On a chilly, autumn Friday night under the lights, the Dallas Mountaineers pulled away from the visiting Wallenpaupack Buckhorns with three fourth quarter touchdowns earn a 35-13 homecoming game victory in Week 8 gridiron action.
It was a big bounce-back win for the Mounts (7-1) after seeing their undefeated run come to a halt last week with a 39-22 loss at Berwick. As for Wallenpaupack, since their opening week nailbiting 15-13 triumph over Honesdale, the Buckhorns have now dropped seven straight.
Dallas was led again by team captain Parker Bolesta all night long, as he ran for a game-high 222 yards on 21 carries to go along with two rushing touchdowns.
Quarterback Brady Zapoticky was solid as well, as he finished with 152 yards and two touchdowns through the air without an interception.
Bolesta was happy how his squad rebounded from a tough loss.
“I personally think we needed last week at Berwick,” Bolesta said. “We needed a little kick in the rear end. It really got us moving, and this week was probably one of our best weeks of practice we’ve had. We were flying around and playing our brand of football.”
After a slow start on offense that saw both sides held scoreless after the first quarter of play, Dallas finally broke through on the scoreboard with only 4:16 left in the half, when Bolesta took one to the house on an electrifying 54-yard rushing touchdown for a 7-0 advantage.
Then, after a quick three-and-out defensive stand, Dallas got the ball right back and quickly scored again. This time it was Zapoticky connecting for 49 yards to junior tight end Nick Farrell to up the lead to 14-0, a lead the Mountaineers would take into halftime.
However, the Buckhorns would show some resiliency of their own in the second half of play, as their defense held Dallas scoreless in the entire third quarter.
With only 2:17 left in the third, junior running back Dylan Podrazil pounded it into the end zone from 3-yards out to cut the deficit to just one score at 14-6, capping off a 73-yard scoring drive.
Dallas would respond right back with 6:14 remaining in regulation, as Bolesta would sprint into the end zone on a 17-yard run to increase the lead back to two scores at 21-6.
But Wallenpaupack would not go quietly, as the Buckhorns completed a 45-yard scoring drive, when Podrazil barreled into the end zone for a 7-yard rushing touchdown to cut the deficit right back to one score at 21-13 with 3:35 left.
Dallas would put the game away from there by scoring a crucial touchdown, as Zapoticky connected with fellow sophomore Dylan Geskey on a 41-yard scoring pass to up Dallas’ lead to 28-13 with 1:46 remaining.
The Mounts put a bow on the game only 23 seconds later when junior Lucas Tirpak picked off a Wallenpaupack pass and took it all the way back for a 37-yard touchdown to close out the scoring.
“It feels great,” Bolesta said. “There’s not a lot of wins that feel better than a homecoming win, you get to celebrate with my team and my family.
“Tonight we showed our fighting spirit. We had a lot of penalties that really set us back, but it shows what kind of team we are being able to overcome that and still being able to come out here and play some football.”
Now the Mounts and coach Rich Mannello will look to continue their winning ways when they travel on the road to take on Wilkes-Barre Area before closing out the regular season at home against archrival Lake-Lehman in the annual Old Shoe game the following week.
Dallas 35, Wallenpaupack 13
Wallenpaupack`0`0`6`7 — 13
Dallas`0`14`0`21 — 35
Second Quarter
DAL — Parker Bolesta 54 run (Jace Chopyak kick), 4:16
DAL — Nick Farrell 49 pass from Brady Zapoticky (Chopyak kick), 3:00
Third Quarter
WAL — Dylan Podrazil 3 run (kick failed), 2:17
Fourth Quarter
DAL — Bolesta 17 run (Chopyak kick), 6:14
WAL — Podrazil 7 run (Brady Reynolds kick), 3:35
DAL — Dylan Geskey 41 pass from Zapoticky (Chopyak kick), 1:46
DAL — Lucas Tirpak 37 interception return (Chopyak kick), 1:23
Team statistics`WAL`DAL
First downs`14`16
Rushes-yards`38-174`29-245
Passing yards`118`152
Total yards`292`397
Passing`10-20-1`7-15-0
Sacked-yards lost`3-52`1-8
Punts-avg.`6-28`2-29
Fumbles-lost`2-1`3-1
Penalties-yards`8-75`10-95
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WAL, Dylan Podrazil 21-104, Drew Kiesendahl 17-70. DAL, Parker Bolesta 21-222, Brady Zapoticky 5-19, Dylan Geskey 2-6, Ben Carpenter 1-neg.2.
PASSING — WAL, Drew Kiesendahl 10-20-1-118. DAL, Brady Zapoticky 7-15-0-152.
RECEIVING — WAL, Jake Holbert 3-28, Michael Passenti 2-14, Dylan Podrazil 4-52, Jordan Santiago 1-24. DAL, Nick Farrell 1-49, Zach Paczewski 2-24, Dylan Geskey 3-80, Parker Bolesta 1-neg.1.
INTERCEPTIONS — DAL, Lucas Tirpak 1-37.
MISSED FGs — None.
