Woodland Park pulls away in second half

The Woodland Park Panthers had to run halfback Paul Krupp for more than 250 yards before defeating the Liberty Lancers 31-16 at District 20 Stadium on Friday night.

The Lancers (5-3 overall and 3A Southern) scored first in this turnover and penalty-plagued game. Liberty stopped a Panther drive at the Lancer 40-yard line when Matt Ascione dropped Krupp on fourth down for a 3-yard loss and Liberty took over.

The Lancers scored on three plays with the keys being a 40-yard pass from Ryan Mattice to Scott Heckathorn to the Panther 2, and the touchdown on a 2-yard run by Ascione. The point-after try was no good and Liberty led 6-0 with 5:15 left in the first quarter.

Woodland Park (8-0, 8-0) scored next on an 8-yard run by Krupp. The score was set up by a Panther interception. The PAT was good by Nick Brown and the Panthers led 7-6 with 2:44 left in the half.

The Lancers had a 35-yard field goal by Dan Wasson with 1:42 left. However, Brown connected on a 36-yard field goal as the half ended to make the Panther lead 10-9.

A Mattice interception led to the next Panther touchdown with 10:56 left in the third period. From this point, Woodland Park pulled away on the powerful running of Krupp.

The Lancers closed the gap to eight points, at 24-16, before the Panthers closed out the scoring with an 8-yard touchdown run by Sean Hollohan. The PAT by Brown was good.

"I'm so happy with the effort of the kids," noted Lancer coach Dick Geddes. "The kids played with so much heart and effort and I thought they really did a good job. Woodland Park is a super team."

- Paul G. Wallace may be reached at 636-0250 or at gtsports@gazette.com

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