KINGSTON — The Pittston Area defense did not need much help from the offense.
One long play and one long drive were enough.
Throw in one long kickoff return and the Patriots had the formula for their first win of the season, a 20-13 victory at Wyoming Valley West in a game between teams from opposite divisions of the Wyoming Valley Conference.
Drew DeLucca hit freshman Lucas Lopresto with a 98-yard touchdown pass, the Patriots put together a 15-play scoring drive to build their biggest lead of the night and Matt Walter returned a kickoff 65 yards after the Spartans got close earlier in the second half.
“Our defense has been keeping us in games,” Patriots coach Nick Barbieri said of a unit that produced four sacks and limited the Spartans to eight first downs. “We didn’t play badly in the first game. We didn’t play badly in the second game. We just had no offense.
“Tonight, we had just enough offense. I didn’t think we were great on offense. We had a big play to start the game, then we put together a nice kickoff and a nice drive there at the end.”
DeLucca passed for a touchdown and two-point conversion, then ran for a score.
DeLucca’s daring audible on third-and-12, after his team’s first two plays had resulted in losses, got the Patriots out of a hole and into a lead that they never relinquished.
“We had man coverage on the outside and nobody over the top,” DeLucca said. “We like our skilled guys out there. He’s a young guy, a freshman, and he went out and made a great play there.”
Knowing he had to get the ball away quickly to avoid a safety, DeLucca waited just long enough for Lopresto to get behind the defense deep down the left side. He delivered a pass that allowed the freshman to go the distance untouched.
DeLucca made another read and pre-snap adjustment on a trick play for the two-point pass to Brody Spindler, who absorbed a big hit, but held on for an 8-0 lead with 8:10 left in the first quarter.
That was all the scoring in the first half.
Wyoming Valley West stopped Pittston Area to open the second half and got a 26-yard run from Isaiah Cobb on the first play of the second half.
Cobb’s run started a 53-yard drive to the first of two touchdown runs by Lucas Zdancewicz.
After Zdancewicz ran over a defender at the 1 to complete a 6-yard touchdown run, Gerry Groom broke up a pass in the end zone to stop Wyoming Valley West’s attempt to tie the score.
Walter’s kickoff return put the ball at the 20 and Pittston Area restored its eight-point lead four plays later. DeLucca scored on a 1-yard sneak.
The Patriots made it touchdowns on consecutive drives when they converted two fourth downs and two third downs on a drive that carried into the fourth quarter.
Spindler scored from the 12.
Lopresto broke up a fourth-down pass in the end zone, but Wyoming Valley West cut the gap to seven on its next possession.
The Spartans got the ball back for one last chance with 1:22 left, but needing to go 80 yards, they were unable to manage a first down.
Pittston Area 20, Wyoming Valley West 13
Pittston Area`8`0`6`6 — 20
Wyoming Valley West`0`0`6`7 — 13
First quarter
PA – Lucas Lopresto 98 pass from Drew DeLucca (Brody Spindler pass from DeLucca), 8:10
Third quarter
WVW – Lucas Zdancewicz 6 run (pass failed), 6:30
PA – DeLucca 1 run (kick blocked), 4:26
Fourth quarter
PA – Brody Spindler 12 run (kick failed), 10:09
WVW – Zdancewicz 1 run (Roger Staron kick), 3:31
Team statistics`PA`WVW
First downs`11`8
Rushes-yards`24-60`32-126
Passing yards`165`116
Total yards`225`242
Passing`11-24-1`5-18-0
Sacked-yards lost`1-3`4-21
Punts-avg.`4-32.3`6-35.3
Fumbles-lost`0-0`2-0
Penalties-yards`4-29`7-60
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — PA, Spindler 8-23, Xzayvier Blackshear 12-22, DeLucca 6-17, Team 2-minus 2. WVW, Isaiah Cobb 14-58, Tyler Mattis 1-27, Zdancewicz 11-21, Paul Riggs 5-16, Ty Makarewicz 1-4.
PASSING — PA, DeLucca 11-24-1-165. WVW, Zdancewicz 5-18-0-116.
RECEIVING – PA, Lopresto 4-129, Blackshear 3-16, Ciera Bilbow 2-12, Matt Walter 1-7, Spindler 1-1. WVW, Makarewicz 2-45, Kamau Ingram 1-31, Maki Wells 1-21, Cobb 1-19.
INTERCEPTIONS — PA, None. WVW, Mattis 1-minus 4.
MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.
