YATESVILLE — Pittston Area held the Wallenpaupack running game in check for two quarters to create a seven-point halftime lead.
When you’re outsized in the interior, however, it’s often just a matter of time before that catches up with you.
Shadrak Agyei ran for 130 yards in the second half alone as the Buckhorns busted through the Patriots line while rallying for a 21-14 victory Friday night at Charley Trippi Stadium.
“When you have guys like that are leaning on ya for four quarters – and we don’t have a lot of depth on the D-line either so we’re running, six, seven kids in, but they get smaller as we go – they just wore us out with their size,” Patriots coach Nick Barbieri said.
Wallenpaupack (2-3) has four linemen on the roster listed at 275 pounds or more. The Patriots (1-4) have two such players, and they’re both sophomores. Meanwhile, the Patriots were playing linemen that were outweighed by about 100 pounds. That’s how Wallenpaupack wore down the Pittston Area line in the second half.
Agyei, who went for a game-high 154 yards, broke off just one big run in the evening, a 49-yarder in the fourth quarter that set up his go-ahead, 11-yard TD run with 10:13 to go that gave the Buckhorns a 21-14 lead.
On 24 carries, Agyei had five runs of 10 yards or more as he picked on the Patriots’ defense.
“That’s gonna be our problem. We can throw it. But we can’t stop the run, and we can’t run the ball. And in high school football, you’re in trouble if you can’t do either of those things,” Barbieri said. “We’re trying. We fought for four quarters. We did the best we could, but we’re just outmanned up front right now, size-wise. We’re fighting. Don’t get me wrong. Our 160-, 170-pound guards going after 270-pound tackles for four quarters is tough. It’s a physics thing right now.”
Pittston Area only managed 89 yards on the ground on 26 carries, but quarterback Mike Nocito had a big game. The senior tossed for 236 yards, completing 18 of 34 passes with a pair of interceptions.l He also ran for a touchdown.
Nocito’s favorite target was Andrew Krawczyk, who hauled in nine receptions for 142 yards.
“He’s the kind of kid that’s gonna put everything on him. Whether he plays great or he doesn’t, he’s gonna put it on him,” Barbieri said about Nocito. “He comes up to me after the game and apologized to me. For what? He had a great night. A couple balls weren’t perfect, but nobody has a perfect night. My heart breaks for him because he’s trying his hardest. He’s doing a great job. We’re just not balanced enough to help him out.”
The Patriots went up 7-0 after their first drive of the game went for 65 yards on 12 plays, including a fake punt on a fourth-and-six. It was capped with a 1-yard dive from Dylan Lukachko.
Wallenpaupack answered right back with a seven-play, 74-yard drive to tie the game at 7-7 on an 8-yard score from Agyei with 31 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Pittston Area went ahead 14-7 on the last play of the first half when Nocito ran around the end for a 2-yard touchdown.
The Buckhorns tied it up at 14-14 on a 63-yard passing play from Alex Gardsy to J.T. Tirjan with 3:49 to go in the third.
