H.S. Football: Wyoming Area outlasts Crestwood in opening night thriller

WEST PITTSTON — Wyoming Area’s offense did its job in the fourth quarter in Friday night’s opener against Crestwood.

Now it was the defense’s turn and, despite surrendering a touchdown, it came up big when needed.

Linebacker Ben Gravine forced an errant pass on third down with a hit on Crestwood quarterback Jaden Shedlock and defensive end Josh Mruk wrapped up the victory with a fourth-down sack as Wyoming Area held on for a 24-21 victory.

“Ben and Josh throughout the game and especially at the end,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “I think Donovan Miller had a heck of a game from an effort standpoint all over the field.

“Certainly timely plays when we needed them, especially at the end of the game to close it out.”

The win was the fifth time in the last seven meetings the game finished a one-score game.

Wyoming Area took a 24-14 lead with 5:35 to play when quarterback Jack Gravine threw a short dart to Nick Ciampi, who turned it into a 42-yard catch-and-run TD.

Crestwood answered right back. Shedlock hit wideout Giovanni Barna for 45 yards and tight end Logan Lawson for 13 more on the Comets’ two plays after the Wyoming Area score.

Shedlock eventually plunged in from one yard out to move Crestwood within 24-21 with 3:28 remaining.

Wyoming Area went three-and-out, giving the ball to Crestwood at its 48-yard line with 1:18 to play.

A holding penalty backed up the Comets, but Shedlock found Barna for a 17-yard gain for a second-and-3. An incompletion followed by Ben Gravine and Mruk making defensive plays ended Crestwood’s hopes.

Shedlock, known more for his running, had a strong game throwing the ball. He finished 13-of-21 for 237 and threw a 48-yard TD pass to an incredibly wide open Jack Rodgers to give Crestwood its on lead, 14-10 at 4:33 of the third quarter.

“I’m really proud of him maturing as a passer for sure,” Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli said. “We just haven’t been able to get a surrounding cast around him in a while.

“We had great players around him. They are even going to make him better like Jack and Gio and our running backs like Jeckell, (Nate) Walsh and Amias (Ocasio) and Logan Lawson.”

Jack Gravine and running back Trustin Johnson had solid starting debuts replacing two key graduation losses.

Jack Gravine rushed for 106 yards on 12 carries, including a 53-yard touchdown run for the first score of the game. Johnson finished with 24 rushing for 138 yards, with most of it coming in the second half.

Johnson also fought his way into the end zone on a 5-yard run to give the Warriors a 17-14 lead with three second left in the third quarter.

Wyoming Area 24, Crestwood 21

Crestwood`0`7`7`7 — 21

Wyoming Area`7`3`7`7 — 24

First quarter

WA — Jack Gravine 53 run (Gavin Feeney kick), 9:45

Second quarter

CRE — Jacob Jeckel 1 run (Cooper Laubach kick), 3:11

WA — Feeney 27 FG, 0:14

Third quarter

CRE — Jack Rodgers 48 pass from Jaden Shedlock (Laubach kick), 4:33

WA — Trustin Johnson 5 run (Feeney kick), 0:03

Fourth quarter

WA — Nick Ciampi 42 pass from J.Gravine (Feeney kick), 5:35

CRE — Shedlock 1 run (Laubach kick), 3:28

Team statistics`CRE`WA

First downs`11`18

Rushes-yards`23-37`42-271

Passing yards`237`90

Total yards`274`361

Passing`13-21-0`7-17-0

Sacked-yards lost`3-24`1-8

Punts-avg.`4-33.3`4-26.3

Fumbles-lost`2-0`2-0

Penalties-yards`10-65`8-51

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Crestwood, Shedlock 10-(minus-8), Jeckell 7-10, Nate Walsh 5-38, team 1-(minus-3). Wyoming Area, Johnson 24-138, J.Gravine 12-106, Ciampi 5-28, team 1-(minus-1).

PASSING — Crestwood, Shedlock 13-22-0-237. Wyoming Area, J.Gravine 7-17-0-90, team 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING —Crestwood, Logan Lawson 4-55, Walsh 1-1, Amias Ocasio 1-11, Giovanni Barna 5-116, Rodgers 2-54. Wyoming Area, Luke Kopetchny 3-29, Johnson 1-8, Josh Mruk 2-11, Ciampi 1-42.

INTERCEPTIONS — none

MISSED FGs none