DALLAS TWP. – Dallas sophomore quarterback Michael Starbuck stood on a make-shift platform around the 50-yard line with the Most Valuable Player trophy gripped tightly in his hands.
With his Dallas teammates chanting “MVP,” Starbuck let out a small grin, and followed it up by patting the shoulder pads of his offensive linemen.
Those boys in the trenches physically dominated Lake-Lehman as Dallas steadily built upon its lead and rolled to a 37-6 victory Oct. 27 in the Battle for the Old Shoe.
Starbuck, voted the game’s MVP, finished with 195 yards total offense and three touchdowns. He passed to Chris Murray and Luke DelGaudio for scores and had a 37-yard rushing touchdown.
“The offense was working, and the defense was really amazing,” Starbuck said. “Our offensive line was great all game. Those holes for Lenny (Kelley) and Danny (Meuser) were pretty big. This is such a great win for all of us.”
The game belonged to the guys in the trenches. The offensive line — Matt Ferrara, Dalton Simpson, James Hunter, Michael Andersen and Taylor Bolesta — opened up massive holes for tailbacks Kelley and Meuser to run through.
Kelley finished with 104 yards and two scores, while Meuser added 54 yards on 11 rushes. As a team, the Mountaineers amassed 392 yards, 261 of those on the ground.
Dallas was in control from start to finish.
The Mountaineers scored on the third play of their second possession when Starbuck found Murray down the middle for a 49-yard score and 7-0 lead.
Dallas scored on all three second-quarter possessions for a 24-0 halftime lead. Nate Maransky kicked a 31-yard field goal, Kelley ran 40 yards for a touchdown after a Lehman turnover and Starbuck hit DelGaudio with a 12-yard touchdown pass.
While Dallas’ offense was rolling in the first half, Lake-Lehman’s rushing attack couldn’t get moving. The Black Knights managed just four first downs and 57 yards total offense in the first half.
“A year ago at this time, we only had one win,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “We just build on each week.”
Dallas increased the lead to 30-0 with 1:08 left in the third quarter on Starbuck’s touchdown run.
Kelley’s second touchdown run, from 11 yards with 10:03 left, pushed the game into the mercy rule.
Lake-Lehman picked up 80 of its 137 yards on its final drive, a 13-play march to a 1-yard Casey Kaminski touchdown.
Starbuck ran nine times for 64 yards and hit six of 14 passes for 131 yards.
DALLAS RECAP
Dallas finished the regular season at 7-3 to place second out of seven teams in the Wyoming Valley Conference Class 4A Division. The Mountaineers qualified as the second seed for the District 2 Class 4A playoffs where 11 teams were chasing eight berths.
The second seed landed the Mountaineers a home game for the district quarterfinals, which were scheduled for Friday, and will put the team at home again in next week’s semifinals if it advances.
The Mountaineers won five of six games after starting 2-2. The Lake-Lehman game was the fourth time they held an opponent to seven points or less.
The team’s top three rushers are all sophomores.
Meuser, who picked up more playing time as the progressed, led with 645 yards and 10 touchdowns. Kelley missed part of the season with a knee injury but still managed 592 yards and nine touchdowns. Starbuck ran for 277 yards and four touchdowns while completing exactly half his passes for 862 yards and 10 touchdowns.
LAKE-LEHMAN RECAP
Lake-Lehman finished tied for the second-best record out of seven WVC Class 3A/A Division teams. The Black Knights qualified as the third seed in the District 2 Class 3A playoffs where seven teams were seeking four spots.
The Black Knights averaged 40.8 points per game during a five-game winning streak before losing its final two games to the top two seeds in the Class 4A playoffs.
Trey Borger, Matt Kurtz and Zach Kojadinovich combined for 1,992 yards rushing. Borger finished with 810 yards and 10 touchdowns; Kurtz had 685 yards and eight touchdowns and Kojadinovitch had 497 yards and six touchdowns.
TUNKHANNOCK RECAP
Tunkhannock had its season come to an end with the Oct. 27 regular-season finale when it fell at home to Northwest, 27-17.
The Tigers finished 1-9, leaving them last of the seven WVC Class 4A Division teams. They were also last among the 11 Class 4A teams trying to reach the eight-team district tournament.
Even though he missed some time with injury late in the season, Logan Cywinski went well over the 1,000-yard mark while leading the WVC in rushing and scoring.
