SCRANTON — Having lost by 57 points to Scranton Prep during the regular season, Lake-Lehman’s task Saturday afternoon was daunting and, perhaps, unattainable.
And while the Black Knights played better this time according to coach Jerry Gilsky, Prep simply had too much talent at too many places for a major upset to occur.
Instead, Prep scored on all four of its first-half possessions on the way to a 42-7 victory in a District 2 Class 3A semifinal game at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
Defending champion Prep (8-3) will head to Western Wayne (9-2) for the championship game at 7 p.m. Friday. Lehman finished its season at 3-8.
“It’s a talented group here at every position,” Gilsky said of Prep, which has outscored Lehman 286-36 in the six meetings. “The depth is key that they have. The numbers are key that they have. That’s going to be an interesting game next week at Western Wayne.
“I think the difference this week than the last time we played them is we played better. The mercy rule really doesn’t show that. As a group, we always want our kids to get together for one more game, as many games as we can. We just don’t want 10 games, you always want more.”
Early on, it seemed evident Lehman wasn’t going to be able to extend its season.
The Black Knights started well as Gavin Paraschak returned the opening kickoff 48 yards to the Prep 40-yard line. Four plays netted just five yards and the Black Knights turned over the ball on downs.
Prep needed just five plays to score. Running back Quenten Palermo opened the brief possession with runs on 12 and 40 yards and closed it with a 6-yard TD run.
The Cavaliers struck quickly again after an interception as Liam Barrett scored on a 5-yard run to make it 14-0. Barrett then returned a punt 73 yards for a score, sifting through the Lehman defenders as the Cavaliers took a 21-0 lead after one quarter.
Lehman got a heavy dose of Palermo on Prep’s next drive. The junior running back, who inherited the position when Penn State recruit London Montgomery was lost for the year with an injury suffered in the preseason, scored from four yards out for a 28-0 lead with 5:33 left until halftime.
Prep’s final drive of the half started at its 20-yard line with 2:40 until the break. Quarterback Louis Paris connected on five consecutive passes and his sixth completion on a fourth-and-11 was a 19-yard TD pass to Barrett with 18 seconds left.
Prep outgained Lehman 259-56 in the first half. The Black Knights avoided a shutout on a 39-yard TD run by Paraschak with 1:56 left in the third quarter.
District 2 Class 3A Semifinals
Scranton Prep 42, Lake-Lehman 7
Lake-Lehman`0`0`7`0 — 7
Scranton Prep`21`14`0`7 — 42
First quarter
LL — Quenten Palermo 6 run (Raymond Rinaldi kick), 7:53
SP — Liam Barrett 5 run (Rinaldi kick), 4:37
SP — L.Barrett 73 punt return (Rinaldi kick), 1:20
Second quarter
SP — Palermo 4 run (Rinaldi kick), 5:33
SP — L.Barrett 19 pass from Louis Paris (Rinaldi kick), 0:18
Third quarter
LL — Gavin Paraschak 39 run (Gavin Wallace kick), 1:56
Fourth quarter
SP — Jamie Barrett 28 run (Rinaldi kick), 11:13
Team statistics`LL`SP
First downs`9`19
Rushes-yards`33-151`34-288
Passing yards`5`102
Total yards`156`390
Passing`1-10-1`9-11-0
Sacked-yards lost`2-7`1-1
Punts-avg.`3-37`0-0
Fumbles-lost`1-0`0-0
Penalties-yards`3-20`6-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Lehman, Landon Schuckers 14-35, Javon Borger 6-35, Paraschak 5-68, Crhis Yetter 3-4, Justin Pudimott 1-0, Josh Ryan 3-3, Wallace 1-6. Prep, Palmero 9-108, Paris 5-54, Mac Schnipes 1-2, L.Barrett 1-5, J.Barrett 8-74, AJ Croom 2-19, Lou Marriotti 6-28, team 2-(minus-2).
PASSING — Lehman, Shuckers 1-9-1-5, Wallace 0-1-0-0. Prep, Paris 8-10-0-95, Tyler Mackrell 1-1-0-7.
RECEIVING — Lehman, Paraschak 1-5. Prep, Aidan Colleran 3-42, Tae Weeks 3-29, J.Barrett 1-5, L.Barrett 1-19, Croom 1-7.
INTERCEPTIONS — Prep, Jake Gentile 1-2.
MISSED FGs — none