HAZLETON \u2014 When a high school football program has been at the level that Dallas has in recent years, there\u2019s never a sense of dread or panic.<\/p>\n
Neither during a given season, nor in games for that matter.<\/p>\n
Even in the immediate aftermath of the Mountaineers\u2019 blowout loss to unbeaten North Pocono three weeks ago that dropped them to 1-5, coach Rich Mannello sensed a turnaround was close at hand the moment he walked into the team\u2019s weight room the following Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u2018There wasn\u2019t a single curled lip in that building,\u201d he said. \u201c\u201dThat was a drubbing; they beat us purple. But after (North Pocono\u2019s) 34th point \u2014 it was 34-0 at the the time \u2014 they lined up to kick the PAT, and our guys came flying after their (kicker) like it was 0-0. That was the first clip we showed them in our (film session). I just knew we were ready to win and win (then and) now.\u201d<\/p>\n
That the Mountaineers did, knocking off Wyoming Valley West and Crestwood in their next two games<\/p>\n
Friday, they methodically made it three straight wins with a 37-7 spoiling of Hazleton Area\u2019s homecoming at Harman-Geist Stadium. They spotted Hazleton Area an early 7-0 lead, but their calm resolve swiftly tilted the game in their favor.<\/p>\n
Defensively, Dallas limited Hazleton Area to zero points and only three first downs over the final three and a half quarters.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to tackle in the open field, and I thought we did a good job with that,\u201d Mannello said. \u201cWe played very well defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n
On offense, the Mountaineers used a no-frills running attack led by sophomore quarterback Talan Geskey and bruising back Mark Saracinaj\u00a0 and Geskey\u2019s short passes to gash the Cougars repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Senior Sam Kelley contributed touchdown runs of eight and 21 yards on two of his three carries. He added a 62-yard punt return for another score in the third quarter, which, combined with a tide-turning onside kick, enabled Dallas to showcase its special teams prowess.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis program is built on special teams,\u201d Mannello said. \u201cWe stole a possession on the onside kick and went down and scored (the go-ahead touchdown) after that. \u2026 And the punt return was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both were huge because the Cougars (1-8, 0-5 Wyoming Valley conference Division 1) came into the game bent on ending their six-game losing streak.<\/p>\n
\u201cI challenged our guys before the game,\u201d Scott Sacco, Hazleton Area\u2019s rookie head coach, said. \u201cWe basically had been a second-half team all year, so I challenged our guys to take the ball down the field and score.\u201d<\/p>\n
Challenge accepted.<\/p>\n
The Cougars\u2019 Logan Gennaro returned the opening kickoff 38 yards to the Hazleton Area 47. From there, his team needed only six plays to get on the scoreboard, one a a pretty 23-yard pass from JJ Lantigua to Jose Lopez to the Dallas 24. Four plays later, on fourth and 1, Lantigua kept the ball and sped 15 yards to the end zone to give Hazleton Area a lead for one of the few times this season.<\/p>\n
After the teams exchanged punts, Dallas (4-5, 4-1) got a 12-yard run by Geskey, his 17-yard pass to his brother Logan and Talan\u2019s seven-yard run to set up Kelley\u2019s first TD of the night, this one pulling the Mountaineers within 7-6.<\/p>\n
Then came Dallas\u2019 successful onside kick that gave the Mountaineers the ball right back at the Hazleton Area 38. With Saracinaj\u00a0 and Talan Geskey taking turns carrying, Dallas quickly moved into scoring range, with the latter taking in from the 8.<\/p>\n
The visitors never trailed again.<\/p>\n
Hazleton Area twice ventured back into Dallas territory, but wasted Ashton Karlick\u2019s 14-yard romp and Lantigua\u2019s 17-yard scramble to the Mountaineers 27. A sack and holding penalty pushed the Cougars back, and they eventually punted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had the momentum after that (first) drive and then we just stopped playing,\u201d Sacco said. \u201cWe can\u2019t blame our defense when our offense couldn\u2019t score either. We\u2019ve got to be able to continue doing what we did on that first drive\u201d<\/p>\n
Dallas followed with a crisp 86-yard scoring march that started with Kelley\u2019s 12-yard run, included Talan Geskey\u2019s 11-yard pass to Tyce Mason and a 15-yard penalty on the Cougars for a late hit and ended with Logan Geskey taking a short pass from his brother and dashing 36 yards to paydirt 51 seconds before halftime.<\/p>\n
The Mountaineers still weren\u2019t finished scoring in the first half as they forced Hazleton Area into a three-and-out and got the ball back in excellent field position following Logan Geskey\u2019s punt return to the Cougars\u2019 21. Two plays later, Brandon Miller kicked a 28-yard field goal to give Dallas a 23-7 halftime lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew they were getting the ball to start the second half, so we kept telling them (Hazleton Area players) that we had to get a stop there,\u201d Sacco said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t able to do that, they got the momentum and they kept it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hazleton Area\u2019s defense forced Dallas to turn the ball over on downs deep inside Cougar territory to start the second half, but its offense still was stuck in neutral or reverse.<\/p>\n
Kelley then dealt Cougars a back-breaker when he fielded\u00a0 a punt and weaved 62 yards for a touchdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just grabbed the ball, saw open space and I ran as fast as I could,\u201d Kelley said.<\/p>\n
Kelley\u2019s third TD came on a 21-yard run early in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
By then, memories of the Mountaineers\u2019 lopsided loss to North Pocono had all but faded away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just kept practicing harder and harder and grinding every day,\u201d Kelley said of his team\u2019s midseason renaissance. \u201cOur weight room work definitely helps later in games.\u201d<\/p>\n
These Mountaineers also know there\u2019s also a proud tradition at Dallas to uphold.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201dYou play hard for everybody who played before you, the seniors, everybody in the program,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cAnybody can beat anybody on any day. That\u2019s why you have to stay dialed in all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even when others may panic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve still got to play for our seniors,\u201d said Sacco, whose team will close the regular season against Abington Heights next Friday before hitting the road for a District 2\/4 Class 6A semifinal game on Halloween night. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be our seniors\u2019 last home game. You hope that these younger guys push for our seniors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Game Summary<\/p>\n
Dallas (4-5, 4-1)\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u20266 17 7 7 \u2014 37<\/p>\n
Hazleton Area (1-8, 0-5)\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u20267 0 0 0 \u2014 7<\/p>\n
First Quarter<\/p>\n
HA \u2014 Lantigua 15 run (Turse kick), 8:11<\/p>\n
D \u2014 Kelley 8 run (kick failed), 2:49<\/p>\n
Second Quarter<\/p>\n
D \u2014 T. Geskey 8 run (Miller kick), 10:53<\/p>\n
D \u2014 L. Geskey 36 pass from T. Geskey (Miller kick), :51.2<\/p>\n
D \u2014 Miller FG 28, :00<\/p>\n
Third Quarter<\/p>\n
D \u2014 Kelley 62 punt return (Miller kick), 5:45<\/p>\n
Fourth Quarter<\/p>\n
D \u2014 Kelley 21 run (Miller kick), 11:12<\/p>\n
D HA<\/p>\n
First Downs 17 9<\/p>\n
Rushes-yards 49-227 27-95<\/p>\n
Passing 5-10-0 3-10-0<\/p>\n
Passing yards 76 17<\/p>\n
Total yards 303 112<\/p>\n
Penalties-yards 2-15 3-30<\/p>\n
Fumbles-lost 2-0 0-0<\/p>\n
Punts 2-31.0 7-25.6<\/p>\n
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS<\/p>\n
RUSHING: Dallas \u2014 T. Geskey 11-97, TD, Saracinaj 22-74, Kelley 3-41, 2 TD, Wilk 3-19, Oldt 3-11, Slavinski 5-4, L. Geskey 1-(-5), Team 1-(-14). Hazleton Area \u2014 Heck 14-56, Lantigua 8-22, TD, Karlick 5-17.<\/p>\n
PASSING: Dallas \u2014 T. Geskey 5-10-0-76, TD. Hazleton Area \u2014 Lantigua 3-10-0-17.<\/p>\n
RECEIVING: Dallas \u2014 L. Geskey 3-51, TD, Mason 2-25. Hazleton Area \u2014 Lopez 2-25, Gennaro 1-(-8).<\/p>\n
INTERCEPTIONS: None.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 18, 2025 at 2:20 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAZLETON \u2014 When a high school football program has been at the level that Dallas has in recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9014,102,104,103,2291,7630,7631,9015,154],"class_list":["post-9820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-carbon-county","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-high-school-sports","tag-luzerne-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-schuylkill-county","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}