H.S. Football: Dallas dialed in for District 2 Class 4A title game against Valley View

Dallas and Valley View have only been on each other’s football schedule three times in the 55 years of their coexistence.

They have still managed to become quite familiar in recent seasons.

The District 2 Class 4A championship game technically is not on the Valley View or Dallas schedules, but there are times when it feels it perhaps should be.

Valley View has reached the final of the last five district Class 4A playoffs not shortened by COVID.

Dallas has been the opponent in two of those finals as well as in last year’s semifinal and the Mountaineers played in the 2020 title game that the Cougars missed in the shortened season.

The teams meet again Friday night at 7 at Dallas in arguably the most anticipated of this year’s District 2 championship games.

The Mountaineers (12-0) are one of just two unbeatens in the district and are the last representative of the Wyoming Valley Conference, where they reigned as Division 1 champion.

“The record doesn’t take on much meaning without another win,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said.

Mannello knows that won’t be easy against a Valley View program that is 6-3 all-time against Dallas, 2-1 in playoff meetings in the previous five seasons and 2-1 in championship game meetings.

“The jersey numbers up there change, but it’s the same program,” Mannello said. “You’re going to get strong kids, very physical, great speed. They fly around on defense.

“Valley View is the benchmark program in District 2. It’s a storied program.”

Valley View won the most recent state title from the Lackawanna Football Conference way back in 1992. The Cougars beat the Mountaineers in the playoffs, 34-13, that year on the way to a 15-0 finish.

Dallas won its state championship a year later and shared with Wyoming Area the distinction of being the last WVC teams to reach the state final, falling in the 2019 Class 4A title game when the Warriors were winning in Class 3A.

Valley View’s playoff draw this season included meeting both those teams, the two WVC division champions.

The Cougars (10-2) lost only to Delaware Valley and Scranton Prep, the teams that have already won the district’s Class 5A and 3A titles, this season. It shut out WVC Division 2 champion Wyoming Area, 20-0, in last week’s semifinals when Christopher Savkov intercepted two passes, one of them on fourth down, and also caught a touchdown pass and batted down a Wyoming Area pass on other key fourth-down plays.

The Dallas passing combination of Brady Zapoticky to Zach Paczewski creates some different challenges for Valley View this week.

“Offensively, they have more weapons,” Valley View coach Scot Wasilchak said. “Where Wyoming Area, you had to defend (Aaron) Crossley and make sure you take care of their play-action pass after they start hammering the ball, Dallas is not afraid to throw at any time.

“They’ll throw the ball 15 to 20 times a game. They do several different things on offense. They hit you from many different angles. There is so much to defend that they get you in bad situations.”

Wasilchak describes the Dallas defense similarly.

“They bring people and slant all over the place,” he said. “Their defense is very active.”

More than the jerseys changed at Valley View.

To begin this season, long-time assistant Wasilchak was starting his first season as head coach. The son of the late Jerry Wasilchak, who built Lakeland into a power in the 1970s and 1980s, is assisted by his older brother Jeff Wasilchak, who produced similar success in his time as a head coach at Lackawanna Trail and Lakeland.

The Cougars used multiple quarterbacks throughout the season with three working under center and passing when needed. In addition, they would direct snap to two or three running backs in a Wildcat approach when needed.

With one of the three passers hurt, Scot Wasilchak turned to one of the others, Dom Memo, to make his first start of the year and take nearly every snap against Wyoming Area.

Memo, who quarterbacked Valley View to the 2021 district title after taking over for injured Adam Howanitz midway through his sophomore season, went 6-for-9 with one touchdown and ran for the game’s first score.

“Dom has district-championship winning experience,” Wasilchak said. “The big stage does not seem to affect him, and I just thought that’s the best direction right now for our team.”

Camryn Higgins and fullback Preston Reed each average more than seven yards per carry for the Cougars while Nick Kucharski, the third option in the backfield, averages more than nine. Higgins has run for 1,383 yards and 12 touchdowns with six 100-yard games.

Savkov has a team-high 27 catches for 432 yards and four touchdowns.

Linebacker Gianni Marino leads the defense, getting in on more than 10 tackles per game. Robbie Nolan leads in tackles for losses while Kucharski and Savkov each have three interceptions.

The Dallas ground game is led by Dylan Geskey, who has 285 yards and six touchdowns rushing in the first two rounds of the playoffs. On the season, he has carried 190 times for 1,272 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Zapoticky is 91-for-154 for 1,504 yards and 19 touchdowns with just two interceptions. Paczewski has 42 catches for 844 yards and 11 scores.

“The part that we’re pleased with is how our senior and junior classes have come together to basically become one class and there’s a few sophomores who have also worked their way into that group,” Mannello said. “You don’t often see that in high school football. Programs are usually heavily run by the seniors.

“Once in a while you get a group that sort of meshes together with two classes and this group has done that. It’s kind of neat when it happens and we just keep reminding them that you have to take advantage of that when you have it.”

While Valley View and Dallas determine the last District 2 title of the year, four district champions from the LFC begin their PIAA tournament roads. Delaware Valley (5A), Dunmore (2A) and Lackawanna Trail (A) play Friday and Scranton Prep (2A) plays Saturday.