Wyoming Area and Northwest will each have one less day of preparation this week before meeting in a game between what are arguably the top two teams in the Wyoming Valley Conference Class 3A-A Division.
The teams play Friday night on the new turf at Northwest’s home field, Lewis and Miller Memorial Stadium.
Both teams were scheduled to play road games Saturday in an effort to follow up on impressive opening wins.
Wyoming Area took a 49-0 halftime lead in its 56-13 rout of Mid Valley.
Northwest scored a touchdown and winning two-point conversion with 45 seconds left in an 8-7 win over Lackawanna Trail, a state Class A finalist a year ago.
Dominic DeLuca led the offense, Derek Ambrosino the defense and Brian Williams the special teams for Wyoming Area before the reserves handled the second half.
DeLuca ran for two touchdowns and passed for one. Ambrosino led the team with six tackles, four of which were for losses. Williams returned a punt for a score and also caught DeLuca’s touchdown pass.
Northwest used strong line play and a tireless effort from George May to produce the upset while otherwise inexperienced in the skill positions.
May, a 5-foot-9, 230-pound junior tailback/defensive tackle, carried 21 times for 172 yards. He ran 32 yards to the 2 to set up his own 1-yard touchdown. On defense, he led the team with six tackles, two of them for six yards in losses, and assisted on three more.
“George May is just a tremendous football player,” said Lon Hazlet, the former Pittston Area coach who now leads the Rangers. “He’s put a lot of work into his conditioning and he can’t be blocked on defense.”
