MOSCOW — Ask around the North Pocono sidelines, and they’ll all say the same: the Trojans love to get physical.
They got their chance with Dallas coming to town on Friday night, and they absolutely made the most of it.
The Trojans were consistent winners in the trenches, and their power run game proved unstoppable in a 35-14 win over Dallas.
Joe Briskie was the leader of the pack, running 20 times for 111 yards and three touchdowns behind an offensive line that kept the Mountaineers moving backwards all night.
“Our offensive line was doing a great job, that’s where it starts,” North Pocono coach Greg Dolhon said. “I’m very proud of our kids and how physical we play.”
North Pocono never punted, converted several long third downs and a couple of fourth downs and led 35-0 heading into the fourth quarter before Dallas was able to score two late touchdowns to avoid the shutout.
In addition to Briskie’s three rushing scores, quarterback Chase Zimmerman ran one in from four yards out, outrunning the Dallas defender to the pylon.
He took a big hit on his way into the end zone, but the junior signal-caller wasn’t bothered.
“We’re physical, we’re big and we want to get after people,” Zimmerman said.
True to form for the 6-0 Trojans, Zimmerman wasn’t asked to throw much but made it count when he did — 182 yards passing on six completions, 159 of those yards and a touchdown coming from Cole West.
West scored the first touchdown of the night for North Pocono, beating his man down the left sideline for a 56-yard score.
Briskie’s first two touchdowns made it a 21-0 game at the half, and completed the hat trick with an 11-yard score in the third set up by a wild swing of events to open the second half.
Dallas looked to get something going out of halftime, recovering an onside kick to start around midfield.
On the first play from scrimmage, Talen Geskey’s pass was picked off by Max LaFave — the second interception of the night for LaFave.
North Pocono needed just two plays to cover the 59 yards needed to score: a long throw-and-catch from Zimmerman to West, and the Briskie touchdown to extinguish any momentum Dallas may have been building.
Mark Saracinaj and Luke Kostick scored rushing touchdowns for the Mountaineers in the fourth quarter, Bostick’s a 73 yarder that accounted for more than half of Dallas’s rushing yards total.
North Pocono (6-0) heads to Valley View next week for a key Lackawanna Conference Division 1 matchup.
Dallas (1-5) will be at home for a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 tilt against Wyoming Valley West.
North Pocono 35, Dallas 14
Dallas`0`0`0`14 — 14
North Pocono`7`14`14`0 — 35
First quarter
NP — Cole West 56 pass from Chase Zimmerman (Shane Youngblood kick) 7:23
Second quarter
NP — Joe Briskie 17 run (Youngblood kick) 10:33
NP — Briskie 2 run (Youngblood kick) 0:49
Third quarter
NP — Briskie 11 run (Youngblood kick) 11:20
NP — Zimmerman 4 run (Youngblood kick) 5:47
Fourth quarter
DAL — Mark Saracinaj 4 run (Brandon Miller kick) 11:53
DAL — Luke Kostick 73 run (David Worth kick) 5:38
Team statistics`DAL`NP
First downs`8`22
Rushes-yards`19-125`48-249
Passing yards`53`182
Total yards`178`431
Passing`5-12-2`6-10-0
Sacked-yards lost`1-3`0-0
Punts-avg.`3-34.6`0-0
Fumbles-lost`0-0`0-0
Penalties-yards`6-40`6-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — DAL, Sam Kelley 1-5, Talan Geskey 3-0, Mark Saracinaj 12-50, Luke Kostick 3-70. NP, Briskie 20-111, West 3-8, Aidan McGuire 4-20, Jayden Taylor 12-55, Zimmerman 2-7, Joshua Magnotta 3-32, Lawrence Abbatiello 3-11, Gavin Swartz 1-5.
PASSING — DAL, T. Geskey 5-12-2-53. NP, Zimmerman 6-10-0-182.
RECEIVING — DAL, Tyce Mason 2-23, Logan Geskey 2-31, Kelley 1-(minus-1). NP, West 5-159, Briskie 1-23.
INTERCEPTIONS — DAL, none. NP, Will LaFave 2-19.
MISSED FGs — none.
