H.S. Football: Goal line stand gives Wyoming Area wild D2-3A semifinal win vs. Lakeland

WEST PITTSTON — Seven weeks earlier, on the same field and in the same end zone with nearly the same amount of time on the clock, Wyoming Area saw a victory slip away.

That memory didn’t escape Wyoming Area defensive back Usamah Alansari as Lakeland’s fourth-down play unfolded Friday night.

“I did actually when I saw that guy wide open,” Alansari said. “When I saw that guy wide open I was like, ‘Oh, this does look like Southern.’ It felt like it.”

But as the fourth-down pass eluded an open receiver as the clock hit 18.4 seconds, Wyoming Area held on this time with a bigger prize now within its grasp. The Warriors had defeated Lakeland 35-32 in the District 2 Class 3A semifinals, earning a meeting with unbeaten Scranton Prep for the championship.

The Warriors (10-1) will play Prep (10-0) at 7 p.m. Friday at Scranton Memorial Stadium. Lakeland ended its year at 10-2, with both losses coming to Wyoming Area.

Back on Sept. 17, Southern Columbia drove 99 yards and scored with 31.8 seconds left to defeat Wyoming Area 37-30 and keep intact the nation’s longest winning streak at 63 games. Lakeland didn’t have that far to go — 58 yards to be exact — with 1:19 remaining to score a go-ahead touchdown.

Quarterback Dominico Spataro, who tortured the Wyoming Area defense with his arm and legs, connected for 38 yards to Jon Seamans on the Chiefs’ first play and then scrambled 10 yards to give Lakeland a first-and-goal from the Wyoming Area 10-yard line.

A short pass gained 3 yards, and a spike to kill the clock gave Lakeland two more cracks at the end zone. A third-down pass was incomplete, setting up one final chance.

Lakeland had three receivers out wide left and all three ran slants, with Nick Mancuso breaking off his route and heading back right. The other two receivers essentially picked off all the Warriors defenders, but Spataro’s pass to a wide-open Mancuso sailed wide.

Spataro finished 21-of-33 for 223 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 73 yards. Wyoming Area corralled the 5-foot-9, 155-pound junior four times in the backfield, although his elusiveness made that a challenge.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Wyoming Area defensive end/quarterback Blaise Sokach-Minnick said. “He’s quick, he’s shifty, it’s really hard to keep him contained. That’s why you have to get him to the ground when you get close to him. You have to make a play on him whenever you can because he’s a game-breaker.”

Wyoming Area had a game-breaker as well in Alansari, who had a career night with four catches for 164 yards and two touchdowns. After catching a perfectly placed ball from Sokach-Minnick for a 67-yard TD on the fourth play of the third quarter, Alansari gave Wyoming Area the lead for good with a 51-yard catch-and-run at 7:01 of the period.

Sokach-Minnick had to roll from pressure and hit Alansari at the Lakeland 39. The 6-1 senior slipped a tackle and raced to the end zone untouched.

“I didn’t feel (the tackle attempt),” Alansari said. “I just saw green grass.”

Plenty of players did as the teams combined for 729 yards and 10 touchdowns, a sharp contrast from Wyoming Area’s 19-14 win over Lakeland in Week 6 where the teams totaled 437 yards and four TDs.

The first quarter alone took 44 minutes to play and had four touchdowns in a span over just over two minutes.

Spataro started the scoring with a 1-yard run and five plays later Wyoming Area running back Nico Sciandra scored on a 17-yard run. The Chiefs then scored three plays later on a 14-yard TD catch by Kevin Snyder, only to have Wyoming Area score on the ensuing kickoff as Rocco Pizano worked the right sideline for a 88-yard touchdown.

“It was a great high school football game,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “We had two kind of knockdown, drag-out, outstanding football games with this Lakeland football team this year. They’re as good as any team in District 2.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Both Lakeland-Wyoming Area games this season were tight, exciting games that were decided late. The similarities, however, ended there. More than twice as many points were scored in Friday’s playoff rematch than in the regular-season game won by Wyoming Area, 19-14. After combining for 437 yards in the first meeting, the teams produced 729 yards and 10 touchdowns. Lakeland had 27 first downs to Wyoming Area’s 14, but the yardage was closer with the Chiefs having advantages of 164-141 rushing, 223-201 passing and 387-342 total. … Blaise Sokach-Minnick was 7-for-17 passing for 201 yards for Wyoming Area while Aaron Crossley carried 18 times for 91 yards. … Sokach-Minnick had two of Wyoming Area’s four sacks. Usamah Alansari had five tackles and two assists while Leo Haros had six tackles. … Wyoming Area averaged 32.7 yards for its six kickoff returns. Rocco Pizano returned four for 143 yards and a touchdown while John Morgan returned one for 38 yards and Nico Sciandra one for 15.

UP NEXT

Wyoming Area is on the road for the District 2 Class 3A championship Friday night against Scranton Prep, one of two unbeatens in the district. The Cavaliers are ranked third in the state in Class 3A, according to PennLive.com. Led by dynamic tailback London Montgomery, a two-event medalist in state track and field as a sprinter, Scranton Prep has outscored its 10 opponents, 438-106. The Cavaliers closed the regular season with a 17-10 victory at Valley View to decide the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 2 title in their only game won by fewer than 27 points. Montgomery’s games this season include 18 carries for 353 yards and five touchdowns plus a 53-yard catch for his sixth touchdown against Lake-Lehman; 373 yards and six touchdowns in a 49-14 victory over Scranton; 42 carries for 262, hard-earned yards and two touchdowns against Valley View; and nine carries for 192 yards and four touchdowns while playing less than 7 ½ minutes of a rout of West Scranton.