TUNKHANNOCK — Pittston Area erupted for four scores in the fourth quarter to break open a 49-14 victory over Tunkhannock in Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 action on Friday night.
The 28-point spread was hardly a reflection of this tightly contested affair. Heading into the final quarter the Patriots (4-4) were clutching onto a 21-14 lead. Drew DeLucca would swiftly give his team breathing room as he connected with Lucas Lopresto for an 18-yard touchdown pass early in the frame.
Lopresto wouldn’t stop there as he would find the end zone again, this time from the defensive side of the ball as he picked up a Tunkhannock fumble and returned it 45 yards to provide the Patriots a 35-14 lead.
“Lucas just makes plays,” Patriots coach Nick Barbieri said.
After picking up key yards all night Brody Spindler would finally find the end zone himself late in the contest as he punched the ball in from the goal line. Geno Pugliese would add another score after breaking through the Tiger defense on his way to a 34-yard score.
Tigers coach Pat Keating discussed how close the game was until Pittston Area pulled away.
“I told the team that that doesn’t reflect the game,” Keating said. “I thought we played really hard, we had a chance to start the second half with a score.”
In his second game returning from injury, Pittston Area’s Chris Pietrzak announced himself with authority as he ran for 100 yards and three touchdowns in the contest.
Barbieri spoke to what it means to have Pietrzak back and in tandem with Spindler.
“It has not been our strength, but we’re starting to get there,” Barbieri said.
“Feels great, offensive line blocked real well. I just had to do my job,” Pietrzak said.
At the start of the contest the Tigers (4-4) appeared to be the more dangerous team as they employed their wildcat offense.
Led by Logan Ross, Tunkhannock would quickly find its way to the red zone. The drive would ultimately come up empty as, after two rushing attempts failed to return to the line of scrimmage, the field goal unit was sent out where their 33-yard field goal attempt would fall just short of the posts.
“I like to shift, motion and move around. That’s something we’ll grow upon within our offense in the future,” Keating said.
Barbieri said his team needed time to adjust against the shifty Tiger offense.
“We weren’t lining up correctly,” Barbieri said. “Once we lined up correctly, we weren’t getting outflanked. We did a better job from there.”
Tunkhannock would find return to the red zone on the ensuing possession, except this time Keating decided to keep his offense out on the field for a fourth-and-4 attempt.
Joey Ross would throw the ball to Austin Holliday to pick up six yards and a new set of downs. Logan Ross would finish the job with four additional rushing attempts before finding the endzone to tie the game at 7-7.
Pittston Area was able to able to keep the Tunkhannock defense on its toes all night with two potent runners and a consistent passing game with DeLucca completing 80% of his attempts.
Late into the third quarter, after losing yardage due to a penalty, the Tigers would turn a third-and-17 play into a 33-yard touchdown pass as Holliday rose over his defender to pull down a contested pass. The score would pull Tunkhannock within seven points at 21-14, but the Patriots kept the Tigers off the board from there.
Pittston Area 49, Tunkhannock 14
Pittston Area`7`7`7`28 — 49
Tunkhannock`0`7`7`0 — 14
First quarter
PA — Chris Pietrzak 5 run (Gavin Wolfe kick), 3:43
Second quarter
TUN — Logan Ross 4 run (Paige Adams kick), 8:11
PA — Pietrzak 2 run (Wolfe kick), 2:38
Third quarter
PA — Pietrzak 26 run (Wolfe kick), 7:56
TUN — Austin Holliday 33 pass from Joey Ross (Adams kick), 3:13
Fourth quarter
PA — Lucas Lopresto 18 pass from Drew DeLucca (Wolfe kick), 11:52
PA — Lopresto 45 fumble return (Wolfe kick), 10:37
PA — Brody Spindler 1 run (Wolfe kick), 4:58
PA — Geno Pugliese 34 run (Wolfe kick), 1:44
Team statistics`PA`TUN
First downs`20`10
Rushes-yards`31-206`30-66
Passing yards`172`130
Total yards`378`196
Passing`12-15-0`9-19-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`2-14
Punts-avg.`1-37`5-31
Fumbles-lost`2-1`3-1
Penalties-yards`5-40`7-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — PA, Chris Pietrzak 14-100, Brody Spindler 11-62, Geno Pugliese 1-34, Drew DeLucca 2-6, Bryce Hearst 1-4, Xzavyier Blackshear 1-1. TUN, Logan Ross 18-75, Randall Paxton 1-6, Ethan Dominick 1-4, Joey Ross 7-(-4), David Hoff 2-(-7).
PASSING — PA, Drew DeLucca 12-15-0-172. TUN, Joey Ross 7-17-0-121, Zach Latwinski 1-1-0-8, Logan Ross 1-1-0-1.
RECEIVING — PA, Lucas Lopresto 5-80, Matt Walter 4-54, Ciaran Bilbow 2-24, Brody Spindler 1-14. TUN, Austin Holliday 5-97, Jayden Ransom 1-21, Joey Ross 1-8, Carter O’Neil 2-4.
INTERCEPTIONS — None.
MISSED FGs — TUN, 33 (S).
