It’s a tossup this season.
The annual Carmello Falcone Memorial Most Valuable Player trophy will be presented at Friday night’s game. The trophy is reserved for the MVP of the annual Pittston Area-Wyoming Area clash and is given annually by the Falcone family. This season it’s going to be hard to predict.
In the past several years, the trophy went to players who could have been easily predicted. Pittston Area’s Kyle Gattuso won it in 2013, and Wyoming Area’s Jeff Skursky won it in 2014. This year, however, is anyone’s guess.
Wyoming Area’s Brian Miles leads the team in scoring and rushing for the Warriors. For Pittston Area, sophomore quarterback Walter Coles probably has the best shot for the winless Patriots. But let’s not count out the defensive side of the football.
Both teams feature star athletes on both sides of the football. Four players won for defensive or line play in the history of the award. Charlie Kabalka had 15 tackles in a 6-2 PA win in 1989. Current PA head coach Jim Norris had 17 tackles in PA’s 14-13 overtime win in 2000. The next year the defense won again as WA’s Matt Williams helped hold PA’s all-time leading rusher Matt Pisano to 34 yards in a 15-0 WA upset win.
The winner of the first Falcone Trophy was Charlie McDermott. Charlie was a senior quarterback for Wyoming Area when he won the first trophy in 1978. He was 11-14 passing for 207 yards and a touchdown and intercepted a pass in the end zone as Wyoming Area won 23-0 to finish 10-1.
One pair of brothers are on the list, Gary and Greg Dolhan, won in ’80 and ’88 for WA. Greg is the current coach at North Pocono.
In 2007, WA tackle Nick Bellanco won for his play on both sides of the ball. PA tailback Tony Avvisato set a series record with 300 yards rushing when he won the trophy in 2003.