Pittston Area’s Ciaran Bilbow hauls in a pass fora 24-yard touchdown.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area junior running back Xzavyier Blackshear (12) punches it in for an 11-yard score against Hanover Area.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Lucas LoPresto (1) getd by Hanover Area’s Deacon Eisenbach (10) to score a 35-yard touchdown on a pass from Drew DeLucca.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Matt Walter hauls in a Drew DeLucca pass against Hanover Area.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area defensive lineman Matt D’Aiello (75) tackles Hanover Area quarterback Rahmel Currie (5) for a loss.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
YATESVILLE — Pittston Area’s quarterback situation was set going into the season with Drew DeLucca returning for his third year as the starter.
Who he’d be throwing to was the question. The Patriots continued to find the answer Friday night against Hanover Area.
DeLucca threw three TDs passes to three different receivers in the first half as Pittston Area rolled to a 35-6 victory in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 game.
Pittston Area improved to 1-0 in the division and 2-2 overall. Hanover Area fell to 0-2 in the division and 1-3 overall.
DeLucca’s touchdown throws went to a variety pack of receivers — senior Ciaran Bilbow, freshman Lucas Lopresto and first-year junior Matt Walter. Bilbow didn’t have a catch last year while the other two, obviously, weren’t on the roster.
“After this, Week 4, it’s definitely getting better and more chemistry,” said DeLucca, who was 5-for-6 for 123 yards and watched from the bench in the second half. “We’re figuring everything out with the total offense because we got 10 new guys. Definitely figuring things out as we go.”
Pittston Area scored on its third play from scrimmage on an 11-yard run up the gut by Xzavyier Blackshear. DeLucca then threw a 24-yard TD pass to Bilbow on the right and followed with a 35-yard strike to Lopresto on the left as the Patriots took a 21-0 lead after one quarter.
In between those touchdown passes, DeLucca had a 52-yard TD pass to Walter wiped out by a holding penalty. No problem, as the duo hooked up in the second quarter. Walter caught a slant, darted between two defenders and banged off a third to score from 45 yards out.
“The two new guys — one’s a freshman and the other is a junior who came out this year and was a basketball player — they’ve really made his job a lot easier,” Pittston Area coach Nick Barbieri said. “He’s got good targets to throw to.
“A lot of those things, we give him the ability to make checks. So if we have a run called and they’re eight in the box, he checks to the pass. That’s what three years of starting is for.”
Lopresto returned an interception 54 yards for a touchdown after DeLucca’s third TD pass. Gavin Wolfe’s fifth point-after made it 35-0 with 3:29 left in the second quarter, a score that would stick until halftime.
The coaches agreed at halftime to shorten the third and fourth quarters to eight minutes. Hanover Area was down to its third-string quarterback as starter Rahmel Currie was injured just before halftime and his backup broke his hand in practice during the week. Currie would have probably played the second half if the game had been closer.
The Hawkeyes were also without head coach Jason Majiros, who is dealing with a health issue. His brother Scott served as interim head coach.
“All week the adversity killed us,” Scott Majiros said. “We had a long week with Coach Maj going down. I thought the kids practiced well all week as well as we could. We came out flat tonight and give Pittston credit. They took it to us.”
Hanover Area scored in the fourth quarter when Malachi Downey picked up a Pittston Area fumble and ran 79 yards to the end zone.
Pittston Area 35, Hanover Area 6
Hanover Area`0`0`0`6 — 6
Pittston Area`21`14`0`0 — 35
First quarter
PA — Xzayvier Blackshear 11 run (Gavn Wolfe kick), 11:00
PA — Ciaran Bilbow 24 pass from Drew DeLucca (Wolfe kick), 7:31
PA — Lucas Lopresto 35 pass from DeLucca (Wolfe kick), 1:15
Second quarter
PA — Matt Walter 45 pass from DeLucca (Wolfe kick), 4:39
PA — Lopresto 54 interception return (Wolfe kick), 3:29
Fourth quarter
HAN — Malachi Curry 79 fumble return (kick blocked), 4:10
Team statistics`HA`PA
First downs`3`10
Rushes-yards`28-23`22-148
Passing yards`9`123
Total yards`32`271
Passing`3-9-1`5-6-0
Sacked-yards lost`1-6`0-0
Punts-avg.`5-28.4`2-40
Fumbles-lost`5-1`0-0
Penalties-yards`4-30`5-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Hanover Area, Jaydon Skipalis 12-35, Jayden Shortz 3-4, Rahmel Currie 10-10, Al-Quron Michel 1-9, team 2-(minus-35). Pittston Area, Brody Spindler 3-30, Blackshear 5-44, DeLucca 1-4, Aiden Brody 4-6, Geno Pugliese 2-(minus-1), Bryce Hurst 2-(minus-1). Ethan Ungureit 2-3, Blake Jaworski 2-4, team 1-(minus-1).
PASSING — Hanover Area, Currie 2-6-1-11, Deacon Eisenbach 0-1-0-0, Michel 1-2-0-(minus-3). Pittston Area, DeLucca 5-6-0-123.
RECEIVING — Hanover Area, Eisenbach 2-11, Aiden Safriwe 1-(minus-2). Pittston Area, Bilbow 2-44, Lopresto 2-34, Walter 1-45.
INTERCEPTIONS — Pittston Area, Lopresto 1-54.
MISSED FGs — none
