WILKES-BARRE TWP. — It could have been worse Saturday afternoon. Much, much worse.
Unbeaten Wyoming Area, though, decided to play its starters just nine minutes, which was more than enough time to overwhelm winless Holy Redeemer 43-7 in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 3A-A football game at King’s College.
“You want to come out and execute at a high level and maintain that,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “You’re looking for improvement, whether it’s those first guys in there or those next guys. As we’ve gone through some injuries, we’ve been fortunate to have guys step up and fill roles. That’s certainly what you’re looking for.”
The game was expected to be so lopsided that the head coaches agreed before kickoff to reduce the third and fourth quarters from 12 minutes to eight with a running clock. The stipulation was that the score had to be out of hand.
Wyoming Area (8-0) led 30-0 after one quarter and 43-0 at halftime. Yep, it was out of hand.
Wyoming Area starting running back Corey Mruk made the most of his nine minutes on the field.
Mruk scored the Warriors’ first touchdown on a 4-yard run. The score was set up by Dominic DeLuca’s fifth interception of the season on the game’s fourth play. Wyoming Area then went up 9-0 when a Redeemer punt snap sailed out of the end zone for a safety.
After the free kick, Mruk ran 31 yards and then 14 yards for a touchdown and a 16-0 lead at 6:41 of the first quarter. Three plays later, the Wyoming Area defense scored on a 24-yard interception return by Dimitri DiPietro.
The Wyoming Area starters called it a day after their next possession. DeLuca finished things off with a 21-yard pass to Brian Williams followed by a 6-yard TD toss to Mruk for a 30-0 lead at 3:09 of the opening quarter.
The Warrior reserves ended the team’s scoring with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns. Sophomore running back Vicienzo Giambra ended both with TD runs of 3 and 5 yards.
The first-half stats were as ugly as the 43-0 halftime score — Wyoming Area with 206 yards and Redeemer with minus-14.
With the time reduced in the second half, the third and fourth quarters consisted of 12 plays each. Redeemer (0-8) avoided its sixth shutout of the season when Ryan Williams threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jack Daoud with 2:33 left in the game. It was the Royals’ first touchdown pass of the season and fifth TD overall.
Wyoming Area 43, Holy Redeemer 7
Wyoming Area`30`13`0`0 — 43
Holy Redeemer`0`0`0`7 — 7
First quarter
WA — Corey Mruk 4 run (Aleah Kranson kick), 8:54
WA — Safety, Redeemer punt snap out of end zone, 7:13
WA — Mruk 14 run (Kranson kick), 6:41
WA — Dimitri DiPietro 24 interception return (Kranson kick), 6:24
WA — Mruk 6 pass from Dominic DeLuca (Jayden Rusyn kick), 3:09
Second quarter
WA — Vicienzo Giambra 3 run (kicked failed), 10:40
WA — Giambra 5 run (Josh Cumbo kick), 3:04
Fourth quarter
HR — Jack Daoud 16 pass from Ryan Williams (Nate Roppelt kick), 2:33
Team statistics`WA`HR
First downs`14`3
Rushes-yards`37-229`17-(-10)
Passing yards`56`74
Total yards`285`64
Passing`5-8-0`7-12-2
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`2-11
Punts-avg.`0-0`3-24.3
Fumbles-lost`3-1`2-0
Penalties-yards`5-25`1-5
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WA, Mruk 5-58, DeLuca 1-2, Dillon Williams 2-16, Leo Haros 1-23, Giambra 9-68, Colby Gashi 7-29, Jacob Williams 3-22, Enzo Scotto-Diluzio 2-3. Giovani Sancho 2-6, team 3-(minus-5). Redeemer, Williams 7-(minus-20), Christian Elon 9-26, team 1-(minus-16).
PASSING — WA, DeLuca 4-5-0-44, J.Williams 0-1-0-0, Blaise Sokach-Minnick 1-2-0-12.
RECEIVING — WA, Brian Williams 2-36, Mruk 2-8, Quadre Sessons 1-12. Redeemer, Alex Hajkowski 4-7, Ethan Stoltz 2-51, Daoud 1-16.
INTERCEPTIONS — WA, DeLuca 1-14, DiPietro 1-24.
MISSED FGs — none.
