SCRANTON — The two-headed Dallas rushing attack of Parker Bolesta and Dylan Geskey ripped holes through the West Scranton defense from whistle to whistle, combining for five touchdowns as the Mountaineers cruised to a 42-13 victory at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
Bolesta has been the known commodity all year in the Dallas backfield, and he continued to rack up big numbers with 173 yards on the ground and two touchdowns.
But against West Scranton, Bolesta had help from Geskey, largely featured as a pass-catcher through the Mountaineers’ first three games. Geskey ran for 65 yards and three touchdowns, keeping the Invaders defense reeling while allowing Bolesta to recharge and giving Dallas different options offensively.
“It’s just smart football, when you have depth like that, you’ve got to move kids around,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said after his team’s win. “And they’re all productive.”
It was Bolesta who got the ball rolling for Dallas with 52 yards on the team’s first drive, including a 3-yard touchdown to put Dallas ahead.
Geskey would match that score with one of his own later, and so it went for most of the night, as the Mountaineers ran the ball 47 times as a team, for 305 yards.
West Scranton received some explosive action from Evan Laybourne-Boddie, a bright spark in an otherwise tough night for the Invaders.
The junior first made his presence felt on special teams, when he bobbled a Dallas kickoff, scooped the ball off the turf and exploded through a crease in the Dallas coverage, taking it about 90 yards untouched for a West Scranton touchdown in the first quarter.
Laybourne-Boddie would add a 66-yard run and an 80-yard touchdown catch to his list of big plays, accounting for a huge chunk of West Scranton’s yardage totals and scoring their only two touchdowns.
“That kid can go,” Mannello said of Laybourne-Boddie. “We overran it (on the kick return), and you give him one crease and he’s gone.”
The Mountaineers’ lone score not coming from Geskey and Bolesta was one through the air, a 27-yard strike from Brady Zapoticky to Nick Farrell in the third quarter.
Dallas improves to 4-0 with the win, and will head back home to take on Wyoming Valley West next week. West Scranton (1-3) will host undefeated Hazleton Area next week.
Dallas 42, West Scranton 13
West Scranton`6`0`7`0 — 13
Dallas`14`7`14`7 — 42
First quarter
DAL — Parker Bolesta 3 run (Jace Chopyak kick), 8:11
DAL — Dylan Geskey 8 run (Chopyak kick), 1:48
WS — Evan Laybourne-Boddie 90 kick return (kick failed), 1:33
Second quarter
DAL — Bolesta 1 run (Chopyak kick), 9:35
Third quarter
DAL — Geskey 9 run (Chopyak kick), 5:52
WS — Laybourne-Boddie 80 pass from Caiden Berardi (Mason Bennet kick), 5:42
DAL — Nick Farrell 27 pass from Brady Zapoticky (Chopyak kick), 3:03
Fourth quarter
DAL — Geskey 3 run (Chopyak kick), 10:24
Team statistics`WS`DAL
First downs`5`20
Rushes-yards`22-118`47-305
Passing yards`128`108
Total yards`246`413
Passing`5-8-1`12-16-0
Sacked-yards lost`1-7`1-7
Punts-avg.`3-39.6`2-33
Fumbles-lost`3-1`0-0
Penalties-yards`1-15`3-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — DAL, Bolesta 24-173, Geskey 11-65, Zapoticky 7-40, Mike Lewis 4-38, Nate Malarky 1-(minus-3). WS, Laybourne-Boddie 4-75, Berardi 10-38, Joe Harris 6-2, Hunter Baumgardner 1-2, Ethan Frable 1-2.
PASSING —DAL, Zapoticky 12-16-0-108. WS, Berardi 5-7-1-128, Aiden Spindler 0-0-0-0.
RECEIVING — DAL, Joe Peters 4-44, Farrell 2-38, Bolesta 5-23, Geskey 1-2. WS, Laybourne-Boddie 2-75, Harris 2-40, Baumgardner 1-13.
INTERCEPTIONS — DAL, Nate Malarkey 1-0. WS, none.
MISSED FGs — none.
