Pittston Area’s Jimmy Cefalo playing on the artificial turf at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium in 1973. Wilkes-Barre Evening News Nov. 4, 1973.
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Mark Sickler, former Warrior standout as well as a member of the 1986 National Championship Penn State University football team when they defeated Florida, displays his National Championship ring. Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
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Wyoming Area’s Drew Mruk raises his finger and looks towards his home bench after scoring on a 31-yard touch down reciption from QB Blaise Sokach-Minnick for the Warrior’s first score of the game. Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
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Pittston Area QB Drew DeLucca (3), the game’s MVP, gets off a throw before being caught by the Warriors’ Aaron Crossley (5) on Oct. 28, 2022.
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Pittston Area won its only division championship of the past two-plus decades by beating Wyoming Area in the 2022 regular-season finale for one of its only two victories in the last 11 meetings between the teams.
The Patriots will bring a championship team to Anthony “Jake” Sobeski Stadium Friday night to try to again interrupt that run of recent Warriors success.
Wyoming Area currently holds the largest lead either team has ever had in the series, which enters its 59th season and 61st game.
The lead now stands at eight games in Wyoming Area’s favor, 34-26, in a series that was even as recently as 20-20 through 40 games.
The 9-2 run that the Warriors are on includes averaging 37.1 points in those nine wins, three of which have come by shutout.
Some highlights through the years, in a decade-by-decade look back, in the Pittston Area-Wyoming Area football series.
1960s
The rivalry began Nov. 25, 1967, two days after Thanksgiving and in the second year for each of the school districts, which were created through consolidation.
The series began in the Big 11, a Lackawanna County-based conference.
Pittston Area won 28-7 to complete a 10-0 run through the Big 11 in a season that ended with a scoreless tie against Shikellamy in the Eastern Conference championship game.
Charlie Graziano ran 68 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. Eddie Booth, who kicked all four extra points, also ran for a touchdown. Eddie Brennan and quarterback Charlie Turco had the other Pittston Area scores.
Bill Anzalone ran for a fourth-quarter touchdown for Wyoming Area (7-3).
Wyoming Area ended the decade with a 2-1 series lead. It picked up its first victory by holding on through a scoreless second half in the first Thanksgiving Day meeting between the teams to win, 7-6.
1970s
Pittston Area produced the only five-game winning streak in series history from 1972 to 1976.
The 1973 game was a 41-0 rout by Pittston Area that ranked as the largest win in the series until 2019. In his final game at Pittston Area, future Gator Bowl Most Valuable Player for Penn State and Miami Dolphins wide receiver/kick returner Jimmy Cefalo carried 23 times for 278 yards and four touchdowns to lead the way.
1980s
The teams were back on even terms, splitting their 10 games in the 1980s.
Wyoming Area won the lowest-scoring game in series history, 7-0, in 1981 on a Stan Abromavage-to-Mark Sickler touchdown pass.
The next-lowest scoring game came in 1989 when Pittston Area won, 6-2. Quarterback Sean Richards ran 7 yards for a second-quarter touchdown and Charlie Kabalka led the defense as Pittston Area climbed to the .500 mark in the season finale and knocked Wyoming Area (8-3) out of a trip to the playoffs.
1990s
Wyoming Area put together a pair of four-game winning streaks while winning eight times in nine years from 1990 to 1998 on the way to finishing the best decade by either team at 8-2.
The first winning streak was marked by dominance with the Warriors winning by a combined 143-21. The second got started with a 14-13 win in 1995 and was followed by a 14-12 victory in 1996.
Ben Kopka’s two-point conversion run following a touchdown by Tony Scatena late in the third quarter provided the tying and winning points in the 1995 game.
2000s
The first meetings of the new millennium produced some interesting results.
Playing early in the season as part of their Northeastern Pennsylvania Football Conference Division 2 South schedule, the Patriots and Warriors wound up going to the 10-Yard-Line Overtime Procedure to break their 7-7 tie.
Pittston Area went first, scored and won, 14-13, when Wyoming Area missed its extra point.
In both 2001 and 2003 the teams met twice and both times the team that lost the regular-season meeting came back to get revenge in the playoffs.
Pittston Area went from being shut out, 15-0, in 2001 to winning the rematch, 52-24, in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Tony Avvisato’s 92-yard kickoff return started a game-ending, 24-point streak by the Patriots.
It was Wyoming Area which turned the tables in the 2003 District 2 playoffs. The two games that season were decided by a total of 10 points.
2010s
Wyoming Area expanded its series lead by going 7-3 in the decade.
The Warriors posted their biggest win to date in 2019 with a 40-0 romp, then topped it in 2020 with the largest margin of victory in the series, 45-0. They scored 43 of the points in the first half.
Pittston Area’s Shane Syms kicked a field goal with no time on the clock for a 24-21 victory in 2017.
2020s
The series was nearly interrupted in 2020.
Pittston Area canceled the game and ended its season as part of precautions for COVID-19, but then decided it could resume activities and play at a later date.
Wyoming Area won 28-14 with Drew Mruk running for 168 yards, including the clinching touchdown with 1:25 after Rocco Pizano protected the seven-point lead with a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions.
With Pittston Area in the first year of a two-year cycle in Division 2 of the WVC, Drew DeLucca threw four touchdown passes in a title-clinching, 35-0 victory in 2022.
