Pittston Area’s David Behm pulls in a touchdown pass in front of a Berwick’s Brayden Boone during the first quarter Friday night.
Joe Soprano | Times Leader
The Pittston Area Patriots took the field for the first time this season for Friday night’s game against Berwick.
Joe Soprano | Times Leader
Pittston Area’s David Sudo breaks off a big gain against Berwick during Friday night’s game.
Joe Soprano | Times Leader
PIttston Area quarterback P.J. Pisano chases after Berwick’s Tahsjee Taylor after Taylor recovered a Pittston Area fumble and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter Friday night.
Joe Soprano | Times Leader
Berwick quarterback Ben Knorr throws a pass intended for receiver Shawn Sheptock (4) during Friday night’s game.
YATESVILLE — When Berwick’s new offense is clicking, things happen like they did in the second half Friday night.
The Dawgs simply didn’t give Pittston Area an opportunity to rally from a three-point halftime deficit. Instead, their triple-option attack chewed up the clock, put points on the board and led to a 37-14 victory over the Patriots in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 game.
“We were saying this all along,” Berwick coach Carmen DeFrancesco said. “When you run this style of offense, if you get it going, you look up at the clock and all of a sudden the quarter is gone. You just grind it out and the clock keeps ticking. And that’s what happened.”
Leading 17-14 at the break, Berwick (1-0 Div. 1, 1-1 overall) opened the third quarter with an 11-play scoring drive. The Dawgs followed with another 11-play scoring drive and finished off their scoring with a six-play possession.
Between those touchdown drives, Pittston Area (0-1, 0-1) ran a total of six plays on offense. The Patriots also went three-and-out after Berwick put its final points on the board. They netted 37 yards in the second half.
“We ran nine plays in the second half,” Pittston Area coach Nick Barbieri said. “We ran three in the third quarter and then maybe six before we put our young kids in.”
A key adjustment, according to DeFrancesco, was moving receiver Shawn Sheptock from wide receiver to the slot position. This allowed Sheptock, the 100-meter bronze medalist in the 2019 District 2 Class 3A track championships, to add a speed element on perimeter runs. He also recovered a fumble on offense to keep Berwick’s first touchdown drive of the third quarter alive.
That first second-half scoring drive was capped by fullback Mason Laubach’s 13-yard run and had the Dawgs’ only passing attempt of the final two quarters. Berwick made it 30-14 on a 12-yard run by Devon Smith two plays into the fourth quarter and after Laubach had a TD run negated by a holding penalty.
Isaac Tripp, one of 10 players to run the ball, finished off the scoring with a 25-yard run midway through the fourth.
Early on, Berwick looked like it would handle Pittston Area with ease as the Dawgs took advantage of two Patriots miscues to score.
The opening kickoff looped over the first line of Patriots and plopped down in the grass. Berwick’s Tahsjee Taylor beat everyone to the ball on the unintentional onside kick. Running back Blake Maurer finished off the 28-yard drive with a 1-yard run.
Then, on Pittston Area’s second play from scrimmage, a bubble screen pass was ruled a lateral and Taylor scooped up the ball for a 31-yard fumble return touchdown.
“In the first half, we spotted them two scores,” Barbieri said. “I really thought we should have been up at the half. We gave up the kickoff where we didn’t recover it. Again, it’s our first game. We had those first-game jitters. We didn’t get the first game in because we were canceled. Then we throw a bubble that I didn’t think was a lateral, but they called it a lateral and they returned it for a touchdown.”
Pittston Area rallied as quarterback PJ Pisano hit tight end David Behm for a 27-yard touchdown six plays after the fumble return. The Patriots tied the score 14-14 on a 6-yard run by Pisano, with the big play a 42-yard catch-and-run by running back John Symons to start the drive.
Berwick, though, pieced together a 15-play drive to end the half, with Brendan Hinkle booting a 25-yard field goal for a 17-14 lead with two second half.
Berwick 37, Pittston Area 14
Berwick`14`3`6`14 — 37
Pittston Area`7`7`0`0 — 14
First quarter
BER — Blake Maurer 1 run (Brendan Hinkle kick), 9:20
BER — Tahsjee Taylor 31 fumble return (Hinkle kick), 8:51
PA — David Behm 27 pass from PJ Pisano (Matt Soy kick), 5:42
Second quarter
PA — Pisano 6 run (Soy kick), 5:42
BER — Hinkle 25 FG, 0:02
Third quarter
BER — Mason Laubach 13 run (kick failed), 6:33
Fourth quarter
BER — Devon Smith 12 run (Hinkle kick), 11:04
BER — Isaac Tripp 25 run (Hinkle kick), 6:03
Team statistics`BER`PA
First downs`22`8
Rushes-yards`54-260`18-77
Passing yards`20`111
Total yards`280`188
Passing`4-10-0`6-16-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`1-1
Punts-avg.`4-27`5-32
Fumbles-lost`3-0`1-1
Penalties-yards`7-61`4-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Berwick, Aiden Mason 3-17, Ben Knorr 10-33, Blake Maurer 5-32, Logan Smith 13-47, Devon Smith 6-33, Shawn Sheptock 5-40, Laubach 4-25, Ryan Bankes 6-39, Isaac Tripp 1-25, Matt Lonczynski 1-1. Pittston Area, Bryheem Patterson 8-30, David Sudo 2-33, Pisano 4-1, Harry Pugliese 2-7, Drew DeLucca 1-1, Drew Menendez 1-5.
PASSING — Berwick, Knorr 4-10-0-20. Pittston Area, Pisano 5-15-0-99, DeLucca 1-1-0-12.
RECEIVING — Berwick — Sheptock 2-16, Maurer 1-7, Brayden Boone 1-(minus-3). Pittston Area, Behm 2-35, Rob Barbieri 1-3, John Symons 2-61, Menendez 1-12.
INTERCEPTIONS — none.
MISSED FGs — none.
