Pittston Area’s Brody Spindler (0) hits a huge hole to gain 12 yards against home team Dallas Area on Friday night.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Patriot Lucas LoPresto gets off the turf to record a catch from PA QB Paulie Ferrentino against Dallas Area Friday night.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Dallas Area’s Logan Geskey (24) intercepts Patriot QB Paulie Ferrentino pass intended for John Jadus (84) against Pittston Area.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Mountaineer Tyce Mason (23) tiptoes into the endzone on a 34-yard reception from Dallas QB Talan Geskey against Pittston Area’s Steven Barnic (8) for Dallas’ first score of the night at home.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Pittston Area’s Brody Spindler (0) breaks Tyce Mason’s tackle to romp into the endzone for a 19-yard Patriot touchdown.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Dallas Area senior Sam Kelley (29) looks over his shoulder as he gets by Pittston Area’s Brody Spindler (0) to return a punt for over 65 yards for a Mountaineer touchdown.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
DALLAS TWP. — By design and out of necessity, Pittston Area found more ways to use the prodigious talents of bullish senior Brody Spindler and elusive junior Lucas LoPresto Friday night.
LoPresto accounted for three touchdowns and Spindler capped an exhausting effort by scoring the winning points as the Patriots climbed into the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 lead when they ended a 12-game division winning streak by two-time defending champion Dallas with a 36-35, overtime victory.
Facing a seven-point Dallas lead on the last play of overtime, Spindler scored on a 1-yard, fourth-down run, then added the winning two-point conversion.
“There was never a doubt in our mind that we were going to go for two when we scored there in overtime,” first-year Patriots coach Paul Russick said.
The winning two-pointer capped a game in which Spindler carried 33 times for 196 yards, two touchdowns and two vital, two-point conversions. The first put the game into the overtime and the second ended it.
“When you’ve got someone of Brody’s caliber and you need a few yards, it’s hard to not go to him,” Russick said.
With the early division lead on the line, the Patriots turned to Spindler, a four-year starter, more than ever before. His relentless efforts produced 10 of Pittston Area’s 18 first downs, including five third-down conversions and a fourth-and-two situation that he turned into a 19-yard run for the team’s only first-half score.
“We didn’t need Brody to carry the ball a whole lot the first four weeks,”
Needs changed when it came time to assess how to attack Dallas.
Spindler, normally a fullback who takes a few snaps at tailback, rotated between the two positions early before playing almost exclusively at the feature running position in the second half.
On a night when he was also in on 13 tackles from his inside linebacker position, Spindler said he wanted to carry the ball “as much as humanly possible.”
The Dallas secondary made it difficult for LoPresto to do his usual damage in the passing game. The Mountaineers yielded just three LoPresto receptions, none for more than seven yards, as Logan Geskey picked off two passes and recovered a fumble.
Instead, Russick found more ways to use LoPresto.
“You have get the ball to your best players,” Russick said. “We have to get the ball in Lucas and Brody’s hands as much as possible.”
LoPresto pulled Pittston Area into a third-quarter tie by taking a reverse 20 yards for a touchdown as part of his five carries for 56 yards.
Pittston Area took its only lead of regulation later in the third quarter when LoPresto picked off a pass and turned it into a highlight-reel, 57-yard touchdown with a series of maneuvers in front of the Dallas bench.
“I don’t know how he does what he does,” Russick said. “He’s just a special, special player.”
LoPresto was not finished.
Pittston Area fell behind by eight in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter when Talan Geskey threw two of his three touchdown passes to Tyce Mason.
The Patriots patiently drove the ball for five minutes on nine straight runs, including four straight by Spindler.
On third-and-15 from the Dallas 35 with 4:18 left, LoPresto took a lateral swing pass, pulled up and threw to a wide-open Billy Dessoye for the touchdown.
Three Spindler runs in a late drive produced 37 yards, but Geskey intercepted at the 13 in the last minute of regulation to keep the game tied.
Pittston Area won the overtime coin toss.
“We wanted defense,” Spindler said. “We didn’t stop them, but we knew we were still going to win. We knew we were going to score and get two.”
Spindler made sure of that.
“The first two-point conversion, I was stuffed right there,” Spindler said. “I had to put the ball over.
“The second one, I got stopped about the 1 and I just kept driving my feet.”
That drive continued until Spindler was in the end zone, still standing, and the Patriots stood alone at the top of the division.
By the numbers
Brody Spindler had carried just 24 times in four games before carrying 33 times total – and 22 after halftime – Friday night. Spindler’s night broke down like this: 4-for-27 in the first quarter, 8-for-51 in the second quarter, 8-for-48 in the third quarter, 9-for-60 in the fourth quarter, and all four overtime plays for 10 yards. … Pittston Area’s four scoring drives consisted of 32 plays, 30 of them runs. … Victor Narsavage, Dominick Salvo and Lucas LoPresto all supported Spinder’s seven-tackle, six-assist effort with five tackles. Narsavage made a tackle for a loss and assisted on three tackles. Salvo, who left the game with an injury, had two assists. LoPresto had an assist and broke up a pass. … Dallas sophomore quarterback Talan Geskey carried 27 times for 149 yards, including his team’s overtime touchdown, and threw for three scores.
