UNICO Pioneers’ Brody Spindler, center red shirt, of Pittston Area, picks up where he left off last fall by bulldozing his way to a one-yard touchdown for the first score of the night of the 75th UNICO All-Star game at Wilkes-Barre Area’s home field on Thursday evening.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area’s Trustin Johnson (0) twisted and turned his way into the end zone, putting the UNICO Miners on the scoreboard Thursday night at Wilkes-Barre Area.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
The Wolfpack’s Davon Underwood, playing his last game on his home turf during the 75th UNICO game, breaks through into the Pioneers’ deensive back field for the Miners.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Jayden Skipalis (34) of Lake Lehman finds daylight on an end-around for the UNICO Pioneers on Thursday night.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Miss Wilkes-Barre Area’s Kaiya Taylor was crowned the 2026 Miss UNICO at halftime of the 75th Annual UNICO All-Star Game held at Wilkes-Barre Area Stadium. From left: Julia Park, Nanticoke Area, Sofia Menta, 2nd runner-up, Wyoming Area, Kaiya Taylor, Julia Mendez, 1st runner-up, Pittston Area, Ava Willis, Hanover Area, Evangelina Kroposky, Holy Redeemer, Anna Gallo, UNICO president.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
PLAINS TWP. — The Pittston Area and Wyoming Area teams figured prominently into the 75th annual UNICO All-Star Football Game Thursday night.
Pittston Area’s Paul Russick coached the Pioneers, and the Patriots and Warriors were each responsible for scoring one of the touchdowns in the game, which ended in a 14-14 tie when officials stopped the action early with 1:52 remaining.
Brody Spindler from Pittston Area and Trustin Johnson from Wyoming Area had the game’s first two touchdowns and were the busiest ballcarriers for each team.
Beginning late in the first quarter, the Pioneers embarked on a 14-play, 77-yard drive that took 9:44 off the clock.
Spindler carried on four straight plays and six times total in the drive, which he capped with a 4-yard touchdown with 5:02 left in the half. Lake-Lehman’s Jayden Skipalis, who finished with 101 yards on 11 carries, ran for 54 yards on seven carries during the march to the first score.
“I looked at the roster we had in our hand, and we had like 12 or 13 linemen,” said Russick, whose team did not complete a pass in its four attempts. “I said, ‘well, they’re all going to play and we’re going to just give it to the two big backs.’
“Nobody could tackle Brody during the season, and Skipalis was impressive.”
Game Most Valuable Player Jake Howe from host Wilkes-Barre Area hit four straight passes as the Miners beat the clock to tie the game at halftime.
Johnson scored on a 2-yard run with 24 seconds left in the half.
The teams matched scores again in the third quarter.
Two plays after Spindler plowed his way to a fourth-and-two conversion, Skipalis scored on a 12-yard run.
The Miners answered in two plays with Howe finding high school teammate Kevon Creech deep down the middle for a 61-yard touchdown with 1:58 left in the third quarter.
The clean, well-played game to that point started to turn on the ensuing kickoff. A skirmish broke out, leading to the ejection of one player from each team and a delay while officials and coaches sorted things out.
Play eventually resumed, but two penalties in four plays during the final Pioneers’ drive led to action being stopped. First, there was a personal foul at the end of one run.
Then, the Pioneers raced inside the 10 on a pass off a fourth-and-18 reverse from the 44, but a flag went up late in the play. The penalty on the Pioneers never did get stepped off as officials walked off the field, indicating that the game was over.
“Obviously, I wish we had a better ending,” Russick said.
Howe hit six of his last seven attempts to finish 8-for-16 for 131 yards with Creech catching five for 89 yards.
Pittston Area’s 2025 Division 1 champions were the most-represented team in the charity game for graduating players from Wyoming Valley Conference schools.
Spindler finished with 42 yards on 12 carries. He also made a tackle and assisted on four more.
Other Patriots made an impact.
Linebacker Victor Narsavage led the Pioneers defensively with a game-high five tackles and an assist.
Stephen Barnic had four tackles and an assist. Aidan Brody made two tackles and assisted on another, along with carrying once for a yard. Zak Ridgley also had two tackles, along with contributing a 24-yard kickoff return. Malkolm Blackshear made a tackle, and Matt D’Aiello assisted on one.
Cole Baldwin kicked both extra points.
Paulie Ferentino started at quarterback and was 0-for-2 passing.
Billy Dessoye, Nico Cielo, Brian Hankey, Brandon Lockett, and Gunnar Zaledonis also represented the Patriots. Kayden Walker was selected for the team but did not participate due to an injury.
Johnson was joined on the Miners by Wyoming Area teammates Jamari Yates, Cayden Reynolds, Tyler Lanunziata, and Max Getzie.
Johnson carried seven times for 19 yards and also broke up two passes, along with making one tackle and assisting on another. He also returned a kickoff 31 yards to set up good field position before the tying touchdown.
Reynolds, who added an assist, and Yates made two tackles each. Lanunziata had a tackle and an assist. Yates had an assist along with a nine-yard kickoff return.
In addition to players from Wyoming Area and Wilkes-Barre Area, the Miners had players from
Berwick, Hanover Area, Holy Redeemer, Nanticoke, and Tunkhannock.
Pittston Area players were joined on the Pioneers by players from Crestwood, Dallas, Hazleton Area, Lake-Lehman, Wyoming Seminary, and Wyoming Valley West.
