YATESVILLE — Brian Miles led the offense and was a big part of the defense Friday night to earn the 38th annual Carmello Falcone Trophy as Most Valuable Player while leading Wyoming Area to a 46-20 victory over rival Pittston Area Friday night.
The win meant more than just bragging rights for the Warriors.
Wyoming Area finished 8-2 and moved past North Pocono, a 28-7 loser to Scranton Prep, to take over the top seed for the upcoming District 2 Class 4A football playoffs. That means the Warriors can play at home at Jake Sobeski Stadium for all three rounds if they can keep winning.
Miles carried 25 times for 142 yards and three touchdowns for the Warriors, who trailed briefly in the game at Charley Trippi Stadium. He also made five tackles and assisted on another.
“A lot of great players in this rivalry have won this, so it means a lot to me,” Miles said of the Falcone Trophy.
Steve Homza threw two touchdown passes while Justin Joseph joined Miles in surpassing the 100-yard mark. Joseph had 11 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown as part of an attack that produced 323 yards on 48 carries.
Miles opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game on a 12-yard run. He added a 1-yard run with 21.3 seconds left in the half to extend a 13-8 lead to 19-8.
The touchdown at the end of the half capped a 16-play, 6-yard drive that took 8:23 off the clock and included three fourth-down conversions.
Miles ran 15 yards on fourth-and-two from Wyoming Area territory, then scored on fourth-and-goal. In between, P.J. Angeli passed 7 yards to Justin Joseph on fourth-and-four.
Miles wound up scoring twice in 1:16 to end the first half and start the second, breaking the game open. He ran 49 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the half.
The quarterfinal matchup will be a home game on Nov. 4 against Dallas, which Wyoming Area beat, 42-10, two weeks ago.
“It feels great that we’ll be able to play in front of our home fans,” Miles said.
Walter Coles passed for all three Pittston Area’s touchdowns. His 4-yard pass to Kevin Krawczyk, the first of two they connected on, and a Keemar Woodruff conversion run gave the Patriots an 8-7 lead midway through the first quarter.
Wyoming Area 46, Pittston Area 20
Wyoming Area`13`6`14`13`—`42
Pittston Area`8`0`6`6`—`20
First quarter
WA – Brian Miles 12 run (Brandon Charney kick), 10:10
PA – Kevin Krawczyk 4 pass from Walter Coles (Keemar Woodruff run), 6:40
WA – P.J. Angeli 13 pass from Steve Homza (run failed) 3:43
Second quarter
WA – Miles 1 run (run failed), :21.3
Third quarter
WA – Miles 49 run (Charney kick), 11:05
WA – Justin Joseph 4 run (Charney kick), 6:40
PA – Rich Wallace 6 pass from Coles (pass failed), :43.8
Fourth quarter
WA – Anthony Saitta 15 pass from Homza (Charney kick), 7:12
PA – Krawczyk 34 pass from Coles (run failed), 5:09
WA – Donovan O’Boyle 24 run (kick failed), 2:24
Team statistics`WA`PA
First downs`19`14
Rushes-yards`48-323`25-141
Passing yards`39`112
Total yards`362`253
Passing`4-7-1`14-23-1
Sacked-yards lost`1-5`1-15
Punts-avg.`1-28.0`3-30.7
Fumbles-lost`0-0`1-0
Penalties-yards`5-30`7-63
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WA, Miles 25-142, Joseph 11-103, O’Boyle 2-30, Marc Minichello 3-24, P.J. Angeli 4-16, Charney 2-10, Team 1-minus 2. PA, Woodruff 15-90, Trevor Tigue 4-53, Brian Giambra 2-4. Team 1-minus 1.
PASSING — WA, Homza 2-2-0-28, Angeli 2-5-1-11. PA, Coles 14-22-1-112, Giambra 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING — WA, Saitta 1-15, Angeli 1-13, Joseph 1-7, Homza 1-3, Miles 0-1. PA, Wallace 7-47, Krawczyk 5-59, Woodruff 1-6.
INTERCEPTIONS — WA, Corey Mruk 1-0. PA, Krawcyzk 1-0.
MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.
