YATESVILLE — On Seth Raymer’s 18th birthday, Sam Petrini offered up the gift that Raymer used to wrap up a Nanticoke victory.
With Pittston Area down a score and driving late, Petrini stripped the ball from a receiver.
Raymer, the active leader of the Nanticoke defense all night, was there to recover the fumble with 2:27 left and the Trojans ran out the clock Friday night for a 35-28 victory over the defending champion Patriots in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 game.
“Sam Petrini made a big play to strip the ball right there,” said Raymer, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound senior defensive end who also made eight tackles, including one for a loss, and assisted on another. “I saw the ball on the ground and knew we had to get it back to close the game out and get the W.”
Zack Fox capped a night in which he ran for 139 yards and three touchdowns by going 12 yards on third-and-9 to give Nanticoke the one first down it needed to run out the clock.
The Trojans improved to 2-1 in the division and 3-3 overall.
Pittston Area, which had been 7-0 in Division 2 since moving down from Division 1 between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, led by 14 twice in the first quarter. The Patriots fell to 1-1 and 2-4.
“We stayed headstrong, and we didn’t let it get to us,” Fox said. “We made plays and we started putting up points, too.”
Just as importantly, Nanticoke found answers for the Pittston Area passing game that led the Patriots to 14 points in the first 3:54 and 21 points in the first quarter.
At that time, Drew DeLucca was 10-or-10 for 157 yards passing with seven of those passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns going to freshman Lucas Lopresto.
Nanticoke made some adjustments in the secondary alignment, taking away the slants and other quick passes and limiting the Patriots to six completions and 57 yards on 14 attempts the rest of the way.
With the Patriots stalled, the Trojans ran off 21 straight points in the middle quarters to take their first lead.
Eugene Gyle and Fox ran for second-quarter touchdowns.
After driving 79 yards for a score late in the half, Nanticoke moved 65 yards and ate up more than half the third quarter by running 10 straight times on the second half’s first possession.
Ryan Wiaterowski, who split time between the line and a power backfield set, scored from the 2 for a 28-21 lead.
Nanticoke’s Nemico Sosa broke up a fourth-down pass in the end zone, but the Patriots kept the Trojans pinned, then moved 49 yards to tie the game on a 9-yard Brody Spindler touchdown.
Preston Allen’s 71-yard kickoff return set up Fox to score the game-winner from the 5 with 5:22 left.
Fox had returned a kickoff 81 yards from the 1 with Nanticoke trailing 14-0 early, setting up his 6-yard touchdown.
Nanticoke Area 35, Pittston Area 28
Nanticoke Area`7`14`7`7 — 35
Pittston Area`21`0`0`7 — 28
First quarter
PA – Lucas Lopresto 48 pass from Drew DeLucca (Matt Walter pass from DeLucca), 10:43
PA – Xzayvier Blackshear 2 run (pass failed), 8:06
NAN – Zack Fox 6 run (Giovanni Huertero kick), 6:28
PA – Lopresto 7 pass from DeLucca (Gavin Wolfe kick), 0:47
Second quarter
NAN – Eugene Gyle 32 run (Wolfe kick), 9:07
NAN – Fox 12 run (Wolfe kick), 1:29
Third quarter
NAN – Ryan Wiaterowski 2 run (Huertero kick), 5:48
Fourth quarter
PA – Brody Spindler 9 run (Wolfe kick), 8:44
NAN – Fox 5 run (Huerter kick), 5:22
Team statistics`NAN`PA
First downs`16`17
Rushes-yards`43-207`31-154
Passing yards`50`198
Total yards`257`352
Passing`3-10-0`16-24-0
Sacked-yards lost`1-4`1-0
Punts-avg.`2-40.5`2-20.5
Fumbles-lost`1-1`1-1
Penalties-yards`8-59`11-80
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — NAN, Fox 26-139, Gyle 6-62, Stephen Armstrong 3-8, Wiaterowski 3-6, Preston Allen 2-minus 2, Team 2-minus 2, Seth Raymer 1-minus 4. PA, Spindler 9-43, Lopresto 1-37, Blackshear 11-33, Chris Pietrzak 4-22, DeLucca 6-19.
PASSING — NAN, Mike Stachowiak 1-2-0-23, Raymer 1-7-0-16, Fox 1-1-0-11. PA, DeLucca 16-24-0-198.
RECEIVING – NAN, Gavin Turak 2-27, Raymer 1-23. PA, Lopresto 8-135, Walter 5-43, Cieran Bilbow 1-18, Spindler 1-3, Gerry Groom 1-minus 1.
INTERCEPTIONS — None.
MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.
