YATESVILLE – The touchdowns that put Wyoming Area ahead and allowed the Warriors to start pulling away in Friday night’s 46-20 win over rival and host Pittston Area both came on a fourth down.
The Warriors were perfect in fourth-down situations, converting 4-for-4 to help them establish control of the game.
First, the Warriors used three levels of deception on one play to turn a fourth-and-seven from the 13 into Steve Homza’s touchdown pass to P.J. Angeli for a 13-8 lead with 3:43 left in the first quarter.
Angeli, the quarterback, stepped away from center while calling out signals to his teammates. While he did, the Warriors started the play with a direct snap. From there, they ran an end around with Homza, who also plays some quarterback at times. Homza then passed to Angeli, who had slipped out of the backfield and toward the right sideline.
The score was still 13-8 when Wyoming Area took possession with 8:44 left in the first half.
The Warriors held the ball until 21.3 seconds were left because they were able to convert three fourth downs in the same drive to stretch the lead to 19-8.
After each team called timeout and Wyoming Area didn’t get the call it wanted by drawing Pittston Area off sides with a shift to punt formation, the Warriors came out of their timeout and went for fourth-and-two the conventional way.
On a daring play from their 42, Miles took a pitch and went 15 yards for the first down.
Angeli rolled right and passed seven yards to Justin Joseph on fourth-and-four from the Pittston Area 37 four plays then.
Then, Miles went over the pile on fourth-and-goal from the 1 for the touchdown.
A detailed look at all the statistics in the annual rivalry game between Greater Pittston teams follows.
Of note is the nearly 20-yard advantage in starting field position and how it tied in to kickoff return yardage.
The Warriors twice threw the Patriots for losses on kickoff returns, with Corey Mruk making one tackle and assisting James Eslick on the other. Pittston Area managed just five yards on six kickoff returns, including one that it covered rather than returning.
Wyoming Area had 48 yards on its first return alone with Darren Rodney putting the Warriors at the Patriots 35 and setting them up for the go-ahead score.
Here are all the usual numbers, plus some more detailed ones, from Friday night.
Wyoming Area 46, Pittston Area 20
Wyoming Area`13`6`14`13`—`42
Pittston Area`8`0`6`6`—`20
First quarter
SCORING PLAY: WA – Brian Miles 12 run (Brandon Charney kick), 10:10. DRIVE: 2 plays, 37 yards, 0:32 elapsed, after punt.
SCORING PLAY: PA – Kevin Krawczyk 4 pass from Walter Coles (Keemar Woodruff run), 6:40. DRIVE: 8 plays, 67 yards, 3:30 elapsed, after kickoff.
SCORING PLAY: WA – P.J. Angeli 13 pass from Steve Homza (run failed) 3:43. DRIVE: 7 plays, 35 yards, 2:57 elapsed, after kickoff.
Second quarter
SCORING PLAY: WA – Miles 1 run (run failed), :21.3. DRIVE: 16 plays, 66 yards, 8:23 elapsed, after punt.
Third quarter
SCORING PLAY: WA – Miles 49 run (Charney kick), 11:05. DRIVE: 2 plays, 58 yards, 0:55 elapsed, after second-half kickoff.
SCORING PLAY: WA – Justin Joseph 4 run (Charney kick), 6:40. DRIVE: 6 plays, 68 yards, 2:48 elapsed, after punt.
SCORING PLAY: PA – Rich Wallace 6 pass from Coles (pass failed), :43.8. DRIVE: 6 plays, 57 yards, 2:35 elapsed, after punt.
Fourth quarter
SCORING PLAY: WA – Anthony Saitta 15 pass from Homza (Charney kick), 7:12. DRIVE: 10 plays, 58 yards, 5:31, after kickoff.
SCORING PLAY: PA – Krawczyk 34 pass from Coles (run failed), 5:09. DRIVE: 6 plays, 80 yards, 2:03 elapsed, after kickoff.
SCORING PLAY: WA – Donovan O’Boyle 24 run (kick failed), 2:24. DRIVE: 5 plays, 51 yards, 2:45 elapsed, after kickoff.
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`5-32.2
Fumbles-lost`0-0`1-0
Penalties-yards`6-35`7-63
Third-down conversions`4-10`5-11
Fourth-down conversions`4-4`0-0
Avg. field position`46`27
Time of possession`28:47`19:13
INDIVIDUAL OFFENSIVE 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.
MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.
INDIVIDUAL DEFENSIVE STATISTICS
TACKLES-ASSISTS – WA, Angeli 6-3, Corey Mruk 5-2, Miles 5-1, James Eslick 4-2, Jeff Urban 4-1, Kyle Carr 2-0, Dante DeLuca 2-0, Charney 1-1, Robert Butwin 1-1, Cameron Carr 1-1, Dominic DeLuca 1-0, Damon Barhight 0-2, Tristen Sokach-Minnick 0-1, John Rubino 0-1, Antonio Koshinski 0-1, Darren Rodney 0-1, Matt Wycoski 0-1, Shane Eslick 0-1, Noah Johnson 0-1, Jacob Butwin 0-1. PA, Krawczyk 9-2, Dylan Sperlick 8-6, Tyler Ferlick 6-2, Matt Starinsky 3-2, Josh Mawson 3-2, Woodruff 3-2, Jake Rutkowski 2-2, Wallace 2-2, Mike Coe 2-0, Tigue 1-2, Nick Lynch 1-1, Mike Mikitish 1-0, Franco Martinez 1-0, Anthony Griffith 1-0, John DeLucca 0-3, Mike Hopkins 0-2, Jeremy Shaughnessy 0-2, Chris Dudek 0-1.
SACKS – WA, K. Carr 1-15.
TACKLES FOR LOSSES – WA, K. Carr 1-15, Urban 1-1. PA, Mawson 1-5.
PASS RUSH – WA, Eslick 1. PA, Mawson 1.
FORCED FUMBLE – WA, K. Carr 1.
BROKEN-UP PASS – WA, Charney 1.
INTERCEPTIONS — WA, Corey Mruk 1-0. PA, Krawcyzk 1-0.
INDIVIDUAL SPECIAL TEAMS STATISTICS
PUNTS – WA, Joseph 1-28. PA, Alex Haas 5-161.
KICKOFF RETURNS – WA, Rodney 1-48, Minichello 1-8-. PA, Coe 1-7, Griffith 1-2, Wallace 3-minus 4.
PUNT RETURNS – WA, Miles 1-17, Minichello 1-1.
