YATESVILLE — Hanging around all night, never out of the game, Pittston Area had the ball down a score late with a chance to try and make something happen.
Dallas wasn’t interested in any fourth-quarter comeback.
An emphatic defensive stop with time winding down allowed Dallas to get out of Charley Trippi Stadium Friday night with a 30-22 win over the Patriots, their second win in a row after an 0-3 start.
After a 12-yard Lucas Lopresto touchdown pass from Matt Walter and a fourth-down stop, the Patriots took over needing to go about 80 yards to give themselves a chance to tie.
They never even got out of the blocks. Walter ran six yards, but the other three Pittston Area plays resulted in incomplete passes.
“Our kids rallied around each other, we stayed together and figured how to get it done,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “Hats off to Pittston Area, they played from start to finish.”
Dallas led just 21-15 at halftime and needed Dylan Geskey’s third touchdown run of the half to produce that lead.
The Mountaineers regrouped and came out firing to start the second half. Pittston Area got the ball to start, but the first play of the drive was a Walter pass that was picked off by Gavin Lewis, getting Dallas going the other way.
Quarterback Brady Zapoticky used his legs to score and extend the lead to two possessions, and then on Pittston Area’s ensuing drive, a bad snap on an attempted punt led to a Dallas safety, pushing the lead to 30-15.
It was a momentum-shifting, game-changing stretch for the Dallas defense, and it took the wind out of the Patriots’ sails.
“One too many mistakes — you can’t make mistakes against a quality opponent and expect to come out on top,” Pittston Area coach Joe DeLucca said.
The Mountaineer run game — which found sustained success for really the first time this season in last week’s win over Wilkes-Barre Area — continued to improve Friday night.
Geskey ran for 138 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries. He scored twice in the first quarter to put Dallas ahead 14-0 early. Zapoticky added 117 yards rushing and a score for the Mountaineers.
Geskey’s early work, coupled with a Nate Malarkey interception on Pittston Area’s first drive of the game, made it look like Dallas might cruise to a win.
But the Patriots defense figured things out, forcing several stops and coming up with one takeaway in the first half, an interception from Victor Narsavage.
Touchdown runs from CJ Pietrzak and Walter flipped a 14-0 deficit to a 15-14 lead for Pittston Area, with Pietrzak also converting a two-point conversion after his touchdown.
The Patriots ultimately lost traction on offense, going more than 25 minutes without a point from the second quarter into the fourth.
The win gave Dallas sole possession of the division lead at 2-0. The Mountaineers are 2-3 overall.
Pittston Area is 1-1 and 2-3.
BY THE NUMBERS
Dallas had statistical advantages of 20-8 in first downs, 292-112 in rushing yards and 358-191 in total offense. … Walter rushed for 101 yards on 15 carries to lead the Pittston Area offense. Lucas Lopresto had four catches for 51 yards.
UP NEXT
Crestwood is at Pittston Area Friday night in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 game between teams with 2-3 overall records. The game is the division opener for the Comets. The Patriots are 1-1 in the division. Crestwood will go the rest of the season without quarterback Jaden Shedlock because of injury. The Comets scored 35 first-quarter and 49 first-half points Friday night in a 55-0 victory at Nanticoke.