their way to a 35-14 victory over the Invaders in a Lackawanna Football Conference Division II game Friday night at Scranton Veterans Memorial Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cI think we didn\u2019t come out the best,\u201d Lakeland quarterback David Naniewicz said. \u201cWe came out a little sloppy on offense. The players weren\u2019t executing at a high level, and that starts with me as a quarterback. I\u2019ve got to get everybody on the same page. We\u2019ll fix it this week, but I think we came out in the second half and really played our game and it showed.\u201d<\/p>\n
After two first-quarter touchdowns, Lakeland struggled to find the end zone. The Chiefs didn\u2019t look like they\u2019d fair any better in the third quarter when a holding penalty and a 2-yard loss set up a second-and-22 at the West Scranton 35. However, Naniewicz hit Jackson Pochas short, and the receiver sprinted for a touchdown to give Lakeland a 21-0 lead with 2:53 left in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a nice little screen pass,\u201d Pochas said. \u201cThe blockers in front of me blocked really well. I got to the outside and made a play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two plays later, Rocco Spataro intercepted a Jake DeLuca pass, bolted 40 yards to the end zone and gave the Chiefs a 28-0 advantage with 2:01 left in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
On West Scranton\u2019s next play from scrimmage, Pochas pulled in an interception, setting up Naniewicz\u2019s 17-yard touchdown pass to Chase Rosenkrans to give the Chiefs (8-1 overall, 4-0, LFC Division II) a 35-0 lead with 1:37 left in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefense as a whole really shifted momentum today,\u201d Pochas said. \u201cWe were a little shaky on offense. We came out on defense, really proved a point and we shut them down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gavin Roberts\u2019 run set up the first Lakeland touchdown, as he took a pitch and sprinted 54 yards up the left sideline to the West Scranton 14. Two plays later, Naniewicz bounced off defenders and barreled into the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown run with 1:54 left in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
Much like during the third-quarter barrage, the defense set up the second score. The front pressured DeLuca, and one Lakeland player hit the quarterback\u2019s arm as he attempted to throw a pass. Naniewicz leaped to secure the fluttering ball for the interception.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defense played amazing tonight,\u201d Naniewicz said. \u201cWe take pride in our defense because our offense wasn\u2019t doing the best. So, we fell back on defense to kind of help us out tonight and get back on the same page on offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two plays later, Naniewicz hit Pochas over the middle, and the receiver sprinted toward the right sideline, cut up field and bolted for a 31-yard touchdown to give the Chiefs a 14-0 advantage with 9 seconds left in the first quarter. Pochas finished with five catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really worked hard in the offseason, getting that bond and just getting that chemistry and just working hard together and it really showed. It\u2019s been showing this whole year,\u201d said Naniewicz, who finished with 88 yards rushing and a touchdown on 12 carries, was 10 of 17 passing for 128 yards and three touchdowns and caught his own pass that was batted in the air at the line and corralled for a 5-yard gain.<\/p>\n
Roberts finished with 106 yards rushing on 10 carries for Lakeland, which holds the No. 1 spot in the District 2 Class 2A playoffs with a .688 power rating, ahead of Riverside (.664), and can capture its first Division II title since 2022 when it hosts Mid Valley next Friday. In 2023 and 2024, the Chiefs went a combined 1-9 in Division II play.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a growing process for myself and my coaches,\u201d Lakeland coach David Piwowarczyk said. \u201cIn (2022), we had a tremendous team, one of the best teams I\u2019ll probably ever get to coach. And then we got hit hard by graduation in 2023. We took our lumps, and then last year a lot of these younger kids we threw in and we did it with an intent that this year they would be ready for the big time and it\u2019s really paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dayron Groves had a 15-yard touchdown run, and Josef Lloyd hit Kaz Colbert down the right sideline for a 32-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter for the Invaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we hung in there tough in the first half. We fought even late into the third quarter there,\u201d West Scranton coach Jake Manetti said. \u201cWe were giving a pretty good effort defensively, but at the end of the day, we couldn\u2019t string any offense together, couldn\u2019t really put together a drive with a couple of first downs. We had that one big play in the first half, but outside of that we struggled. And it\u2019s tough for your defense to try to make consistent stops when you\u2019re not really moving the ball offensively.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Class 5A where only four teams qualify, West Scranton (2-7, 1-3) is fifth with a .317 power rating behind Wyoming Valley West (1-8, .330). The Invaders close the regular season hosting Honesdale next Friday.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 18, 2025 at 12:03 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakeland\u2019s Luke McFarland runs after a catch against West Scranton on Friday at Scranton Veterans Memorial Stadium. (SEAN…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[304,305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-6704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-high-school-football","9":"tag-high-school-sports","10":"tag-scranton","11":"tag-scranton-headlines","12":"tag-scranton-news","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6704","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=6704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Lakeland\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/STT-L-HSFB-LAKE-WEST-1018-01.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Lakeland\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/STT-L-HSFB-LAKE-WEST-1018-04.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Lakeland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/STT-L-HSFB-LAKE-WEST-1018-02.jpg\")
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