H.S. Football: Dallas holds off Wilkes-Barre Area, wins Division 1 title

DALLAS TWP. — Dallas coach Rich Mannello did not want to let the elements dictate his team’s approach Friday night.

The way the Mountaineers defense and special teams were performing and the intensity and steadiness with which the rain was falling after the Dallas offense scored twice in the first 7:03, however, made it the prudent thing to do.

The Mountaineers turned their concentration to field position and turnover avoidance Friday night as the defense turned away six straight Wilkes-Barre Area trips into Dallas territory before yielding the only Wolfpack score in a 14-7 victory that clinched the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 football title.

“You get into those third down and (long) downs and it’s raining and now what are you going to do?,” Mannello said after his team protected a 14-0 lead from 4:57 remaining in the first quarter until 5:49 was left in the game. “Now, you’re playing the field position game. Now, you’re punting and trying to tilt the field that way.

“ … We needed to get first downs, but we also had to manage the game at that point. You’re down on your end of the field and it’s third-and-8, are you going to do something stupid down there? We were playing great defense.”

Both teams entered the game unbeaten in the division.

Dallas exited it as the WVC’s last unbeaten team overall and as division champion. The Mountaineers completed their Division 1 schedule at 6-0 and improved to 9-0 overall while Division 2 leader Wyoming Area was suffering its first loss in a non-league game against Southern Columbia.

The night’s results also jumped Dallas ahead of Wyoming Area in the race for the top seed and the home field throughout the District 2 Class 4A playoffs.

Wilkes-Barre Area fell to 4-1 in the division and 5-4 overall.

The Wolfpack kept the pressure on by venturing into Mountaineers territory eight times and into the red zone three times.

Dallas was never vulnerable, however, until the last three minutes when two first downs on Howie Shiner off-tackle runs put Wilkes-Barre Area at the 32.

The Mountaineers pass rush, a major factor all night, rushed three straight incompletions with Nick Farrell, Dylan Geskey and A.J. Fife breaking into the backfield.

On fourth-and-10, Wilkes-Barre Area could not even get the ball away on its final offensive play of the night.

Geskey, moved from safety to middle linebacker, hesitated for an instant, then blitzed up the middle, chasing down Jake Howe for a 15-yard loss.

“We put him at Mike linebacker for the last play and told him, ‘Go get the quarterback,’” Mannello said. “That’s all. There was nothing else to worry about.”

Apparently energized by his big defensive play, Geskey bulled his way to runs of 13, 7 and 9 yards for two first downs to kill the clock and clinch the title.

It was a revival for the Dallas offense, which produced a long drive and a big play in the first quarter, but punted eight times, including at the end of seven straight possessions.

Rowan Laubach avoided mistakes punting in the rain and got away kicks of 38 and 51 yards.

In the time between the second Dallas touchdown and the only Wilkes-Barre Area score, the Wolfpack had 13 first downs to two by the Mountaineers.

The Mountaineers moved 65 yards on 10 straight runs to open the game, resulting in a 1-yard Brady Zapoticky touchdown.

Zach Paczewski took a reverse 59 yards for the 14-0 lead.

Paczewski ran the reverse to the right, cut back through the middle, ran down the left sideline, picked up a late block from Geskey way down field, then weaved through defenders for the final 10 yards.

Dallas then kept turning Wilkes-Barre Area away until the final six minutes.

The Mountaineers came up with three sacks, intercepted three passes and rushed Howe into seven of his incompletions.

Farrell had six tackles and four assists, with a sack, three total tackles for losses of 18 yards and another stop at the line of scrimmage. Clark Van Orden had five tackles, four assists and four of the quarterback hurries. Outside linebacker John Cummings had four tackles and five assists along with getting back into coverage to break up three passes.

“We knew they had speed on the perimeter and we knew they had Howie back there,” Farrell said. “So, we knew we had to stop the run and make sure they could not pass on us.

“ … I think we had a lot of QB pressure and I think we stressed them out the whole night.”

The Wolfpack finally broke through when Evan Laybourn-Boddie took a short pass from Howe 60 yards to set up a Shiner 1-yard touchdown.

Dallas 14, Wilkes-Barre Area 7

Wilkes-Barre Area`0`0`0`7 — 7

Dallas`14`0`0`0 — 14

First quarter

DAL – Brady Zapoticky 1 run (Rowan Laubach kick), 7:50

DAL – Zach Paczewski 59 run (Laubach kick), 4:57

Fourth quarter

WBA – Howie Shiner 1 run (Jaedyn Sanchez kick), 5:49

Team statistics`WBA`DAL

First downs`14`9

Rushes-yards`39-115`37-202

Passing yards`121`38

Total yards`236`240

Passing`7-22-2`3-8-0

Sacked-yards lost`3-31`0-0

Punts-avg.`2-23.5`8-33.5

Fumbles-lost`1-0`2-0

Penalties-yards`2-5`8-59

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — WBA, Shiner 27-127, Evan Laybourn-Boddie 1-6, Davon Underwood 4-minus 5, Jake Howe 7-minus 13. DAL, Dylan Geskey 15-86, Paczewski 6-79, Zapoticky 11-20, Michael Lewis 4-18, team 1-minus 1.

PASSING — WBA, Howe 7-21-2-121, Shiner 0-1-1-0. DAL, Zapoticky 3-8-0-38.

RECEIVING – WBA, Laybourn-Boddie 4-115, Underwood 2-3, Treyvon Gembitski 1-3. DAL, Geskey 2-8, Paczewski 1-30.

INTERCEPTIONS — WBA, None. DAL, MLewis 1-3, Lucas Tirpak 1-0, Gavin Lewis 1-minus 7.

MISSED FGs – None.