Honesdale, PA — BY SCOTT WALSH [email protected] Sep 28, 2024 HONESDALE — Honesdale and Western Wayne moved the ball offensively Friday night. The difference, though, was the Hornets had trouble finishing off their drives while the Wildcats had Josh Vinton capping theirs. The senior continued his standout season by rushing for 246 yards and five touchdowns on 20 carries — all in the first three quarters — as Western Wayne notched a 49-20 win in a Lackawanna Football Conference Division II game at Honesdale's Daniel J. O'Neill Sports Complex. "Everything comes from my offensive line, my wide receivers blocking downfield and my fullback leading the way through the hole," said Vinton, who scored five touchdowns for the second straight week and surpassed 1,000 yards for the season (1,096). "I credit them for everything. They're like my bodyguards out there." Fellow senior Sean Owens caught three passes for 57 yards and a score for the Wildcats, who totaled 386 yards to improve to 1-0 in the league and 6-0 overall. They won their 10th straight in the series with their Wayne County rival. Western Wayne is ranked No. 2 in The Times-Tribune Top 10 and No. 5 in the state in Class 3A. Honesdale (0-2, 2-4) racked up 380 total yards (199 rushing, 181 passing). Senior Mason Avery had 113 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries, while senior quarterback Aiden Collins was 15 for 25 for 174 yards. He also ran for a score. However, the Hornets lost three fumbles — two in Western Wayne territory — and had two drives halted on downs inside the Wildcats 20. "That's been our story the past three or four weeks," Honesdale coach Paul Russick said. "We're doing all the right things. No question our offense is driving the ball down the field, we're just not finishing. We need something to get us over the hump." In the first half, Collins had 115 yards passing and Honesdale had 15 first downs. Not helping matters for Western Wayne was having two starters in the secondary, Vinny Silon and Archer Long, go out with injuries. But coach Shane Grodack said the team made adjustments at halftime to slow Collins, and cited the play of junior R.J. Walton, who was pressed into action. "We were able to get a little more pressure in the middle on the quarterback and make him uncomfortable in the pocket," Grodack said. "And R.J. stepped up big time for us." Walton also ran for 49 yards on six carries late and scored the Wildcats' final touchdown on a 3-yard run with 2:52 left in the fourth quarter. Grodack rewarded Walton with the game ball. "Two of our players went down and coach needed me so I had to step up," Walton said. "This feels good." Things started bad for Honesdale immediately. On the game's third play, the shotgun snap from center sailed over Collins' head and Seth Montijo recovered for Western Wayne at the Hornets 4. Two plays later, Vinton scored on a 1-yard run and the first of Jacob Wells' seven extra points made it 7-0 just 1:27 into the contest. On the ensuing possession, the Hornets drove to the Western Wayne 8 in 11 plays. However, they fumbled on a bad handoff exchange and Jared Goldman recovered for the Wildcats. That led to a seven-play, 88-yard drive, which Vinton finished with a 6-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 with 29 seconds left in the first quarter. Collins scored on a 1-yard sneak to culminate a 12-play, 65-yard drive with 8:45 to go in the second quarter. Rylan Montgomery's kick cut the deficit to 14-7. But Owens swung the momentum back to Western Wayne when he returned the ensuing kickoff 41 yards. With a Honesdale facemask penalty tacked on, it gave the Wildcats the ball at the Hornets 29. Two plays later, Vinton scored on a 23-yard run to make it 21-7 with 7:46 left in the second. Vincent Baldini sacked Collins on fourth-and-6 from the Wildcats 9, setting up a six-play, 84-yard scoring drive by Western Wayne. Vinton had a 61-yard run, as well as the 11-yard touchdown run that made it 28-7 with 30 seconds left before halftime. "The guys out there all understand that when 28 (Vinton) is getting the ball, we're all blocking," Grodack said. "You look at our wide receivers downfield, they're blocking. That's why we're getting big runs. Ten guys all in helping one guy carry the ball. It's a team effort and our offensive line is delivering every week." Vinton had a 2-yard touchdown run with 9:25 left in the third quarter and Owens caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from quarterback John Pyatt with 4:33 to go in the third to make it 42-7. Mason Avery had a 26-yard touchdown run and Wyatt Avery a 7-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for Honesdale. [email protected];