YATESVILLE — Lucas LoPresto was more than 20 yards from the first down marker when he cocked his right arm. The Pittston receiver has been called on more than once to utilize his throwing ability to spark the Patriots’ offense this year. And on third-and-17 from his own 13-yard-line in the fourth quarter, the Wilkes-Barre defense had to respect the idea LoPresto could throw.
So even though the 5-foot-10, jack-of-all-trades junior had no intention of throwing the football Friday night at Charley Trippi Field, just the threat of it froze the Wolfpack defense. And, in turn, it created a running lane.
LoPresto followed a couple blockers and fought through a couple tackles to pick up a first down the Patriots had no business converting. That one play allowed the Patriots offense to breathe a little bit. The jumped on the back of senior running back Brody Spindler and grinded off the final five-and-a-half minutes of a 31-24 win over Wilkes-Barre.
A year after going 2-9, the Patriots are now just a win away from winning the Wyoming Valley Conference Division I title. The Patriots (6-1, 4-0 WVC-I) can capture a league title with a win over Hazleton next week.
“We talk about those things, and we’re not hiding that we want that,” Pittston coach Paul Russick said. “When you get a chance to hang a banner, that’s something you’ll carry with you the rest of your life.”
Russick said they didn’t have many options facing third-and-17 in the shadow of their own goalposts. The idea was to get the football in his best player’s hands and just see what happens. LoPresto had already scored a pair of touchdowns earlier in the night — one on a fumble return, and another on a controversial catch to end the first half.
LoPresto had no intention of throwing the football when quarterback Paulie Ferentino handed it to him on an end-around with under 6 minutes to go and Pittston clinging to a 7-point lead. But LoPresto thought he could put some doubt in the defense’s head. It surely did.
After getting the first down out across the 30, Pittston ran the football on the next nine plays and got the benefit of a personal foul to record three first downs and run out the clock. It was the best case scenario for a Patriots team which allowed 150 yards passing in the second half to Wilkes-Barre quarterback Jake Howe and twice saw its three-score halftime lead dwindle to just seven points.
“I honestly don’t know what goes through my head on those plays, but it works,” LoPresto said. “I just tried to fake because I had three guys coming at me. It wasn’t a called play, I just did it and ran.”
“We were ready for a double pass, he just made a hell of a play. He’s a great athlete,” Wilkes-Barre coach Ciro Cinti said. “I was confident we were going to get the ball back there and we would have had one more shot, and I’m really confident we would have scored.”
Pittston is starting to play like a team which expects to win each Friday night it takes the field. Propped up by a massive overtime win at Dallas two weeks ago, the Patriots followed it up with a mercy-rule win at Crestwood a week ago, and now a victory over a Wilkes-Barre where it looked unbeatable for a half and a little bit vulnerable for a half.
But the key, LoPresto said, was that the Patriots won. A year ago, Pittston lost four league games by 11 points or fewer, including three one-score games.
“We were in a couple of these last year and we never won,” LoPresto said. “I think that Dallas win, that really got us over the hump and now we’re believing in each other.”
Pittston pulled out all the stops early, calling a fake punt on a fourth-and-8 play just over midfield. Spindler (28 carries, 157 yards, 2 TDs) took the punt snap as the upback and broke at least a half-dozen tackles on his way to a 44-yard touchdown run which put Pittston up 8-3. LoPresto struck twice in a 4-minute span in the second quarter, first ripping the ball out of a Wilkes-Barre receiver’s arms just after making the catch and racing 45-yard untouched for his second defensive touchdown in as many weeks.
And on the final play of the half, with Pittston facing fourth-and-5 at the Wolfpack 21, Ferentino threw a beautiful fade to the left sideline. LoPresto got a little push off of Wilkes-Barre defender Kevon Creech to create enough separation to go up and make the touchdown catch with 1 second left in the half, putting the Patriots up 24-3 at the break.
A pair of officials were confronted by two Wilkes-Barre coaches as they walked off the field for halftime making their rightful claim a flag should have been thrown for offensive pass interference.
“I extended my hand a little. I may have pushed him a little,” LoPresto said. “But that’s the hand fight. But it was a big momentum swing and a great ball from Paulie.”
“I’m just going to say that last touchdown before the half was very questionable,” Cinti said. “But it is what it is. I give Pittston a lot of credit. That’s a good, tough football team.”
Howe nearly brought the Wolfpack all the way back in the second half as the Wilkes-Barre offense finally clicked. After stopping Pittston on fourth down at midfield, Howe capped a five-play, 44-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Creech who was left open in the end zone when LoPresto broke to the line of scrimmage to try and tackle a scrambling Howe.
Five minutes later, Howe capped a brilliant 80-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Nick Saracino (5 catches, 48 yards) to make it a one-score game. Howe was 4 for 6 on the drive for 75 yards.
Howe finished the night 16 of 25 for 200 yards passing, completing passes to seven receivers.
“It’s tough to just pinpoint one guy all the time, so you have to kind of go with the hot hand that week,” Cinti said about spreading the ball around to so many receivers. “We’ve got a bunch of very good seniors, and even some underclassmen, and they’re all willing to share the ball. They’re not fighting. They’re all willing to do what’s best for the team.”
Howe again got the Wolfpack within a score when his 12-yard touchdown run with 7:27 remaining in the fourth quarter capped a 78-yard drive. But Wilkes-Barre never got the ball again as LoPresto’s miracle third-down run and Spindler’s powerful ability to move a pile ran out the clock.
“We definitely felt like we had the talent to do this,” LoPresto said. “We believe in each other. We dedicated our summer to this. I’m so proud of this whole team.”
Pittston 31, Wilkes-Barre 24
Wilkes-Barre 3 0 14 7 – 24
Pittston 8 16 0 7 – 31
First quarter
WB—Jaedyn Sanchez 27 FG, 6:16
PA—Brody Spindler 44 run (Spindler run), 3:40
Second quarter
PA—Lucas LoPresto 45 fumble return (Victor Narsavage run), 4:01
PA—LoPresto 21 pass from Paulie Ferentino (Narsavage run), :01
Third quarter
WB—Kevon Creech 17 pass from Jake Howe (Sanchez kick), 8:39
WB—Nick Saracino 7 pass from Howe (Sanchez kick), 3:29
Fourth quarter
PA—Spindler 10 run (Cole Baldwin kick), 9:45
WB—Howe 12 run (Sanchez kick), 7:27
WBA PA
First downs 16 13
Rushes-yds 26-108 38-209
Com-att-int 16-25-0 8-15-0
Pass yards 200 60
Total yards 308 269
Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 5-20 8-66
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing—Wilkes-Barre, Davon Underwood, 9-82; Jake Howe, 8-19, TD; Gene Ardo, 3-6; Jordan Kieselowsky, 1-3; Treyvon Gembitski, 1-3; Jonathan Otway-Kellom, 1-1; Team, 1-(-2); Kevon Creech, 2-(-4). Pittston, Brody Spindler, 28-157, 2 TDs; Lucas LoPresto, 7-39; Jude Ferentino, 3-13.
Passing—Wilkes-Barre, Howe, 16-25-0, 200 yds., 2 TDs. Pittston, Paulie Ferentino, 8-15-0, 60 yds., TD.
Receiving—Wilkes-Barre, Nick Saracino, 5-48, TD; Kieselowsky, 3-26; Creech, 2-49, TD; Otway-Kellom, 2-47; Gembitski, 2-24; Jayden Pena, 1-11; Rajan Watson, 1-0. Pittston, LoPresto, 4-34, TD; John Judas, 2-20; Steve Barnic, 2-6.
INTERCEPTIONS—None
RECORDS: Wilkes-Barre (4-3, 1-2 WVC-I); Pittston (6-1, 4-0 WVC-I).