Pittston Area running back Xzayvier Blachshear is stopped by Lake-Lehman linebackers Bayne Raspin and Benjamin Dowling (11) during the first quarter Friday night.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
Pittson Area tight end Cieran Bilbow (7) tries to shake off Lake-Lehman linebacker Bayne Raspen after pulling in a pass in the second quarter Friday night.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
Lake Lehman’s Jim Mitkowski gets tackled by Pittston Area’s Gerry Groom during the second quarter Friday night.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
Pittston Area’s Lucas Lopresto turns up field after catching a pass against Lake-Lehman during the first quarter on Friday night. Lopresto caught a 66-yard touchdown and also ripped a ball away from a defender after an interception, taking it for another score.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
Pittston Area wide reciever Matt Walter caught two touchdowns on Friday night from Drew DeLucca.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
YATESVILLE – Drew DeLucca’s perfect quarter through the air was more than enough for Pittston Area this time around.
DeLucca turned five second-quarter attempts into 191 yards and three touchdowns to send the Patriots on their way to a 35-7, Homecoming victory over Lake-Lehman Friday night in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 football game.
A week ago, DeLucca went 10-for-10, seven of them to Lucas Lopresto, in the first quarter to get Pittston Area out to a pair of two-touchdown leads before losing to Nanticoke, 35-28.
This time, the big quarter was enough to add 21 points and open a 28-0 halftime lead.
DeLucca hit three different receivers for catches of at least 37 yards during the quarter.
“It’s good when we can get the ball to more than one kid,” Pittston Area coach Nick Barbieri said. “Obviously Luke is impressive, but Matt Walter is one heckuva football player, too.
“Our tight end, Cieran Bilbow, has had a couple good catches. When we spread it around, it makes us just that much better.”
Pittston Area scored on its first four possessions.
The Patriots were up 7-0 when they gambled in the first minute of the second quarter.
DeLucca hit Walter with a short pass that served the purpose of easily converting the fourth-and-two situation. When Walter then sidestepped the only Lake-Lehman defender in the middle of the field, he took off for a 58-yard touchdown.
Lopresto got behind the defense flying down the right sideline for a 66-yard touchdown to make it 21-0 with 6:40 still left in the half.
Bilbow broke tackles on a simple slant pass to turn it into a 37-yard gain. Walter then took another short pass for 21 yards to the 1.
C.J. Petrzak took it in from there for a 28-0 lead.
The Patriots kept that lead at halftime by withstanding a 52-yard pass to the 12 with less than a minute remaining. They carried the shutout until the Black Knights scored with the reserves on the field under Mercy Rule conditions with 2:23 left in the third quarter.
“We missed some assignments last week against Nanticoke,” Barbieri said. “They’re very similar in style, trying to get to the edge.
“We did a better job assignment-wise. There were a couple blown assignments that I was a little disappointed in. At the end of the half, we gave up that long pass.
“ … Better defensively. When you have young kids, some days they look great; some days, they don’t. That’s all part of the maturing process.”
The win keeps the defending champion Patriots in the WVC Division 2 race at 2-1 in the division and 3-4 overall. The Black Knights are 1-3 and 1-6.
Pittston Area needed just one play in the second half to get to the Mercy Rule.
The Patriots went back to a play similar to the 66-yard touchdown, but Sammuel Plummer was there to intercept for Lake-Lehman.
Plummer was backing up as he made the pick. When he tried to turn and reverse field, Lopresto stripped the ball from his arms, holding on while breaking into a 30-yard sprint to the end zone.
“The first play of the second half was unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Barbieri said, “but, Luke is a special kid. The fact that he’s just 14 years old is amazing to me.
“He’s going to be a good one.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Drew DeLucca leads WVC Division 2 in passing yards while Lucas Lopresto and Matt Walter are the division’s top two receivers. DeLucca threw just one second-half pass, but finished 8-for-13 for 222 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 980 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season. Lopresto had three catches for 85 yards and a score, putting him at 25 catches, 485 yards and six touchdowns. Walter also had an 11-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter, helping him get to 100 yards and two touchdowns on four catches in the game and giving him 23 catches for 309 yards and three touchdowns. … Collin Smith blocked Lake-Lehman’s 28-yard field goal attempt to end the first half and joined Gerry Groom in leading the Pittston Area defense. Groom had four tackles, including two for seven yards in losses, and four assists. Smith had four tackles, three assists and a pass rush. … Smith’s only punt went 43 yards. Lake-Lehman punted five times with none of them going as far as 30 yards.
UP NEXT
Third-place Pittston Area is at fourth-place Tunkhannock (3-2 and 4-3) in a WVC Division 2 game Friday night. The Tigers, in their first season under former Wyoming Valley West coach Pat Keating, are seeking their first winning season since 1998. They have played the same two opponents as Pittston Area the last two weeks, but obviously in the opposite order. Tunkhannock rallied past Lake-Lehman, 13-12, and lost to second-place Nanticoke, 41-6, in a game where all the scoring occurred in the first half. Nanticoke’s three-time, 1,000-yard rusher, Zack Fox, had to work for 139 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries against Pittston Area, but ran over Tunkhannock for 260 yards and five touchdowns on 14 first-half carries. Tunkhannock’s Logan Ross managed just 25 yards against the Trojans, but has run for 904 on the season.
