DALLAS TWP. — When West Scranton made a mistake Saturday afternoon, Dallas was ready to capitalize.
A fumble. A bad punt snap. An interception. A costly penalty. Another fumble.
Those miscues helped Dallas build a 49-point second-quarter lead on the way to 56-20 victory over the Invaders in a non-conference football game.
Junior running back Dylan Geskey led the Mountaineers, who improved to 4-0. He rushed 14 times for 120 yards and a career-high four touchdowns despite wearing a cast to protect his right wrist he broke in Week 2 against Crestwood. He was a blocking back last year for 2,000-yard rusher Parker Bolesta.
“It’s great,” said Geskey, who also started for the baseball team which played for the PIAA Class 4A state title in June. “Parker, he was the worker for us last year and I had big shoes to fill. The line’s good. Jarratt Webb, he’s my fullback and does a lot of the unseen work.
“It was just great all around. Another great team win.”
West Scranton (0-4) entered the game surrendering 44 points per game. But when Dallas safety Mike Lewis scooped up a fumble and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown, the Mountaineers had their lead to 49-0 with 4:10 left in the second quarter.
The Dallas starters then took the rest of the afternoon off except for the first-team offense making a cameo for a kneedown to end the half.
The game was originally scheduled for Friday night, but bumped to Saturday afternoon after an undisclosed threat at the school.
“Obviously, everything was out of our control yesterday,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “The kids, we didn’t even have a chance to meet with them yesterday. It was an unfortunate thing, but it was just what you had to do. They responded. They’ve handled adversity the entire season on the field.”
Dallas’ onslaught started early.
Defensive lineman Brady Rosencrans recovered a fumble on West Scranton’s first play from scrimmage. Two plays later, Geskey scored on a 5-yard run. After West Scranton went three-and-out, Dallas used eight plays to move 64 yards with Geskey scoring on a 4-yard run.
More problems struck for the Invaders when they tried to punt as a low snap allowed Dallas to take over at the West Scranton 8-yard line. Quarterback Brady Zapoticky eventually shoved his way into the end zone from the 1 as the lead increased to 21-0.
West Scranton finally got its offense going, but a pass from the Dallas 13-yard line was intercepted in the end zone by Dallas cornerback Gavin Lewis. The Mountaineers needed just six plays to score, with Geskey finishing things off with a 6-yard scoring run.
More trouble was afoot for West Scranton. A fair catch interference penalty set up Dallas at the Invaders 14-yard line. Zapoticky fired a 14-yard TD pass to Zach Paczewski from there.
Geskey’s fourth TD run — this one from 4 yards away — was followed by Mike Lewis’ fumble return touchdown. Backup quarterback Nate Malarkey capped the Dallas scoring with a 42-yard run in the third quarter.
Dallas 56, West Scranton 20
West Scranton`0`6`0`14 — 20
Dallas`21`28`7`0 — 56
First quarter
DAL — Dylan Geskey 2 run (Rowan Laubach kick), 11:13
DAL — Geskey 4 run (Laubach kick), 6:38
DAL — Brady Zapoticky 1 run (Laubach kick), 3:49
Second quarter
DAL — Geskey 6 run (Laubach kick), 9:35
DAL — Zach Paczewski 14 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 8:00
DAL — Geskey 4 run (Laubach kick), 6:28
DAL — Mike Lewis 47 fumble return (Laubach kick), 4:10
WS — Caiden Berardi 1 run (kick blocked), 0:17
Third quarter
DAL — Nate Malarkey 42 run (Laubach kick), 7:15
Fourth quarter
WS — Zaeyvion Miller 10 pass from Berardi (Josh Williams kick), 7:01
WS — Shamier Lyons 18 run (Williams kick), 0:36
Team statistics`WS`DAL
First downs`15`14
Rushes-yards`31-60`36-238
Passing yards`142`51
Total yards`202`288
Passing`13-23-1`4-5-0
Sacked-yards lost`1-12`0-0
Punts-avg.`3-32`0-0
Fumbles-lost`5-4`1-0
Penalties-yards`3-15`4-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — West Scranton, Dan Van Dusky 2-(minus-14), Hunter Baumgardner 9-33, Caiden Berardi 9-29, Amir Robinson 2-(minus-1), Lyons 6-31, Dayron Groves 2-(minus-6), team 1-(minus-12). Dallas, Geskey 14-120, Zapoticky 2-8, Paczewski 3-53, Logan Geskey 5-13, Nate Malarkey 2-45, Hunter Pitcavage 6-(minus-3), Brady McCann 1-2, Jim Youngblood 1-2, team 2-(minus-2).
PASSING — West Scranton, Van Dusky 1-6-0-(minus-4), Berardi 12-17-1-138. Dallas, Zapoticky 4-5-0-51.
RECEIVING — West Scranton, Baumgardner 4-53, Miller 5-44, Taron Knight 2-29, Ismael Turner 2-16. Dallas, Paczewski 2-34, Nick Farrell 1-6, Mike Lewis 1-11.
INTERCEPTIONS — Dallas, Gavin Lewis 1-0.
MISSED FGs — none.
