Pittston Area’s 41-22 loss to rival Wyoming Area Friday night could not take away from a championship regular season for the Patriots, who had already completed an unbeaten, five-game run through Division 1 of the Wyoming Valley Conference.
The loss, however, makes the playoff route much more difficult on the Patriots.
Pittston Area went into Friday night positioned to be the top seed in the District 2 Class 5A playoffs. With the loss, the Patriots were passed by Abington Heights, another 8-2 team, leading to a switch of projected semifinal opponents from Wyoming Valley West (1-9) to Delaware Valley (5-5).
Delaware Valley has won five of its last six games with the only loss coming in overtime at North Pocono, the team that handed Pittston Area its other defeat.
Pairings were not yet official Saturday morning, but the District 2 website showed Abington Heights with a playoff power ratings lead of .679995-.676077.
Based on those overnight ratings updates, both Wyoming Area and Pittston Area are second seeds in four-team district tournaments, but set up to face two Lackawanna Football Conference Division 1 powers that have come on strong in the second half of the season.
Wyoming Area (9-1) will host Scranton Prep (5-5), the four-time defending champion, in Class 3A.
The Cavaliers, playing without starting quarterback Will McPartland, started 0-3 with two of the losses to strong, out-of-state opponents. They have averaged 35.7 points since while going 5-2 with the losses coming 17-15 at Abington Heights and 24-21 to North Pocono.
Scranton Prep started its turnaround with a 49-44 victory over Delaware Valley, which had opened the season with three straight losses outside of District 2.
Despite the late start, McPartland is over 1,000 yards passing. He rushed for more than 1,000 last season, working mostly as a running back, and is averaging nearly 100 yards per game on the ground this season.
Delaware Valley is led by 1,000-yard rusher Mike Iuzzolino and has been in a series of high-scoring games. The Warriors average 36 points per game, but give up 31 points.
Pittston Area is familiar with the strength of the program at Delaware Valley, which had won seven straight district titles before losing to Abington Heights last season. The Warriors ended the last three Patriots seasons, including winning 41-0 at Charley Trippi Stadium in 2022 after Pittston Area came in as WVC Division 2 champion. Delaware Valley knocked out Pittston Area 42-7 in 2023 and 38-15 in 2024.
The Pittston Area-Delaware Valley winner will likely head to Abington Heights for the district final. The Comets face Wyoming Valley West in the semifinal.
Wyoming Area also knows Scranton Prep well.
The last two seasons that the Warriors have been in Class 3A (they spent 2022 and 2023 in 4A), they lost to the Cavaliers in the district final. Scranton Prep won 28-0 in 2021 and 28-6 last season.
If Wyoming Area can get past Scranton Prep, it is likely head to Crispin Field, site of its only loss of the season against Berwick. The unbeaten Bulldogs host Hanover Area (6-4) in the other semifinal.
