Dallas reacts to its 28-27 overtime victory over Bonner-Prendie in the PIAA Class 4A state quarterfinals last Friday. The Mountaineers play defending state champion Bishop McDevitt in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Northern Lehigh High School.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Talent can take a team only so far. Unity keeps it going.
Dallas coach Rich Mannello has mentioned several times throughout the football season how his Mountaineers have melded into one group. That has helped lead to Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 and District 2 Class 4A championships.
It’s helped the Mountaineers go 14-0 as they face defending state champion Bishop McDevitt (13-0) in the PIAA semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Northern Lehigh High School in Slatington.
“Most high school football teams are senior-laden and run by the seniors,” Mannello said. “Every once in a while, you’ll get a group where the juniors and the seniors come together as one class. That’s what this group did. They’re special, special kids.”
While team cohesiveness might seem a coaching job requirement, it’s not always easy. Other successful coaches, both past and present, have mentioned how animosity, bad attitudes and poor work ethic among the players have caused promising seasons to go sour.
That leads back to Dallas. There were several times where finger pointing could have happened. The Mountaineers nearly squandered a fourth-quarter lead against Williamsport in Week 3. They fell behind in the second half in playoff games against Valley View and Bonner-Prendie. There were a few other examples as well. Yet, they endured.
“It’s the same thing every week,” Mannello said. “Nobody drops their head over there on that sideline. Tremendous leadership. They got a lot of courage. They’re great kids.”
CHANGING CLASSES
The PIAA released its classification reports on Tuesday for all sports for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. Here’s how football was affected.
All sports reports can be found at piaa.org.
Class 6A: Hazleton Area and Wilkes-Barre Area remained in the classification. They were joined by Scranton, which bumped up from 5A. Former WVC member Williamsport also remained at 6A, but it was unknown whether the District 4 school will remained grouped with District 2 in the postseason.
Class 5A: The field dropped from six to five teams with Scranton moving up to 6A.
Abington Heights, Delaware Valley, Pittston Area, West Scranton and Wyoming Valley West remained at 5A.
Class 4A: There was a big shakeup here as Class 4A dropped from 10 to nine teams.
Gone are Berwick, Tunkhannock and Wyoming Area. All three were reclassified as 3A programs. Carbondale Area and Montrose moved up from 3A to 4A.
The holdovers are Crestwood, Dallas, Honesdale, Nanticoke Area, North Pocono, Valley View and Wallenpaupack.
Class 3A: There was a lot of shuffling here as District 2 goes from six to eight teams.
Berwick, Tunkhannock and Wyoming Area all dropped down from 4A, while Mid Valley moved up from 2A.
Those four will be joined by current 3A teams Hanover Area, Lake-Lehman, Scranton Prep and Western Wayne.
Class 2A: The classification moves from seven to five teams.
Dunmore, Holy Redeemer, Lakeland, Riverside and Susquehanna stayed put. Mid Valley moved to 3A, while Holy Cross moved to Class A.
Class A: Lackawanna Trail and Old Forge return as Class A programs and will be joined by Holy Cross, which dropped from 2A.
NO EAST, WEST
The PIAA semifinals are occassionally referred to as the Eastern finals and Western finals. That is incorrect.
The PIAA did away with the best team from the eastern part of the state playing the best from the western part around 2004. A main reason was there were many more bigger schools in the east compared to the west mainly because of Districts 1 and 3.
If you draw a line straight down a state map from Dallas, Class 5A semifinalist Cocalico is only a few miles farther west. But to even out the disparity in the number of Class 5A programs, Cocalico is in what used to be known as the Western bracket. Same holds true for 4A semifinalist Selinsgrove and 6A semifinalist Harrisburg.
WVC DIVISIONS
In case you missed it a couple weeks back, here’s how the divisions will shape up for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Williamsport left the WVC and Pittston Area will move up to replace the Millionaires in Division 1. Berwick will drop down to Division 2 to make for two six-team divisions. The decision to move Berwick was based on enrollment.
Holy Redeemer will remain a WVC football member but will be ineligible for a divisional championship. The program was winless this season and doesn’t want to play Berwick and Wyoming Area as part of Division 2. The Royals will play the four other teams.
So here’s what it looks like:
Division 1: Crestwood, Dallas, Hazleton Area, Pittston Area, Wilkes-Barre Area, Wyoming Valley West.
Division 2: Berwick, Hanover Area, Lake-Lehman, Nanticoke Area, Tunkhannock, Wyoming Area.
