Lackawanna Trail senior Lucas Evans and Riverside graduate Tavian Branch had outstanding seasons and were dominant linemen in the Lackawanna Football Conference.<\/p>\n
The two standout athletes were selected as the winners of the James \u201cHookey\u201d Reap Awards, presented by the District 11 American Legion since 1957.<\/p>\n
Evans, a 6-foot-3, 265-pound four-year starter for the Lions, helped pave the way for one of the most productive offensive running games in the state. He was one of the key reasons Lackawanna Trail finished 12-2 this season and was the champion of the LFC Division III and District 2 Class 1A.<\/p>\n
The 6-5, 300-pound Branch, who has enrolled at Auburn University, is a repeat defensive winner. He powered the Vikings to an 8-3 record and the District 2 Class 2A semifinals.<\/p>\n
North Pocono tackle Cole Zimmerman was the runner-up to Evans for the offensive award. North Pocono\u2019s Evan Wolff was the runner-up to Branch for the defensive honor.<\/p>\n
Evans is a two-time Pennsylvania Football Writers\u2019 All-State and Times-Tribune All-Region selection. He was part of a physical line for the Lions\u2019 Wing-T offense that produced 4,539 yards rushing in 13 games. Lackawanna Trail averaged 372.7 total yards per game.<\/p>\n
In his career as a starter, Lackawanna Trail won four District 2 Class 1A championships.<\/p>\n
Evans is the third lineman from Lackawanna Trail to win the award. He joins Morris Jackson, a two-time winner of the offensive award in 2000 and 2001, and Mark Dunckle, who earned the defensive honor in 2019.<\/p>\n
Branch, who initially committed to Rutgers, then Penn State, and is now at Auburn after enrolling early, was a force on defense for Riverside. A two-time All-Region selection, he had 40 tackles, 29 solo stops and 12 tackles for loss. The powerful interior lineman had six sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, four batted passes, 20 quarterback hurries, a blocked punt and two blocked kicks.<\/p>\n
In three seasons, Branch finished with 117 tackles, 49 tackles for loss, 18.5 sacks, six forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, two blocked punts and four blocked kicks.<\/p>\n
Branch is one of five Hookey Reap winners from Riverside. Bob Balkunas won the defensive award in 1978, Ben Thomas won the offensive award in 1995, Joe Kowalski won for defense in 1997 and Tom Bennie won the defensive award in 2008.<\/p>\n
Zimmerman and Wolff helped lead North Pocono to the LFC Division I and District 2 Class 4A championships and a school-record 13 wins in 2025.<\/p>\n
Hookey Reap past winners<\/p>\n
1957: Leonard Kresefski, Old Forge<\/p>\n
1958: Leonard Kresefski, Old Forge<\/p>\n
1959: Pete Kwolek, Blakely<\/p>\n
1960: Marty Marino, Old Forge<\/p>\n
1961: Lou Astolfi, Old Forge<\/p>\n
1962: Lou Astolfi, Old Forge<\/p>\n
1963: William Stetzar, West Scranton<\/p>\n
1964: Jim Kane, Dunmore<\/p>\n
1965: Gino Merli, Blakely<\/p>\n
1966: Ernie Weston, Blakely<\/p>\n
1967: Dan Toolan, Blakely<\/p>\n
1968: Tom Wascura, Blakely<\/p>\n
1969: Charlie Raymond, Dunmore<\/p>\n
1970: John Cheplick, Valley View<\/p>\n
1971: Charlie Scalamonti, Valley View<\/p>\n
1972: O \u2014 Jim Walton, Valley View,\u00a0D \u2014 Jim Moran, Valley View<\/p>\n
1973: O \u2014 Henry Wylam, Old Forge,\u00a0D \u2014 Lou Coviello, Dunmore<\/p>\n
1974: O \u2014 Chris Matics, Scranton Prep,\u00a0D \u2014 Chris Belardi, Central<\/p>\n
1975: O \u2014 Ed Bugno, West Scranton,\u00a0D \u2014 Mike Yaworski, Valley View<\/p>\n
1976: O \u2014 Jim Giombetti, Valley View,\u00a0D \u2014 Steve Hricenak, Abington Hts.<\/p>\n
1977: O \u2014 Vince Tomasetti, Old Forge,\u00a0D \u2014 Lou Armezzani, Valley View<\/p>\n
1978: O \u2014 Darrell Frantz, Scranton Central,\u00a0D \u2014 Bob Balkunas, Riverside<\/p>\n
1979: O \u2014 Doug Davis, Abington Heights,\u00a0D \u2014 Jim Simrell, Scranton Central<\/p>\n
1980: O \u2014 Jack Miles, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Pete Giombetti, Valley View<\/p>\n
1981: O \u2014 Chris Clauss, Lakeland, D \u2014 Bob Charette, Scranton Tech<\/p>\n
1982: O \u2014 Chris Clauss, Lakeland,\u00a0D \u2014 Gary O\u2019Grady, Scranton Prep<\/p>\n
1983: O \u2014 Brock Edwards, North Pocono,\u00a0D \u2014 Glen Pazzalia, Valley View<\/p>\n
1984: O \u2014 Len Kresefski, Scranton Prep,\u00a0D \u2014 Ernie Sebastianelli, Valley View<\/p>\n
1985: O \u2014 Gary Murracco, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Marc Spindler, West Scranton<\/p>\n
1986: O \u2014 Rick Bray, Valley View,\u00a0D \u2014 Marc Spindler, West Scranton<\/p>\n
1987: O \u2014 Rick Bray, Valley View,\u00a0D \u2014 Tom Prawdzik, Lakeland<\/p>\n
1988: O \u2014 Dan Pidgeon, Lakeland,\u00a0D \u2014 Tim Ruddy, Dunmore<\/p>\n
1989: O \u2014 Tim Ruddy, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Tim Ruddy, Dunmore<\/p>\n
1990: O \u2014 Greg Murphy, Scranton Prep,\u00a0D \u2014 Dave Rebar, Mid Valley<\/p>\n
1991: O \u2014 Sean Whitelavich, North Pocono,\u00a0D \u2014 Keith Olsommer, North Pocono<\/p>\n
1992: O \u2014 Jason Sepkowski, North Pocono,\u00a0D \u2014 Kelly Peters, Valley View<\/p>\n
1993: O \u2014 Derek Forgione, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Ron Walter, West Scranton<\/p>\n
1994: O \u2014 Carmen LiBassi, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Greg Caucci, Lakeland<\/p>\n
1995: O \u2014 Ben Thomas, Riverside,\u00a0D \u2014 Harry Kirias, Dunmore<\/p>\n
1996: O \u2014 Dan Kozlowski, Valley View,\u00a0D \u2014 P.J. Spano, West Scranton<\/p>\n
1997: O \u2014 Kevin Johnson, North Pocono,\u00a0D \u2014 Joe Kowalski, Riverside<\/p>\n
1998: O \u2014 Kevin Manning, Abington Heights,\u00a0D \u2014 Adam Smith, Abington Heights<\/p>\n
1999: O \u2014 Joe Boniewicz, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Bret Leavesley, Abington Heights<\/p>\n
2000: O \u2014 Morris Jackson, Lackawanna Trail,\u00a0D \u2014 Pat Carrube, Lakeland<\/p>\n
2001: O \u2014 Morris Jackson, Lackawanna Trail, D \u2014 Mark Mushel, Lakeland<\/p>\n
2002: O \u2014 Mike Boccella, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Shoaib Tajak, Scranton<\/p>\n
2003: O \u2014 Chris Borgna, Lakeland,\u00a0D \u2014 Chris Bennett, Lakeland<\/p>\n
2004: O \u2014 Keith Galinsky, Lakeland,\u00a0D \u2014 Jesse Hinkley, Scranton<\/p>\n
2005: O \u2014 Stephen Bennett, Lakeland, D \u2014 Frank Emmett, Abington Heights<\/p>\n
2006: O \u2014 Spencer DePhillips, Abington Heights, O \u2014 Joe Lemoncelli, Lakeland, D \u2014 Hubie Graham,West Scranton<\/p>\n
2007: O \u2014 Hubie Graham, West Scranton,\u00a0D \u2014 Hubie Graham,West Scranton<\/p>\n
2008: O \u2014 Eric Shrive, West Scranton,\u00a0D \u2014 Tom Bennie, Riverside<\/p>\n
2009: O \u2014 Sal Conaboy, Abington Hts.,\u00a0D \u2014 Evan Craig, Abington Hts.<\/p>\n
2010: O \u2014 Paul Gaughan, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Morgan Craig, Abington Hts.<\/p>\n
2011: O \u2014 Chris Cicilioni, Valley View,\u00a0D \u2014 Mike Galantini, Valley View<\/p>\n
2012: O \u2014 Mike Boland, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Mike Boland, Dunmore<\/p>\n
2013: O \u2014 Ryan Paulish, Old Forge,\u00a0D \u2014 Noah Beh, Scranton Prep<\/p>\n
2014: O \u2014 Dan Drewes, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Tim Drewes, Dunmore<\/p>\n
2015: O \u2014 Corey Christian, Scranton Prep,\u00a0D \u2014 Thor Balavage, Scranton Prep<\/p>\n
2016: O \u2014 Kyle Polishan, Scranton Prep,\u00a0D \u2014 Nick Shoemaker, Dunmore<\/p>\n
2017: O \u2014 Jerry Longo, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Nick Shoemaker, Dunmore<\/p>\n
2018: O \u2014 Brian Durkin, Valley View,\u00a0D \u2014 Daniel Belardi, Scranton Prep<\/p>\n
2019: O \u2014 John Shnipes, Valley View,\u00a0D \u2014 Mark Dunckle, Lackawanna Trail<\/p>\n
2020: O \u2014 CJ Dippre, Lakeland,\u00a0D \u2014 Cross Douglas, Lakeland<\/p>\n
2021: O \u2014 Tyler Swartz, Valley View,\u00a0D \u2014 Josh Angelo, Mid Valley<\/p>\n
2022: O \u2014 Adam Wormuth, Lakeland,\u00a0D \u2014 Lacota Dippre, Lakeland<\/p>\n
2023: O \u2014 Nathan Reuther, Dunmore,\u00a0D \u2014 Chris Conte, Dunmore<\/p>\n
2024: O \u2014 Ambrose Rossi, Scranton Prep,\u00a0D \u2014 Tavian Branch, Riverside<\/p>\n
2025: O \u2014 Lucas Evans, Lackawanna Trail,\u00a0D \u2014 Tavian Branch, Riverside<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lackawanna Trail senior Lucas Evans and Riverside graduate Tavian Branch had outstanding seasons and were dominant linemen in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-83821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-high-school-sports","9":"tag-scranton","10":"tag-scranton-headlines","11":"tag-scranton-news","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}