DALLAS TWP. — Wyoming Area appeared to be in significant trouble Friday night when Dallas needed just 95 seconds to take the second-half kickoff and march down the field to open a two-touchdown lead.
As the Warriors reminded, looks can be deceiving.
Wyoming Area scored the game’s final 20 points to leave Dallas with a 27-20 victory in the non-league matchup of two-time, defending Wyoming Valley Conference divisional football champions.
Any appearance that the first 25½ minutes and the next 21 minutes were part of the same game were hard to find.
The Warriors put anything and everything that happened through the opening drive of the second half behind them. They closed with a dominance that would have seemed inconceivable up to that point.
When Hunter Pitcavage waltzed into the end zone from the 3 after having been stopped twice on a run off left tackle, Dallas had a 20-7 lead and apparent control of the game. To that point, despite Wyoming Area having two-thirds of the possession time in the first half, Dallas held statistical advantages of 107-37 in rushing yards, 214-117 in passing yards and 7-6 in first downs.
The Warriors started at the 20 following a touchback for the third time in the game and found themselves facing third-and-six.
Josh Mruk’s spinning, back-pedaling catch on the sideline for 26 yards got Wyoming Area to midfield and started an impressive push.
“It’s one play at a time and then on to the next play,” Warriors coach Randy Spencer said. “You can’t talk about being process-oriented and then not genuinely, authentically do that.
“I’m just so proud of the guys when that’s the message and that’s what you talk about. It’s one thing to talk about it, Monday through Thursday and in the offseason and then to come out under the lights on a Friday night and face adversity against a high-level football team and then put it into practice. That’s really what it’s all about: staying in there together.”
Between the last Dallas touchdown and Wyoming Area’s three kneeldowns to end the game, the Warriors pounded the Mountaineers. Wyoming Area’s numerical edge in that time was staggering – 14-3 in first downs, 175-21 in rushing yards and 281-45 in total offense.
Jack Gravine was 4-for-5 passing for 106 yards and two of his three touchdowns during the rally.
Gravine lofted the ball over a defender on a deep fade and Luke Kopetchny went up and got it for a 30-yard touchdown.
The defense did its part, getting the ball back quickly by holding Dallas without a first down on three of its remaining four possessions.
Mruk batted down a third-down Dallas pass then pulled in a 45-yard Gravine pass. Nick Ciampi burst up the middle for a 40-yard touchdown on the next play and the game was tied with 5:06 still remaining in the third quarter.
The game-winner came less than three minutes into the fourth when the Gravine brothers connected on play action with Ben catching the 5-yard touchdown pass on second-and-goal.
“That felt great,” said Ben Gravine, who was also in on four defensive plays when Dallas put together is last threat on the ensuing possession. “I saw the ball in the air and time froze. I saw only that ball. I didn’t hear anything.
“I knew I had to catch that ball and I did.”
Dallas (0-2) got to the 6, but Kopetchny broke up a third-down pass in the end zone. On fourth down, Chase Krogulski’s rush forced a pass that Drew Keating was able to bat down.
Trustin Johnson wound up as the game’s leading rusher with runs of 19, 11 and 12 yards as Wyoming Area (2-0) ran out the final 4:57.
Logan Geskey took a Talan Geskey pass 62 yards for a touchdown and the 13-7 Dallas halftime lead.
Wyoming Area 27, Dallas 20
Wyoming Area`7`0`13`7 — 27
Dallas`13`0`7`0 — 20
First quarter
DAL – Hunter Pitcavage 17 run (kick failed), 11:11
WA – Luke Kopetchny 46 pass from Jack Gravine (Gavin Feeney kick), 4:22
DAL – Logan Geskey 62 pass from Logan Geskey (Brandon Miller kick), 0:00
Third quarter
DAL – Pitcavage 3 run (Miller kick), 10:25
WA – Kopetchny 30 pass from JGravine (Feeney kick), 6:44
WA – Nick Ciampi 40 run (kick failed), 5:06
Fourth quarter
WA – Ben Gravine 5 pass from JGravine (Feeney kick), 9:09
Team Statistics`WA`DAL
First downs`20`10
Rushes-yards`45-208`30-128
Passing yards`186`152
Total yards`394`280
Passing`9-16-1`6-20-1
Sacked-yards lost`2-16`0-0
Punts-avg.`3-31.3`3-27.7
Fumbles-lost`2-1`0-0
Penalties-yards`4-25`5-49
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WA – Trustin Johnson 17-87, Ciampi 10-79, Josh Mruk 5-34, JGravine 10-12, Team 3-minus 4. DAL – TGeskey 14-79, Pitcavage 15-49, Trevor Slavinski 1-0.
PASSING — WA, JGravine 9-16-1-186. DAL, TGeskey 6-20-1-152.
RECEIVING – WA, Kopetchny 5-100, Mruk 2-71, Ciampi 1-10, BGravine 1-5 DAL, Tyce Mason 3-71, LGeskey 2-73, Sam Kelley 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS — WA, Ciampi 1-0. DAL, Brady McCann 1-0.
MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.
