Tomahaws Score 62-12 Opening Week Win Over Wolves
March 30, 2025 GEFA Staff
The Great Eastern Football Association started their season off on March 29 with some great match ups. The Hazleton Mustangs, after moving and re-branding into the Lehigh Valley Wolves in the off season, took on the returning Mifflin County Tomahawks and their head coach, Brian Rodgers at Kish Park in Lewistown.
"We spent last season playing an independent schedule and it wasn't as long term as we thought it was going to be. Teams that we were playing against were folding and after finding out that the GEFA was creating a developmental league, I thought it was time to go back. The developmental league was really interesting to me." - Brian Rodgers
The Hazleton Mustangs did a complete overhaul of their roster, losing a lot of key athletes like Anthony Maurent, Jay Mensah, Cortez Adams, Chase Strothers, and a host of others in the off season to other teams. Mustangs owner, Billy Minnick teamed up with Reinaldo Rodriguez and decided to move to the team to Bath, Pa and re-brand the team, the Lehigh Valley Wolves.
"A lot of the newer players we were getting, were young talented players from the Lehigh Valley area and with the amount of turnover we were getting, we decided to move the team closer to the future of the team." - Billy Minnick
Returning to the Tomahawks... the usual suspects, Timmy Beck, Chase Pitts, Tony Shearer, Jimmy Smith, and Michael Tiernan. Who no one expected to return, after two Keystone Bowl wins and a Keystone Bowl MVP with the Vikings, Rob Albro
:I just felt like it was time. I did my time with the Vikings. Though we won the Keystone Bowl last season, I just felt like I did everything I could there and it was time to come back to the Tomahawks." - Rob Albro
The Tomahawks started the game off with a swarming defense, sending five at all times creating the first points of the game as Isaiah Edwards broke through the Wolves young offensive line and sacked Darius Wade in the end zone for a safety.
"We wanted to bring the pressure early. We have a young core on defense that needed to build confidence early. We knew they weren't going to be able to run on us but once they fumbled the snap down to the two yard line, I sent the dogs to go get him and they did." - Chris McClellan, Tomahawks DC
Once Timmy Beck ran the Wolves' kickoff past mid field it was time to see what the Tomahawks offense would like. We hadn't seen their offense in the GEFA since 2023. On third and goal, Rob Albro hit Isaiah Edwards in the corner of the end zone for the touchdown. The extra point was no good and the Tomahawks led, 8-0, early in the first quarter.
After a Wolves touchdown was negated by penalty, Darius Wade tried forcing another play in the end zone that was returned the other way by way of a Patrick Williams interception increasing their lead 14-0.
The second quarter didn't start off much better for the Wolves as they still struggled turning the ball over on downs deep in their own territory as Darius Wade was sacked once again.
On the next drive, facing a fourth and long, the Tomahawks switched Rob Albro to the wing and left Timmy Beck as the QB in wildcat and he threw a touchdown pass to Isaiah Edwards who made a great play on the ball in the back of the end zone. Rob Albro's pass to Noah Rodgers for the two point conversion gave the Tomahawks a 22-0 lead in the second quarter.
After both teams' next series resulted in punts, it was the Wolves again who had possession of the ball. The Wolves began to move to ball down field with some success before Darius Wade went for the deep ball and was intercepted by Marcel Walker. That led to the Tomahawks leading at half time, 22-0.
"We knew we needed to make some adjustments at half time. We weren't giving Darius enough time to be Darius. He didn't look comfortable at all in that first half." - Billy Minnick
The Tomahawks received the ball to start the second half when Isaiah Edwards returned the kick all the way down to the Wolves eighteen yard line. Three plays later Isaiah Edwards punched in his third touchdown of the game on a Rob Albro third down pass. After another two point conversion catch by Noah Rodgers, the Tomahawks took a commanding lead, 30-0 in the third quarter.
On the ensuing kick, Wolves return man, Brandon Jones returned the kick from his own end zone down to the Tomahawks one yard, breaking several tackles on the almost score. Just when you thought things were finally changing for the Wolves, three plays later, Darius Wade fumbles the snap and its returned for a Tomahawks' touchdown by Chase Pitts. Rob Albro's pass to Brandon Clark for the two point conversion now gave the Tomahawks the 38-0 lead.
The next drive for the Wolves saw rookie Kris Cruz take over at quarterback. The rookie looked poised at in the backfield regardless of the pressure but wasn't able to complete a pass as the Wolves had to punt. As Cruz set up to punt the ball back to the Tomahawks, Michael Tiernan came in untouched, blocking the punt that led to another safety giving the Tomahawks a now 40-0 lead and the ball back late in the third quarter.
Rob Albro's pass was deflected off of the back of Marcel Walker and intercepted by Taevian Parker. Parker took it over forty five yards for the pick six and put the Wolves finally on the board, 40-6.
"We needed that play. The game was starting to get away from us. Taevian made a great play on the ball after it bounced off 17's back and took it to the house for six points. Very proud of what this rookie is showing me right now." - Billy Minnick
The next drive from the Tomahawks, Rob Albro found a wide open Timmy Beck on the wheel route and hit him for the touchdown. Brandon Clark caught yet another two point conversion and the Tomahawks extended their lead to 48-6.
Things began to get worse for the Wolves as they fumbled the ensuing kick off and was recovered by Marcel Walker giving the Tomahawks a fresh set of downs.
The Tomahawks started the fourth quarter moving the ball inside the red zone of the Wolves before Jamal Albro fumbled the ball at about the five yard line recovered by the Wolves. From there, Darius Wade hit Shane Walsh for a tough diving catch and score to make the score, 48-12.
Once the Tomahawks got the ball back, it was Rob Albro who called his own number to score the touchdown for Mifflin County. This made the score 54-12 in favor of the Tomahawks.
Lehigh Valley's last drive of the fourth quarter was pretty much symbolic of how this game went as Marcel Walker forced the fumble that was recovered by the Tomahawks. Timmy Beck came in at quarterback for Mifflin County and threw a great touchdown pass to Rob Albro. Then a scrambling Timmy Beck found a wide open Jamal Albro for the two point conversion which led to the final score, Tomahawks 62 - Wolves 12.
"It wasn't our best football. You can tell we didn't get much contact in with other teams during the off-season but we did what we needed to win the game. This is a young team and hopefully as the season goes on we get them more experience." - Brian Rodgers.
