Johnson, Muncy Mercy Rule Wellsboro

By: Ed Weaver / August 31, 2024

Austin Johnson and the Muncy Indians scored a 49-0 shut out victory over Wellsboro in the battle of two 0-1 teams on Friday, August 30.

Johnson, the new Oklahoma St. wrestling commit, scored three times on the evening - twice on the ground and one interception return - to help his Indians to their first win of the season.

Just under 90 seconds into the contest Muncy's Stiles Eyer connected with Paxton Derr on a 42-yard strike to put the Indians up early.

After the score the Hornets put together their longest drive of the game, spanning seven minutes and 43 seconds, that went down to the Muncy 16 before the Hornets turned the ball over on downs. Muncy's ensuing drive on lasted five plays, but that's when the Indians opened the flood gates.

After Wellsboro got the ball back on a Muncy punt, the Indians defense stepped up as Johnson stepped in front of freshman Griffin Morral's pass and returned it the other way for the Indians' second touchdown of the game with 11:47 left in the half. Two minutes later following Wellsboro's next drive, Johnson hit paydirt for the second time as he ripped off an 83-yard run, pushing Muncy's lead to 21-0. Another two and a half minutes later the Indians struck again, this time Landyn Wommer returned a punt by junior Jonathan Carl 80 yards for the score. Muncy missed the point after try, but still led 27-0.

Muncy enacted the mercy rule late in the half as Johnson found the end zone for the third time in the game on a one-yard run with 40 seconds left. Muncy made the two-point conversion to lead 35-0 as both teams headed into their respective locker rooms.

The Indians scored twice more in the second half under the running clock. Midway through the third quarter Nathan Rogers scored on a 10-yard run, then with 5:07 remaining in the game, Andrew Walters found a seam in the Hornet defense and scored on a QB sneak from 44 yards away.

Johnson led all ball carriers with 145 yards on 10 totes. The Indians tallied 212 yards on the ground on the night. Eyer completed 2-of-5 passes for 68 yards and a score. Derr (1 for 42) and Gavin Barrows (1 for 26) caught Eyer's passes.

Senior Ryder Bowen led the Hornets with 97 yards on 26 carries while freshman Kody Enck added 18 yards on 3 carries. Morral completed 4-of-18 passes for 21 yards and junior Marek Mascho caught 1 pass for 9 yards.

Bowen and junior Dylan Copp both had 5 tackles on the evening, with Bowen also picking up a sack.

Muncy improves to 1-1 (1-0 NTL Small School Division) while the Hornets fall to 0-2 (0-2 NTL Large School Division). The Indians host Cowanesque Valley next Friday evening while the Hornets host Wyalusing on Thursday, September 5 on Hall of Fame Night.