BERWICK — If some West Pittston residents were awaken by the tolling of a bell late Friday night, Wyoming Area running back Brian Miles isn’t concerned.
“Yeah. That’s OK,” Miles said.
He and the rest of the Warriors were going to give their victory bell a good workout when they returned from Berwick. Why not, the Warriors went into Crispin Field and dominated the second half for a 34-20 victory over the Dawgs in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 4A game.
Wyoming Area (3-0) defeated Berwick (2-1) for the first time since 2005. There were just four losses from 2006-2015 as the teams rarely met due to being in different classifications many of those years.
“It was a tremendous opportunity,” said Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer, whose team equalled last year’s win total. “We feel like when we had the opportunity to come in here we’ve taken advantage of it. We’ve always played well.”
So well that Wyoming Area’s first touchdown — a 1-yard run by quarterback P.J. Angeli — at 5:58 of the second quarter snapped a streak of 20 consecutive regular-season quarters where the Dawgs defense didn’t allow a touchdown.
Miles finished with 104 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. Fullback Dylan Kostak smashed at the Berwick defense in the fourth quarter, scoring the go-ahead TD on a 13-yard run with 8:25 left and sealing the victory with a 1-yard run with a minute to play.
Kostak’s first touchdown was set up on a 35-yard throwback pass from Miles to Angeli, who broke through a few tackles to get to the Berwick 16-yard line.
“It’s a combination between Dylan Kostak and Brian Miles. Now the last two weeks you add Justin Joseph in there,” Spencer said. “Great work by (receiver) Marc Minichello on the outside keeping everybody honest. And you have to give a lot of credit to the guys up front, our offensive line. They’re not the biggest bunch, but came off the ball and created some space tonight.
Miles didn’t forget those guys, who allowed Wyoming Area to eat up over six minutes of the fourth quarter with a 14-play drive capped by Kostak’s 1-yard run.
“A lot more confidence. We beat them up and down the field,” Miles said. “The linemen did great.”
Berwick held the lead twice, the final time coming at 3:10 of the second quarter when running back Len Wyda scored from 5 yards out. Wyda’s touchdown, his second of the game, gave Berwick a 13-8 lead.
Wyoming Area, though, came back to score with 42 seconds left until halftime on a 2-yard run by Miles. Miles added a 7-yard TD run in the third for a 20-13 advantage.
The Dawgs responded and quarterback Jared Marshman hit wideout Anthony Cicini on a touchdown pass in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-goal from Wyoming Area’s 17.
From there, Wyoming Area controlled the line of scrimmage and added the scoring runs by Kostak.
Wyoming Area 34, Berwick 20
Wyoming Area`0`14`6`14`—`34
Berwick`7`6`0`4`—`20
First quarter
BER — Len Wyda 4 run (Ken Marshman kick), 2:08
Second quarter
WA — PJ Angeli 1 run (Brian Miles run), 5:58
BER — Wyda 5 run (kick blocked), 3:10
WA — Miles 2 run (run failed), 0:42
Third quarter
WA — Miles 7 run (kick blocked), 7:21
Fourth quarter
BER — Anthony Cicini 17 pass from Jared Marshman (K.Marshman kick), 11:47
WA — Dylan Kostak 13 run (Justin Joseph run), 8:25
WA — Kostak 1 run (run failed), 1:00
Team statistics`WA`BER
First downs`21`15
Rushes-yards`53-276`33-68
Passing yards`77`251
Total yards`353`319
Passing`4-6-1`17-27-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`4-38
Punts-avg.`2-36.5`5-39
Fumbles-lost`3-2`5-1
Penalties-yards`3-15`4-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WA, Miles 25-104, Kostak 10-78, Angeli 15-66, Marc Minichello 3-28. Berwick, Wyda 19-75, J.Marshman 9-(minus-19), Evan Klinger 4-22, team 1-(minus-10).
PASSING — WA, Angeli 3-6-1-42, Miles 1-1-0-35. Berwick, J.Marshman 16-26-0-221, Alex Force 1-1-0-30.
RECEIVING — WA, Dante Deluca 1-7, Minichello 1-4, Kostak 1-31, Angeli 1-35. Berwick, Matt Champ 2-9, Mike Force 2-32, Cicini 6-90, Harrison Kuchka 2-52, Max McCabe 1-8, Wyda 3-42, Jarad Watts 1-11.
INTERCEPTIONS — Berwick, M.Force 1-0.
MISSED FGs — None.
