those were hard hits,” Hold said. “We had trouble with pass protection in the first half.”

That was the only time the Pioneers’ offense sputtered as Vena hit 11 of 14 passes for 218 yards and five touchdowns.

Powers, making his first start, rebounded to complete seven of 14 passes by halftime. He tossed a 39-yard scoring pass to Quorey Payne and scored his third rushing touchdown of the season, but falling so far behind so soon rendered most Thunder offensive statistics meaningless.

“You can’t have first halves like that and expect to win,” Hold said. “Fifty-six points in the first half ...”

The third quarter, which had been the worst statistically for the Thunder entering the game, ended up being the best of the first three Saturday, but they were still outscored, 21-13. Starting the night, the Thunder had scored just 20 points in the third quarter.

But more important than the points was the desire Hold saw in his team.

“They could have quit, but they didn’t,” Hold said. “We did outscore them in the second half, 26-24, and I know that doesn’t mean much (in terms of the score), it showed me a lot.

“We’re a good team.”

Powers did not throw any interceptions and hit 15 of 29 for 219 yards and three touchdowns, all to Payne.

Payne, who returned a kickoff for a touchdown, ended up with eight catches for 173 yards for the Thunder.