YATESVILLE — Corey Mruk followed the surge of the Wyoming Area offensive line, the control of the edge created by the tight ends and the lead blocking of his fullbacks all the way to the Carmelo Falcone Award Friday night.
Mruk received the award, which goes to the Most Valuable Player of the annual rivalry game with Pittston Area, after carrying 37 times for 242 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-0 rout at Charley Trippi Stadium.
And that was not all.
Mruk also had 36 receiving yards on a hook-and-lateral play that set up a touchdown, made one tackle for a loss and got in on six others.
“I was so proud to see our guys come out, especially in our rivalry game, and be able to take that energy and defeat a quality Pittston Area team,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said.
The Warriors got off the ball fast and Mruk ran hard, over and over again while wearing down the Patriots to complete Wyoming Area’s first unbeaten regular season since 1997.
“Our line up front, combined with Corey Mruk, who has really developed into a feature back, did a great job offensively,” Spencer said. “It was just exciting to see.”
Mruk scored all three of his touchdowns in the first half, then surpassed the 200-yard mark for the game and 1,000-yard mark for the season in the third quarter.
“This is the best blocking I ran behind all year,” the junior fullback/linebacker said. “The rivalry game brings the best out of everybody.
“We had our guys blocking the best and tackling the best they had all season, but I also give credit to Pittston. I took some of the hardest hits from some of the biggest kids I played all year. They brought it.”
In the finale of a regular season in which no team came closer to the Warriors than 22 points, the Wyoming Valley Conference Class 3A/A Division champions held their biggest rivals to negative yardage in the first half while building a 28-0 lead.
Cameron Carr, one of the offensive linemen who led Mruk, also joined Dimitri Depietro, Derek Ambrosino and Mruk in leading the defensive effort.
The Warriors will move into the District 2 Class 3A playoffs as the second seed in an eight-team field.
They appeared ready Friday night.
Mruk capped a 74-yard drive that featured 10 straight runs, all but two by him, with a 1-yard run for the only touchdown of the first quarter.
The defense then created field position, setting up Wyoming Area in Pittston Area territory twice and at midfield once in the second quarter. The Warriors scored all three times.
Mruk went 1 yard again midway through the second, then the Warriors scored twice in 54 seconds late in the half.
Dominic DeLuca threw the first of his two touchdown passes 11 yards to Brian Williams, then worked with Depietro and Mruk on the 39-yard, hook-and-lateral play following a fumbled kickoff.
Mruk’s 4-yard touchdown on the first snap after the long pass play created the 28-0 halftime lead.
DeLuca found Ambrosino with a 10-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-seven in the third quarter.
Jacob Williams threw a 1-yard TD pass to Jimmy Miller for the final score.
Wyoming Area 40, Pittston Area 0
Wyoming Area`7`21`6`6 — 40
Pittston Area`0`0`0`0 — 0
First quarter
WA – Corey Mruk 1 run (Aleah Kranson kick), 3:33
Second quarter
WA – Mruk 1 run (Kranson kick), 5:58
WA – Brian Williams 11 pass from Dominic DeLuca (Kranson kick), 1:18
WA – Mruk 4 run (Kranson kick), 0:26.3
Third quarter
WA – Derek Ambrosino 10 pass from DeLuca (kick blocked), 5:17
Fourth quarter
WA – Jimmy Miller 1 pass from Jacob Williams (kick failed), 1:45
Team statistics`WA`PA
First downs`23`5
Rushes-yards`52-307`26-41
Passing yards`73`31
Total yards`380`72
Passing`5-10-0`5-10-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`4-23
Punts-avg.`0-0.0`5-35.2
Fumbles-lost`2-0`5-2
Penalties-yards`5-45`5-37
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WA, Corey Mruk 37-242, Dominic DeLuca 7-30, Nick Elko 3-17, Zajquay Williamson 2-13, Jacob Williams 1-3, F.J. Braccini 1-1, Leo Haros 1-1. PA, Devin Atkins 4-38, Jordan O’Boyle 6-11, Bryan Giambra 3-6, Mike Coe 2-4, Dylan Lukachko 6-3, Louis Galli 1-2, Mike Nocito 4-minus 23.
PASSING — WA, DeLuca 4-9-0-72, JWilliams 1-1-0-1. PA, Nocito 5-8-0-31, Giambra 0-2-0-0.
RECEIVING — WA, Braccini 1-12, BWilliams 1-11, Derek Ambrosino 1-10, Dimitri Depietro 1-3, Jimmy Miller 1-1, Mruk 0-36. PA, Mike Coe 2-15, Andrew Krawczyk 1-8, Giambra 1-4, O’Boyle 1-4.
INTERCEPTIONS — None.
MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.
