The Old Forge Blue Devils are back.
After having a streak of five straight championship football seasons come to an end with a losing record in 2016, Old Forge is off to a 6-0 start.
The Blue Devils have already put together two major victories – avenging last year’s season-ending loss and beating their oldest rival – to help set up two big games in the final four weeks of the season.
Old Forge will take a 6-0 record into Friday night’s game against Lackawanna Trail (5-1) in what is likely a preview of the District 2 Class A championship game and, quite possibly, a battle for the home-field advantage in that game.
If the Blue Devils can keep rolling, they will set up an even bigger showdown, at home, to close out the regular season. Both Old Forge and Dunmore are 5-0 in the division, 6-0 overall and ranked among the top teams in the state in their classifications as they head to a Week 10 collision that could determine the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 title.
Dunmore has won six straight LFC division championships and ended Old Forge’s title streak last season when realignment put the teams in the same division.
With workhorse Brendan Mozeleski leading the way, Old Forge has handled its two biggest challenges to date.
After rolling through the first half of the regular season by a combined 208-39 margin and winning every game by at least 22 points, Old Forge was tested for the first time Friday night in Taylor against the rival Riverside Vikings.
Mozeleski carried 37 times for 205 yards and all four touchdowns in a 24-12 win. He ran for touchdowns of 2 and 5 yards to break away from a 12-12 tie after three quarters.
Anthony Rios caught three passes for 95 yards and freshman quarterback Dante Lucarelli threw for 120 yards.
Riverside’s Chase Briskie was coming off a 259-yard, four-touchdown effort in the team’s only victory, 40-10, over Montrose. The Blue Devils limited him to 61 yards on 20 carries.
Briskie did take a screen pass from Brayden Thiel 38 yards for the tying touchdown in the third quarter.
Thiel ran for the other Riverside touchdown and finished with 147 yards passing.
Old Forge improved to 37-31-4 in its series with Riverside and its predecessors, Taylor-Moosic and Taylor.
The 200-yard effort was the second straight for Mozeleski, who is also an all-star linebacker where he is a four-year starter. He has run for 983 yards and 14 touchdowns on 112 carries.
Prior to that, Schuback joined Tommy Souriyavong in leading Old Forge to a 42-13 rout at Susquehanna in a game that cut the list of teams sharing the LFC Division 3 lead from three to two.
Both teams were 3-0 going into the game that was a rematch of the Eastern Conference Class 2A/A playoff in which Susquehanna blistered Old Forge, 40-13, to end the 2016 season.
Old Forge scored the first five times it touched the ball to open a 30-0 lead less than five minutes into the second quarter of the Sept. 16 road win.
“It meant a lot to our football program to, so to speak, avenge what happened last year,” Blue Devils coach Mike Schuback said. “Just the way we didn’t play well and where we felt we were embarrassed as a program last year; the kids wanted this game and they wanted to play it up here.”
Souriyavong, a 150-pound sophomore, recovered a fumble on the game’s first play. He scored three touchdowns, returning a punt 51 yards and taking his two catches 25 and 28 yards for scores. Souriyavong also blocked an extra point, intercepted a pass and made eight tackles, two of which were for losses.
Mozeleski carried 20 times for 178 yards and two touchdowns. He had 149 yards on 17 first-half carries to help put the Blue Devils in control.
Up next
Pittston Area also hosts a divisional opponent with a 5-1 record next week.
While Old Forge is taking on Lackawanna Trail, the third-place team in LFC Division 3, the Patriots will face Wyoming Valley Conference Class 4A Division leader Berwick.
Berwick also leads the points race for the top seed in the District 2 Class 4A playoffs. The Bulldogs have relied on a tough ground defense to make them the only team in the WVC that is allowing fewer than 10 points per game.
Pittston Area took a 2-3 record into Saturday afternoon’s non-league game at Abington Heights.
