H.S. Football: Dallas uses defense to secure win over Wyoming Valley West

DALLAS TWP. — A good defense, as it turns out, is the best answer to any rabbit that you could pull out of a hat.

Despite all the trickery that Wyoming Valley West had up its sleeves on Friday night, it couldn’t undo the unyielding defensive effort set forth by a young Dallas battle-tested team. The Mountaineers held off the Spartans for a 35-13 victory.

After the Wyoming Valley West made it a one-possession game on a double pass midway through the third quarter, the Mountaineers’ defense hunkered down. Dallas held the Spartans without a first down for the final 17 minutes of regulation.

The result: three three-and-outs and two interceptions.

“The seniors don’t have tomorrow,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “They have today, and they’ve got now. We’ve got to lock in for them.

“We came in here with one win. So we don’t take anything for granted. We came through a gauntlet schedule.

Make no mistake, Dallas showed few glimpses of a one-win team. The Mountaineers had four interceptions and gained 334 rushing yards.

“If you came and watched us every day last week, you would have thought we had a 6-0 record,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “These kids are dialed in every single day.”

Sam Kelley scored four rushing touchdowns to lead the Mountaineers. Kelley carried the ball 21 times for 185 yards.

Wyoming Valley West trimmed Dallas’ lead to 14-6 with 8:42 left in the third quarter. Spartans quarterback Damien Eastman threw a screen backward to Preston Sninsky. As the Dallas cornerback rushed him behind the line of scrimmage, Sninsky threw a deep pass to a wide-open John Richards for a 62-yard touchdown pass.

Richards was unstoppable for the Spartans. He finished with seven receptions for 211 yards and two 60-plus yard touchdowns.

“We knew this was going to be a tough game,” Mannello said. “They’re going in the right direction. They got guys – they can touch the ball, and they can go.”

Following Richards’ score, Dallas reestablished a two-possession lead with Kelley’s 2-yard touchdown run to go ahead 28-13. After being held from breaking out for a long run all game, Kelley finally found an opening on his 19th run of the game for a 61-yard touchdown run.

Dallas’ Tyce Mason had a pair of interceptions in the first half. He intercepted a pass at his own 2-yard line in the first quarter. At the end of the first half, he ended another promising Valley West drive at the 28-yard line.

Dallas 35, Wyoming Valley West 13

Wyoming Valley West`0`7`6`0 — 13

Dallas`7`7`21`0 — 35

First quarter

DAL — Sam Kelley 8 run (Brandon Miller kick), 3:52

Second quarter

DAL — Logan Geskey 16 run (Miller kick), 8:34

WVW — John Richards 69 pass from Damien Eastman (Xander Jones kick), 7:29

Third quarter

DAL — Kelley 2 run (Miller kick), 9:19

WVW — Richards 62 pass from Preston Sninsky (kick block), 8:42

DAL — Kelley 2 run (Miller kick), 4:54

DAL — Kelley 61 run (Miller kick), :23

Team statistics`WVW`DAL

First downs`10`21

Rushes-yards`15-30`59-334

Passing yards`268`34

Total yards`298`368

Passing`15-32-4`3-10-1

Sacked-yards lost`2-13`3-16

Punts-avg.`5-27.4`3-38.33

Fumbles-lost`0-0`1-0

Penalties-yards`12-92`7-50

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — WVW, Gadgidas Reisinger 10-38, Sninsky 2-6, Damian Eastman 2-(minus-13), TEAM 1-(minus-1). DAL, LGeskey 7-29, Talan Geskey 13-79, Kelley 21-185, Nico Wilk 5-24, Jim Youngblood 1-(minus-12), Mark Saracinaj 7-27, Hayden Romeo 1-7, Jesse Berlew 1-(minus-1), TEAM 3-(minus-14)

PASSING — WVW, Eastman 13-28-176-4, Sninsky 1-2-62-0, Reisinger 1-1-30-0, Connor Krobert 0-1-0-0. DAL, TGeskey 3-10-34-1

RECEIVING — WVW, Tanner Ragukas 1-19, Richards 7-211, Sninsky 1-6, Damien Jackson 2-25, Reisinger 4-7. DAL, Wilk 2-27, Tyce Mason 1-7

INTERCEPTIONS — WVW, Richards 1-0. DAL, Mason 2-19, Owen Oldt 1-0, Brady McCann 1-0

MISSED FGs —None