CARBONDALE \u2013 Mike Iuzzolino spent three years helping to continue Delaware Valley\u2019s championship dominance with a relentless search for victory.<\/p>\n
Now, in what will be his final game representing the Warriors, the talented running back and defensive back is looking to keep the County all-star team on the winning side of the ledger.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, at the 92nd Scranton Lions Club Dream Game, Iuzzolino leads the County, winners of six straight in the series, against the City all-stars at 7 p.m. at John Henzes\/Veterans Memorial Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pumped up and psyched,\u201d Iuzzolino said. \u201cFirst, this is a great opportunity to play with my high school teammates for one last time, and second, it\u2019s a chance to play with guys I played against.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his three varsity seasons, Iuzzolino earned All-Region honors as a defensive back in 2024 and as a running back last fall.<\/p>\n
He contributed to Delaware Valley winning District 2 championships in his sophomore and senior years.<\/p>\n
In his sophomore season, Iuzzolino was a standout on defense. He had 85 total tackles and two interceptions when the Warriors overcame an 0-3 start to the season to win the District 2 Class 5A title impressively, with wins over Pittston Area and Abington Heights by an average margin of 37.0 points.<\/p>\n
A year later, Iuzzolino took over as the team\u2019s primary ball carrier. He had 1,522 yards and 22 touchdowns, but Delaware Valley had its eight-year stretch of District 2 championship seasons snapped when it lost to Abington Heights, 20-14, in the Class 5A final rematch.<\/p>\n
In addition to his effort as a running back, Iuzzolino had 86 total tackles.<\/p>\n
Motivated to get the team back to winning a district title, Iuzzolino and the Warriors had to recover from a rough start for the third straight year.\u00a0 The Warriors lost their first four games, which included blowing a 31-7 third-quarter lead to Scranton Prep in Week 4.<\/p>\n
Then, the season turned around, and the Warriors won five of their last six games. They edged Pittston Area, 7-6, in the District 2 Class 5A semifinals with Iuzzolino scoring his team\u2019s only touchdown. The following week, Delaware Valley rallied for a 27-24 win over Abington Heights in the third straight meeting between the traditional powers in the final.<\/p>\n
Iuzzolino closed his senior year with 137 yards and two touchdowns and a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in a wild 56-42 loss to Hollidaysburg in the PIAA Class 5A playoffs.<\/p>\n
In 39 games played, Iuzzolino had 3,431 rushing yards and 47 touchdowns. He added 265 total tackles and two interceptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always want to leave a program better,\u201d Iuzzolino said. \u201cOur senior class did a good job of winning two of three district championships.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iuzzolino will continue his academic and athletic careers at Carnegie Mellon, an NCAA Division III program that finished 6-5 last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt came down to it being the best fit for me,\u201d Iuzzolino said. \u201cCarnegie Mellon is a great academic school. Football-wise, they play in a competitive conference. They have great coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n
After spending three seasons as the Warriors\u2019 primary weapon, Iuzzolino is looking forward to playing with his former and new teammates as part of the County all-star team. He will share time with his Delaware Valley fullback Justin Estevez, an All-Region linebacker, and Lakeland quarterback David Naniewicz, an All-Region athlete.<\/p>\n
When asked the key to the County\u2019s success, he put it succinctly: \u201cWe have to run the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
92nd SCRANTON LIONS CLUB DREAM GAME<\/p>\n
When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
Where: John Henzes\/Veterans Memorial Stadium.<\/p>\n
Noteworthy: County leads series, 44-42-4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARBONDALE \u2013 Mike Iuzzolino spent three years helping to continue Delaware Valley\u2019s championship dominance with a relentless search…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-246412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}