LEHMAN TWP. – There will be no playoff rematch for the Wyoming Area football team.
There will, however, be a rematch of the Warriors’ closest win of the regular season.
Lake-Lehman earned a second chance at the only team it finished behind in the Wyoming Valley Conference Class 3A/A Division when it ran over Lakeland early in a 42-12 District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal victory Friday night.
The Black Knights (8-3) will travel to top-seeded Wyoming Area for Friday night’s semifinal.
The Warriors, who had one of two quarterfinal byes as the top seed in a six-team tournament, are 9-1. A year ago, they were 11-0 going into the semifinals before being upset on their home field by Lakeland.
Lake-Lehman had a 10-point halftime lead on its home field Sept. 27 before Wyoming Area rallied for a 35-30 victory.
“It’s going to be exciting because you know they’re going to have a crowd,” Lake-Lehman coach Jerry Gilsky said following Friday’s quarterfinal win. “After last game we had here, we had our mistakes, we had our moments – the same thing as Wyoming Area. It was really a two-way street as far as turnovers.
“We look at this as an opportunity to come back at Wyoming Area and see them at their place now.”
While Wyoming Area rested Friday night, Lake-Lehman showed it was ready for the playoffs.
The Black Knights scored on their first two offensive plays, had 28 first-quarter points and scored on each of their first five possessions.
During that 35-6 start over less than 17 minutes to begin the game, Ethan Adams was 6-for-6 for 151 yards passing.
Adams finished 20-for-24 for 282 yards and three touchdowns while also running seven times for 88 yards and two more scores. He was 16-for-23 for 241 yards in the first meeting with Wyoming Area.
On the season, Adams has hit almost 66 percent of his passes while throwing for 1,952 yards and a 24-4, touchdown-to-interception ratio. With nine catches for 151 yards and the three touchdowns Friday night, Ryan Eiden has 44 catches for 624 yards and six touchdowns.
Adams has also rushed for 491 yards.
Wyoming Area counters with its own two-way threat at quarterback.
Dominic DeLuca threw for 977 yards and 13 touchdowns in just 83 attempts. He also ran for 615 yards and eight scores.
DeLuca and Darren Rodney, who ran for three second-half touchdowns, combined for 312 yards rushing in the comeback win over Lake-Lehman.
Rodney led all Class 3A/A Division players in scoring with 14 touchdowns while leading the Warriors in rushing yards with 657.
Wyoming Area’s Brian Williams was the only division player with more regular-season receiving yards than Eiden. He had 477 yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 19.1 yards per catch.
Tackle Sammy Solomon leads the Wyoming Area defense in tackles and shares the team lead in tackles for losses with end Derek Ambrosino. Linebacker F.J. Braccini is second on the team in tackles.
Wyoming Area is ranked sixth in the state in Class 3A, according to PennLive.com.
