HERSHEY – Dallas not only had trouble escaping its own end of the field offensively Thursday night, but the Mountaineers found themselves stuck there defensively, as well.
After 15 games of mostly dominating the opposition to get to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 4A championship game at Hersheypark Stadium, the Mountaineers ran into a team that could do the same to them once they got there.
Dylan Mallozzi rushed for 215 yards and quarterback Shane Stump accounted for five touchdowns as Thomas Jefferson rolled to a 46-7 win in a state championship battle of unbeaten teams.
Stump ran for four touchdowns and hit seven of his eight passes while throwing for 104 yards and another score.
“Hats off to that football team,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “That’s a tremendous football program. They beat us. They beat us from start to finish.
“But that does not take away from what these young men accomplished. They made us proud. They made a lot of people in northeast Pennsylvania proud. We love them.”
The Dallas offense finally crossed midfield for the first time with 9:20 remaining and Thomas Jefferson already in front, 46-0.
Up to that point, all 36 Mountaineers plays and 30 of 43 by the Jaguars had originated from the Dallas side of the field.
Thomas Jefferson was unable to score on its two first-quarter possessions, but it threatened and turned the field position while battling the wind to begin the game.
From there until they had the 46-0 lead, the Jaguars started the average drive from the Dallas 43 while the Mountaineers were backed up at their own 23.
Running into a better team once they got there could not change Mannello’s opinion of what the Mountaineers had accomplished.
“This senior class is special,” Mannello said while fighting through tears. “I’ve had a chance to be a part of this great game for a long time and I’ll tell you, there should be some employers out there who should get that senior class’ cell numbers and figure out where they’re going to college. The day they graduate, they should hire them all on the spot. They’re just starting to accomplish what they’re going to achieve in life.”
The senior class of 17 had begun making an impact immediately as freshmen while absorbing their share of losses. They wound up as the first Wyoming Valley Conference state football finalist since Berwick in 1997.
“They’re game-changers,” Mannello said. “They are young men that bought in four years ago. They bought into the process and they never wavered.
“They brought a community together and we’re all real proud of them. As much as this hurts – it’s gotta hurt – but when all the smoke clears, we’ll be able to sit back and see what these young men have accomplished because they willed a program forward when nobody was watching, when it’s really hard. They did it and they did it with class.”
Thomas Jefferson moved into Mountaineers territory on all six possessions while building a 20-0 lead.
The Mountaineers made it out to their 43 on their first possession and on Luke DelGaudio’s 38-yard kickoff return in the final minute of the second quarter, but no farther.
Dallas forced and recovered a fumble at its 20 on the opening drive of the game and made it through the first quarter scoreless.
Thomas Jefferson made the most of its field-position advantage to score one play after an exchange of punts.
Stump eluded a sack on a 28-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Deabner for a 7-0 lead with 8:53 left in the half.
Stump ran up the middle for 14 yards and the next score.
Matt Maransky blocked the extra point to keep the Mountaineers within 13 with 6:12 left.
Field position again proved helpful for the Jaguars, who covered 28, 40 and 54 yards on their first-half scoring possessions.
Mallozzi, who surpassed 100 yards rushing during the first half, added a 2-yard touchdown run 33 seconds before halftime and one play after the Jaguars had recovered their own fumble on a made scramble near the goal line.
The Jaguars used the score before halftime and a quick start to the second half to break the game open. They wound up with three touchdowns in 3:52 as part of a run of six touchdowns in 17:24 to put the game into the Mercy Rule in the third quarter.
Ian Hansen returned an interception 39 yards to start the second-half scoring.
Stump scored from the 6 and the 1 for a 33-0 lead with 3:29 left in the third. He added another 1-yard touchdown on the second play of the fourth quarter.
Both teams stuck primarily with their starters until the Thomas Jefferson offense took a curtain call in time for the reserves to assume victory formation for the game’s final two plays.
Dallas turned its last possession of the season into a scoring drive, covering 58 yards in 10 plays by converting two third downs and a fourth down.
Michael Starbuck hit Del Gaudio for eight yards on third-and-five for that first trip past the 50. He found Maransky for 10 yards on third-and-10.
Danny Meuser then broke a 26-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-one with 4:21 left. Ryan Fisher added the extra point.
