Wyoming Area senior Damian Lefkoski (7) gets his hand in to bust up the catch to Scranton Prep’s Brady Holmes (11).
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Scranton Prep’s Will McPartland (12) loses the ball only to be collected in mid-air by the Warriors’ Kevin Wiedl (4). Wiedl had to fumble recoveries in the game.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
The Warriors’ Andrew Steinberger (68) gets a hand on Prep’s Will McPartland (12) to trip him up in the backfield.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Buried deep in the bottom of the pile is Wyoming Area’s Kevin Wiedl (4) collecting a Scranton Prep fumble.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Warrior Lidge Kellum (2) waits for his linemen Chase DeSanto (57) and Josh Mruk (21) to open a hole for him to drive through against Scranton Prep at Dunmore High School Field, Friday night.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Lidge Kellum (2) gets past the last Cavalier to score a 47-yard touchdown that was brought back on a Warrior penalty.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Warrior senior back Lidge Kellum is shown on the ground after he punched through the Scranton Prep defense on a 1-yard play for Wyoming Area’s only score of the night.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
DUNMORE — A handful of plays in the third quarter Friday night changed everything for Wyoming Area.
They also ended the Warriors’ season.
Scranton Prep used three big plays to score three times in the third quarter, taking control of a close game for a 28-6 victory over Wyoming Area in the District 2 Class 3A championship game.
“A few big plays,” Warriors coach Randy Spencer said. “Credit to them. We had to play aggressively, do some things defensively (like) crowd the ball a little bit and play some man coverage.”
Scranton Prep (12-1) will play District 11 champion Northwestern Lehigh (13-0) next weekend in the state quarterfinals. Wyoming Area finished a season that included a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 title with an 11-2 record.
One of the biggest plays of the third quarter didn’t result in a Scranton Prep touchdown. Instead, it resulted in Wyoming Area not scoring.
Trailing 14-0, Wyoming Area 2,000-yard rusher Lidge Kellum raced around the left side on the way to a 53-yard score. An illegal formation penalty, though, wiped out the apparent touchdown.
“It’s a game of momentum,” Spencer said, “and that would have been a boost right there. But you have to overcome that over the course of the game.”
Five plays later, after Prep stopped Wyoming Area on a fourth-and-3, running back Will McPartland took a screen pass, sifted his way from the left to the middle of the field and scored on a 54-yard catch-and-run.
Just prior to Kellum’s negated touchdown, Prep had increased its lead to 14-0. Quarterback Louis Paris broke a tackle in the backfield and ran down the right side for a 75-yard touchdown. The score came after Wyoming Area pinned the Cavaliers at their 5 with a punt.
“Big play down here when we backed them up with the punt and Paris broke the long run,” Spencer said. “Again, we’re there and we have to make the tackle. “
Down 21-0 after McPartland’s touchdown, the Warriors were once again stopped on a fourth-down play at the Scranton Prep 49-yard. The Cavaliers scored on the next play as Treyvon Dickey ran 51 yards to make it 28-0.
Wyoming Area scored on its next possession, although it ate up nearly half of the fourth quarter in the process. The Warriors needed 16 plays and three fourth-down conversions to cover 65 yards. Kellum finished off the drive with a 1-yard run with 5:13 remaining.
Kellum finished with 139 yards on 33 carries as the Scranton Prep defense never allowed him any breakaway runs. His longest gain was 14 yards. The Warriors finished with 219 yards of total offense, their lowest total of the season.
“(Kellum) is a good football player and obviously they’re physical up front,” Scranton Prep coach Terry Gallagher said. “He’s a pretty patient kid and oftentimes you’re thinking the speed, but he cut it back a lot more than I anticipated.”
Scranton Prep scored on its initial drive of the game with Paris ending the eight-play possession with a 10-yard run at 8:11 of the first quarter.
After fumbling away the ball on its first possession, Wyoming Area moved into Scranton Prep territory the next two times only to turn over the ball on downs.
BY THE NUMBERS
Scranton Prep held Wyoming Area to season-lows in points and in total offense with its 219 yards. … The Cavaliers had yardage advantages of 307-153 rushing, 99-66 passing and 406-219 total. … Louis Paris carried 11 times for 161 yards and hit four of seven passes for 99 yards. … Wyoming Area’s Kevin Wiedl had three catches. Scranton Prep’s Will McPartland had the most receiving yards with 59 on his two catches. … Wiedl also led the Warriors defensively with six tackles and two fumble recoveries. Trustin Johnson made five tackles.
