Wyoming Area’s Andrew Steinberger (68) gets a hand on Scranton 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
Scranton Prep’s Will McPartland (12) loses the ball only to be collected in mid-air by the Warriors’ Kevin Wiedl (4). Wiedl had two fumble recoveries in the game.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area senior Damian Lefkoski (7) gets his hand in to break up a pass intended for Scranton Prep’s Brady Holmes (11).
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Warriors running back Lidge Kellum (2) waits for Chase DeSanto (57) and Josh Mruk (21) to open a hole for him to drive through against Scranton Prep on Friday night at Dunmore High School.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Lidge Kellum punched through the Scranton Prep defense for a 1-yard touchdown for Wyoming Area’s only score of the night.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area running back Lidge Kellum (2) delivers a stiff-arm on his way to a 53-yard touchdown that was brought back on an illegal formation penalty.
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. Credit to them,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “We had to play aggressively, do some things defensively (like) crowd the ball a little bit and play some man coverage.”
Prep (12-1) will play District 11 champion Northwestern Lehigh (13-0) next weekend in the state quarterfinals. Wyoming Area finished its season at 11-2.
One of the biggest plays of the third quarter didn’t result in a 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 TD.
“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 own 5-yard line 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 Prep 49-yard line. 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 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,” 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.”
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 Prep territory the next two times only to turn over the ball on downs.
District 2 Class 3A Championship
Scranton Prep 28, Wyoming Area 6
Wyoming Area`0`0`0`6 — 6
Scranton Prep`7`0`21`0 — 28
First Quarter
SP — Louis Paris 10 run (Tyler Bianchi kick), 8:11
Third quarter
SP — Paris 75 run (Bianchi kick), 6:59
SP — Will McPartland 54 pass from Paris (Bianchi kick), 3:20
SP — Treyvon Dickey 51 run (Bianchi kick), 0:01
Fourth quarter
WA — Lidge Kellum 1 run (kick blocked), 5:13
Team statistics`WA`SP
First downs`14`13
Rushes-yards`43-153`33-307
Passing yards`66`99
Total yards`219`406
Passing`5-15-0`4-7-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0
Punts-avg.`1-48`1-13
Fumbles-lost`1-1`2-2
Penalties-yards`2-10`4-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Wyoming Area, Kellum 33-139, Trustin Johnson 4-4, Michael Crane 2-5, Anthony DeLucca 4-5. Scranton Prep, Will McPartland 12-47, Louis Paris 11-161, Treyvon Dickey 4-65, Anthony Prince 3-39, team 3-(minus-5).
PASSING — Wyoming Area, DeLucca 5-15-0-66, Scranton Prep, Paris 4-7-0-99.
RECEIVING — Wyoming Area, Luke Kopetchny 2-38, Kevin Wiedl 3-28. Scranton Prep, Treyvon Dickey 2-40, McPartland 2-59.
INTERCEPTIONS — none
MISSED FGs — none
