WEST PITTSTON — Dallas lined up to kick the tying point with 19.6 seconds left in regulation, but the Wyoming Area special teams were prepared for anything.
The Warriors shut down a pass attempt for the winning two-pointer off a fake kick Friday night to get through the first round of the District 2 Class 4A football playoffs with a 13-12 victory over the visiting Mountaineers at Jake Sobeski Stadium.
“Pre-snap, you’re yelling out, ‘watch the fake’ in this type situation,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “A team that’s played a helluva game like they did, they’ve got a chance to win the game, why not go for it?”
The Mountaineers went for it with holder Stone Mannello rolling out, looking to throw. The Warriors, however, got pressure up field, forcing Mannello to loop deeper into the backfield and, with the receivers covered, throw a pass that fell to the ground well short of the end zone.
“You always have to be ready,” Spencer said. “It has to be part of your preparation.”
The Warriors still needed one more play because Dallas recovered the on-side kick to get another chance in the closing seconds.
James Eslick deflected a pass into the air and Brandon Charney caught it for the clinching interception.
That moved Wyoming Area into the district semifinals at home against Berwick, a 35-7 winner over West Scranton.
It also completed a busy night for Eslick and a clutch night for Charney.
Eslick had a pair of sacks to get the ball back quickly and in good field position between Wyoming Area’s two second-half touchdowns. He finished with three tackles and seven assists.
Charney kicked the only successful extra point in the game, providing the deciding point. He connected with 2:28 left in the third quarter for a 7-6 lead before having his second attempt bounce off the upright. Nathan Maransky missed his only kick for Dallas.
The defense and special teams were needed on a night when the Dallas frontline was effective in making the Wyoming Area offense work.
The Warriors averaged 31 points per game in the regular season. They had to fight for yards, however, against a Dallas team that went 2-8 and claimed the eighth and final spot in the playoffs on a tiebreaker after winning in the final week on a late field goal.
Wyoming Area ran 58 plays for 282 yards, less than 5 per play.
“Our defense played well,” Spencer said. “It’s just offensively, I think Dallas did a nice job up front.
“They played exceptionally well. (Michael) Farrell had a great night and some of their other guys played well.”
Dallas led 6-0 and Wyoming Area could not move to start the second half.
The Warriors punted after three plays, but that punt helped start the comeback.
Justin Joseph’s 46-yard punt pushed Dallas back to the 14 and helped Wyoming Area start the next drive from its 45.
Driving back tacklers while showing off the hard running that allowed him to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the season during last week’s win over Pittston Area, Brian Miles put together back-to-back strong drives on an otherwise difficult night.
Miles carried 10 times for 67 yards on the drives for 3- and 2-yard scores late in the third quarter and again with 10:19 left in the game. He was limited to 13 carries for 22 yards the rest of the night as Farrell made eight tackles for either losses, no gain or just one yard.
Wyoming Area’s defense limited Dallas to 19 yards and 1 first down on its first 3 possessions of the second half, but freshman quarterback Michael Starbuck led a drive in the final 3:16.
Starbuck hit five of six passes to set up the dramatic conclusion.
Mannello, who made a one-handed grab for a 15-yard touchdown and the only points of the first half, made another tough catch in the back left corner of the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown.
P.J. Angeli led the Wyoming Area offense. He hit 7 of 13 passes for 82 yards and carried 11 times for 72 yards.
Antonio Koshinski, Corey Mruk, Darren Rodney and Dante DeLuca all contributed to the defensive effort.
Koshinski had four tackles, including a sack, and six assists. Mruk had five tackles, including one for a loss, and three assists. Mruk had five tackles, including one for a loss, and one assists. DeLuca had three tackles and three assists with two of the tackles and one of the assists coming on sacks.
Wyoming Area sacked Starbuck six times.
