H.S. Football: Dallas claims WVC 4A crown with convincing win over Berwick

DALLAS — The Dallas coaching staff noticed some changes in quarterback Jackson Wydra.

Now, the whole Wyoming Valley Conference is becoming aware of them.

At least Berwick is, after Wydra threw for 233 yards and a pair of huge first-half touchdowns Friday as the Mountaineers locked up the Wyoming Valley Conference Class 4A crown by blasting the Bulldogs, 27-0 at Mountaineer Stadium.

“Huge game,” Wydra said. “Not just for playoff seeding, but the rivalry between us. They have a great program. That man coverage, I really think we took advantage of it. We got big plays that sparked us, put us in control pretty much by halftime.”

That’s about when the suspense ended.

Wydra got things started for Dallas by hitting a streaking Rocco Ormando with a 67-yard touchdown pass three minutes into the game, then pretty much put Berwick away by firing a 15-yard touchdown dart to Zach Paczewski for a 20-0 Dallas lead 69 seconds from halftime.

“Their run defense, that was the best we’ve seen,” said Dallas coach Rich Mannello, whose team was limited to 63 rushing yards. “We couldn’t run the ball. It’s the ability to adjust, and (Wydra) can. He did. He had such a tremendous offseason. He went from 170 pounds to 195. He always had an arm that can go. We’re doing more than we ever have here. I’m just seeing a different player now.

“We just saw, he took over.”

And the Mountaineers took their second Class 4A league title in three years, improving to 7-2 while dropping second-place Berwick to 5-4 with one game remaining for each.

Now, Dallas will tune up for the District 2 playoffs as the No. 2 seed behind a Valley View team the Mountaineers had difficulty stopping in a season-opening loss.

But they’ve come a long way since then.

“I really think we’re on a roll,” said Wydra, who led the Mountaineers to their third consecutive win.

Dallas began rolling over the Bulldogs early, building a 20-0 halftime lead while taking away Berwick’s passing game and making the Bulldogs one-dimensional.

From there, the Mountaineers romped to their fifth consecutive victory over Berwick during the past four seasons while breaking a four-game winning streak the put the 5-4 Bulldogs right in the thick of the divisional championship hunt.

Wydra started a night of knockout punches by Dallas with a pretty throw that hit Ormando in stride for a 7-0 lead. Then Parker Bolesta broke through Berwick’s bullish run defense when he crashed into a pile of tacklers behind the line of scrimmage on fourth-and-1, kept his legs churning, and took off on a 39-yard touchdown run barely seven minutes into the night.

“He’s a Bolesta,” Mannello smiled. “That’s a weight-room thing. He always has run hard.

“You always want to start fast,” Mannello continued. “Everybody seems to take a breath when you do.”

For the rest of the night, the Mountaineers were breathing easy.

Berwick missed an opportunity for an interception on the first offensive play of the game, lost a third-quarter fumble after a nifty run and and drove inside Dallas’ 40-yard line twice in the second quarter, only to come away empty.

A fourth-and-3 running play was stopped well short at the Mountaineers’ 17-yard line the first time and a penalty from the Dallas 36 on third down ultimately forced a punt.

Meanwhile, the Mountaineers were making all the game-turning plays that were slipping away from Berwick.

Dallas delivered yet another big blow, taking off on an 85-yard drive that continued after Berwick roughed the punter and ended with Wydra’s 15-yard touchdown dart to Zach Paczewski for a 20-0 Mountaineers lead just 1:09 from halftime after that final Berwick punt of the first half.

“That score right before the half really hurt us,” Berwick coach Carm DeFrancesca said. “If we go in (down) 14-0, I think we still have a shot. That score they got just before the half was critical.”

If that wasn’t enough, Wydra’s 32-yard catch-and-run screen pass to Bolesta early in the third quarter was. It set up Bolesta’s four-yard touchdown blast to set the final score.

Berwick got 100 rushing yards from Ben Knorr, but not much more. The Bulldogs never crossed midfield in the second half, managed just 35 passing yards for the game and turned the ball over twice while suffering their first defeat since mid-September.

“Passing game wasn’t there,” DeFrancesca said. “We weren’t picking up their run defenders on the blitzes. Our passing game wasn’t sharp tonight. We didn’t play well tonight. They out-played us. We didn’t execute. We just got out-played, I got out-coached. Gotta give Dallas credit.”

Give the Mountaineers the crown.

“Our kids are dialed into the plan,” Mannello said. “Every week, we get lined up. If you can get lined up, you have a chance to play fast and good things happen.”

Dallas 27, Berwick 0

Berwick`0`0`0`0 — 0

Dallas`14`6`7`0 — 27

First quarter

DAL — Rocco Ormando 67 pass from Jackson Wydra (Jace Chopyak kick), 9:00

DAL — Parker Bolesta 38 run (Chopyak kick), 4:58

Second quarter

DAL — Zach Paczewski 15 pass from Wydra (kick failed), 1:09

Third quarter

DAL — Bolesta 4 run (Chopyak kick), 6:26

Team statistics`BER`DAL

First downs`8`10

Rushes-yards`34-136`29-63

Passing yards`35`233

Total yards`171`296

Passing`4-13-1`15-24-0

Sacked-yards lost`1-11`2-12

Punts-avg.`4-38`2-30.5

Fumbles-lost`1-1`1-0

Penalties-yards`5-45`0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — BER, Ben Knorr 22-100, Bo Sheptock 9-47, Tyler Winter 1-2, Brayden Boone 1- (minus 2), Matt Lonczynski 1- (minus 12). DAL — Parker Bolesta 19-68, Dylan Geskey 5-6, Lucas Tirpak 1-2, TEAM 1- (minus 2), Jackson Wydra 3- (minus 11).

PASSING — BER, Lonczynski 4-13-1-35. DAL — Wydra 15-24-0-233.

RECEIVING — BER, Knorr 2-22, Spencer Kishbaugh 1-11, Brayden Boone 1-2. DAL, Rocco Ormando 5-100, Bolesta 3-59, Zach Paczewski 3-43, AJ Fife 2-9, Joe Peters 1-16, Geskey 1-6.

INTERCEPTIONS — DAL, Paczewski 1-13.

MISSED FGs — None.