Gabe Duda (20) celebrates with Honesdale teammate Bobby MacDowell (51) after scoring his fifth touchdown Friday night against Carbondale Area. (SCOTT WALSH / STAFF PHOTO)
Honesdale vs. Carbondale Area on Friday, Sept. 28. (SCOTT WALSH / STAFF PHOTO)
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Gabe Duda (20) celebrates with Honesdale teammate Bobby MacDowell (51) after scoring his fifth touchdown Friday night against Carbondale Area. (SCOTT WALSH / STAFF PHOTO)
HONESDALE — Same play, same result.
Gabe Duda ripped off a pair of long touchdown runs on consecutive carries in the second quarter to enable Honesdale to take control and the No. 8 Hornets rolled to a 51-20 victory over Carbondale Area in a nonleague matchup of former Suburban Conference rivals Friday night at the Daniel J. O’Neill Sports Complex.
It was part of a big night for the Honesdale senior. He finished with 267 yards on 18 carries and five touchdowns. He also made a one-handed catch for 24 yards in the third quarter. Defensively, he had seven tackles in the first half, including three for loss, and booted a 45-yard punt.
“He’s our guy,” Honesdale head coach George Howanitz said. “He does what he does. He’s got great vision, great speed and is very physical. He’s our tone-setter. I thought he set the tone early with how hard he runs. I think he wears defenses down with how hard he runs. He does a great job for us.”
Quarterback Abe Bryant and running back Brayden Fritsch added second-half touchdown runs for Honesdale (3-1), which rebounded from a shutout loss to North Pocono last week. Alex Valerio kicked five extra points.
“It was great to bounce back after a tough week last week,” Duda said. “We’ve been in the lab since (last) November. I know these boys, my line, every time we call a play I know where they’re supposed to be. I trust them to make the block. I just get off their butt and get to the end zone.”
Both teams scored on their first possessions. Carbondale Area (2-2) took the opening kickoff and marched 56 yards in 11 plays with Francisco Roman scoring on fourth-and-goal from the 1. However, Gino Patrisso blocked the extra point to keep it 6-0 with 5:59 left in the first.
Honesdale answered with a six-play, 68-yard drive that Duda finished with a 14-yard touchdown run. He then added the two-point conversion run to put the Hornets ahead, 8-6, with 2:18 left in the first.
“We’ve kind of done that this year. Given up a score early and come right down and scored,” Howanitz said. “I think that’s big, just to match. We got the two-point conversion, which was big on top of that. Then the defense did a really nice job holding them down. I thought we made the most of a lot of out opportunities.”
That was still the score midway through the second quarter when Honesdale took over at its 20 following a Carbondale Area punt. Duda took a handoff, slipped a tackle and raced 80 yards for a touchdown and a 15-6 Hornets lead with seven minutes left.
Following an exchange of fumbles and another Carbondale Area punt, Honesdale started at its 44. On first down, Duda again took the handoff, slipped through the line and went 56 yards for the score that made it 23-6 with 1:28 left before halftime.
“It’s kind of ironic because it was the same exact play both times,” Duda said. “I knew my backside tackle had down block on the backer. I just tried to find him and cut off him and it was perfect both times.”
Duda added an 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, then capped his evening with a 22-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
“We were a little shorthanded on defense and it showed,” Carbondale Area head coach Jeff Arthur said. “But Duda is a runner. The kid had a great game, I don’t want to take anything away from him. George (Howanitz) had a great game plan. They just ran that wing-T at us and we just couldn’t make tackles.
“We take the opening drive and we score and we get a little excitement in us. Then it just unraveled for us. Unfortunately we just couldn’t control it. He breaks those runs back-to-back and I think that just broke our backs.”
After Duda’s 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, Caedon Voglino returned the ensuing kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown for Carbondale Area with 5:01 to go. It was his third kickoff return for a touchdown this season. The Chargers’ other score came with 3:38 remaining in the fourth on a 24-yard halfback option pass from Roman to Mason Voglino. Levi Gabriel kicked both extra points.