YATESVILLE — Alex Anastasi waited patiently for a chance to make an impact.
The Pittston Area tight end helped his offense by making blocks but couldn’t get open for more than 47 minutes during Friday nigh’s game against Crestwood.
Until there was less than a minute remaining.
That’s when the senior somehow escaped a crowd in the front half of the end zone with 35 seconds left and caught a 1-yard pass from PJ Pisano for the game-winning score that gave the Patriots a 21-20 victory.
“I just know that a big play had to be made. I was patient all night. I waited for my opportunity, and when it came I took advantage of it,” Anastasi said. “There was a lot of confusion in the beginning. Everyone was trying to get set. The play clock was running down. So I realized that the defender was more to the right and I just ran right in the middle and made the catch. Just like practice.”
The Patriots (4-5) got the ball with 1:56 remaining, trailing by six points and the ball in the hands of Pisano, who was making his first career start playing for injured starter Mike Nocito. But the junior showed poise on the final drive, connecting on three passes for a total of 31 yards in leading his team to victory.
He also called the game-winning play on his own. Patriots coach Nick Barbieri wanted to run a dive up the middle, but with the decisuve play coming after a run and the clock still moving, Pisano called the short pass to Anastasi. On the night, Pisano completed eight passes for 99 yards and threw three touchdowns.
“We were playing with a backup quarterback who didn’t look like a backup tonight. He did a great job,” Barbieri said. “He was a little shaky in the beginning of the game, that’s to be expected. But to lead us down the field with some seconds to go and then call that thing on his own at the end there … that’s a gutsy play by a backup quarterback.”
Ryan Miller, who ran for 161 yards on 25 carries, electrified the Comets (5-4) on the first play of the game taking a handoff 65 yards for a score and a 7-0 lead 14 seconds into the game.
The Patriots answered with a long first drive going 60 yards on 14 plays with the stanza being capped by a 8-yard TD pass from Pisano to Andrew Krawczyk to tie the game at 7-7.
The Comets took the lead in the second quarter as they gave the Patriots defense a heavy dose of Miller, who carried the ball 11 times on a 14-play scoring drive in which Miller scored for the second time with a 4-yard run that gave his team a 14-7 advantage.
The Comets led 20-7 in the third quarter scoring on their first play of the second half as well, hitting a 63-yard pass from Ryan Petrosky to Garrett Swank.
Pisano hit his second TD pass of the game, finding tailback Dylan Lukachko in the end zone from 10 yards out in the third to pull the team within 20-14.
“I thought our kids battled,” Barbieri said. “They were down a little when Mike wasn’t starting. He came out and gave it a go in pregame, but couldn’t go. But I said, ‘Have faith in our guy.’ And he showed them they should have faith.”
Pittston Area 21, Crestwood 20
Crestwood`7`7`6`0 — 20
Pittston Area`7`0`7`7 — 21
First quarter
CRE – Ryan Miller 65 run (Alex Romanoski kick) 11:46
PA – Andrew Krawczyk 8 pass from PJ Pisano (Matt Soy kick) 6:26
Second Quarter
CRE – Miller 4 run (Romanoski kick) 3:22
Third Quarter
CRE – Garrett Swank 63 pass from Ryan Petrosky (kick failed) 8:38
PA – Dylan Lukachko 10 pass from Pisano (Soy kick) 4:12
Fourth Quarter
PA – Alex Anastasi 1 pass from Pisano (Soy kick) :35
Team statistics`CRE`PA
First downs`15`16
Rushes-yards`37-217`35-94
Passing yards`146`99
Total yards`363`193
Passing`12-18-0`8-19-0
Sacks by-yards lost`1-9`0-0
Punts-avg.`1-29.0`3-34.3
Fumbles-lost`0-0`1-0
Penalties-yards`8-85`4-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — CRE, Ryan Miller 25-161, Ryan Harding 3-15, Petrosky 9-41. PA, Franny George 7-22, Dylan Lukachko 18-63, PJ Pisano 8-31, Team 1-(minus-17), Devin Atkins 1-(minus-5).
PASSING — CRE, Petrosky 12-18-0-146. PA, PJ Pisano 8-19-0-99
RECEIVING — CRE, Harding 3-24, Swank 4-80, Logan Arnold 1-10, Miller 3-24, Brenden DeMarzo 1-8. PA, Andrew Krawczyk 2-20, Brennan Higgins 2-38, Atkins 1-12, Lukachko 2-28, Anastasi 1-1.
INTERCEPTIONS – none
MISSED FG’S – none
