DALLAS TWP. – A quick look at the scoreboard wouldn’t tell you much about the challenges Dallas’ defense overcame on Friday.
Sure, Wyoming Valley West failed to score through the first three quarters. But the 33-point margin doesn’t say anything about the four Dallas fumbles gave away that yielded exactly zero points.
The Mountaineers defense continued to dominate in a 45-12 victory over Wyoming Valley West. Dallas held the Spartans scoreless until both the running clock went into effect and the Mountaineers’ reserves took the field.
In the 37 minutes they were on the field, the Dallas starting defense limited the Spartans to just 77 total yards. Valley West had just 11 rushing yards on 25 carries.
“Defensively, I thought we flew around all night long,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “We were hitting on defense.”
Dallas turned the ball over several times in its own end of the field. Each time, the defense handcuffed a Wyoming Valley West offense that held a considerable size advantage by shutting down the corners.
“Our backs up against the wall,” Mannello said. “We put the defense on a short field a couple of times until we put in our backups.”
Tyce Mason needed just eight minutes to show off his skill sets in front of the Dallas home crowd. After a penalty called off a 73-yard rushing score on the opening play, Mason scored on a 59-yard deep post from quarterback Talan Geskey. On the next Dallas possession, Geskey hit Mason on a quick slant for a 27-yard touchdown pass.
Half of Geskey’s completions found the end zone. He was 8 for 9 with four touchdowns and 178 passing yards. His highlight of the game was a 10-yard touchdown pass to Brady McCann in the third quarter. Geskey drew the linebackers near the line of scrimmage before a soft tossing a tall pass to McCann in the corner of the end zone.
Wyoming Valley West’s offense thrived late with two late touchdowns. Damien Eastman finished 16 for 31 with 240 yards and two touchdowns. Malique Campbell caught six passes for 116 yards.
After turning the ball over in the red zone on its previous possession, Dallas initiated the running lock with 11:16 remaining. Michael Viglione caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Geskey to take a 38-0 lead.
“We went down there a couple times without a score,” Mannello said. “I told my o-line, in a one score game, we gotta finish those.”
The Mountaineers’ Marc Saracinaj finished with 11 carries for 96 yards.
Dallas 45, Wyo. Valley West 12
Valley West`0`0`0`12`—`12
Dallas`21`3`7`14`—`45
First quarter
DAL — Tyce Mason 59 pass from Talan Geskey (Brandon Miller kick), 10:45
DAL — Mason 27 pass from Geskey (Miller kick), 4:38
DAL — Marc Saracinaj 7 run (Miller kick), :50
Second quarter
DAL — Miller 27 FG, 8:05
Third quarter
DAL — Brady McCann 10 pass from Geskey (Miller kick), 5:54
Fourth quarter
DAL — Michael Viglone 21 pass from Geskey (Miller kick), 11:16
WVW — Malique Campbell 25 pass from Damien Eastman (pass fail), 10:10
DAL — Saracinaj 47 run (Miller kick), 9:44
WVW — Noah Council 11 pass from Eastman (pass fail), 1:42
Team statistics`WVW`DAL
First downs`13`14
Rushes-yards`25-11`37-174
Passing yards`240`178
Total yards`251`362
Passing`16-32-1`8-9-0
Sacked-yards lost`4-18`2-13
Punts-avg.`3-36.3`0-0
Fumbles-lost`1-1`6-4
Penalties-yards`7-30`6-60
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WVW, Campbell 11-21, Carter Morrissey 1-(minus-1), Eastman 6-(minus-6), Izrel Davis 1-(minus-3), Council 2-0, Omare Otway Kellom 2-2, Colton Kecher 2-(minus-2). DAL, Mason 4-11, Bobby Gallagher 1-18, Hunter Pitcavage 7-19, Saracinaj 11-96, Owen Oldt 3-17, Geskey 6-18, TEAM 4-(minus-5)
PASSING — WVW, Eastman 16-31-240-1, Council 0-1–0-0. DAL, Geskey 8-9-178-0
RECEIVING — WVW, Davis 2-9, Campbell 6-116, Gadgidas Reisinger 2-21, Jaheir Cooper-Mickens 5-64, Council 2-24. DAL, Mason 2-86, Jimmy Youngblood 1-22, Oldt 1-5, Gallagher 1-17, McCann 1-10, Saracinaj 1-17, Vigilione 1-21.
INTERCEPTIONS — DAL Trevor Slavinski 1-17
MISSED FGs — None

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