DALLAS — Dallas wasn’t a big-play offense Friday night. But it didn’t get out of its 42-23 win over Abington Heights without popping at least one big one.
And when Hunter Pitcavage ran over a linebacker and sprinted 40 yards to the end zone, it was the cherry on top of one of the most efficient offensive high school football games the Mountaineers have ever played. Pitcavage and sophomore Mark Saracinaj both ran for more than 100 yards. Quarterback Talan Geskey completed 10 of 12 passes. The Mountaineers didn’t punt and converted 9 of 11 third downs.
Oh, and the two third downs they didn’t convert? They converted on fourth down instead.
It all led to the third consecutive 40-point performance for the Dallas offense, and a third consecutive victory which should raise some eyebrows across the Wyoming Valley and Lackawanna Conferences.
“I always say to our staff that we’ll find out after we play Abington where we’re at as a football team for the year,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “We hadn’t been challenged yet before (Friday) and we were going to find out if we’re going to bond or break. I’d say we bonded.”
Dallas averaged more than 6 yards per play Friday night. But it wasn’t just that it averaged half a first down per snap which made the Mountaineers’ offense so fierce. By averaging those 6-plus yards and not getting the pop plays until Pitcavage’s third touchdown run, it kept the ball out of the hands of a dangerous Abington Heights offense.
Dallas ran nearly twice as many plays as the Comets (64-35). The only two times a Mountaineers possession didn’t end in points is when the clock ran out on the first half after one play, and when two Geskey kneeldowns ended the game.
It’s hard to imagine Mannello — a veteran coach who has seen just about everything there is to see on a high school and college football field — having imagined that kind of performance was in store against that caliber of football team. But it’s what he got.
“You know, this offensive line is starting to come together,” Mannello said. “We needed to prove ourselves that we can knock a good front off the ball, and I think we proved that.”
And they proved it from the start. The Mountaineers used nine plays to cover 65 yards to score on their opening possession on a 5-yard Pitcavage run. After forcing a three-and-out, Dallas covered 50 yards in nine plays for Saracinaj’s first scoring run.
By the time Abington Heights recorded its first first down, Dallas had already rolled up 140 yards of offense (thanks to a couple holding penalties). And despite working with short fields much of the night — Dallas scoring drives averaged just 55.5 yards — the Mountaineers still used an average of more than nine plays per possession.
Pitcavage’s long touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter was the only one of six rushing touchdowns by the Mountaineers to not come from a goal-to-go situation. Pitcavage scored three touchdowns Friday to go with his 128 rushing yards. Saracinaj added a pair to go with 103 yards. And Geskey also had a TD run.
“I think that efficiency start with our coaching. They really are on our butts about it,” said Pitcavage, who tore his meniscus and missed the rest of the season in last year’s Abington Heights game. “When you do the right thing, that’s what you want it to be, and I think it looked right for us.”
“They just play the next play,” Mannello said. “There were a could third-and-longs or third-and-mediums early that we were able to convert to keep drives going and led to some scores, and I think it changed the complexion of the game.”
Dallas consistently put itself in position to convert on third down. The Mounts needed to cover an average of 5.8 yards to keep the sticks moving. And only one time did they need to cover more than 10 yards to convert.
On the game’s final possession, Saracinaj convert a third-and-7 on the ground, and Pitcavage converted a third-and-8, which allowed Dallas to run out the clock.
But that early efficiency put Abington Heights in a hole it just could never crawl out of. Pitcavage forced the Comets to settle for a field goal at the end of the first half when he blitzed untouched on third down in the red zone and recorded the game’s only sack of Comets quarterback Gavin Shay.
And because the Mounts offense moved at will, it didn’t matter that Abington running back Jayden Anglin ran for 153 yards and a touchdown. A year after torching Dallas for 170 rushing yards, Anglin’s big night was relatively quiet. Three of his carries (46, 35 and 39 yards) accounted for 120 of his 153 yards. His other 11 carries averaged just 3.3 yards per carry.
In fact, of the Comets’ 243 rushing yards, 189 of them came on five carries of 33 yards or more. And none of those went for touchdowns. They averaged 2.8 yards on their other 19 carries.
And after Abington Heights got back into the game with 10 second-quarter points, the Dallas defense shut the Comets out in the third quarter. They forced four consecutive incompletions from Shay, two of which were nearly intercepted. After completing all four passes in the first half, Shay was 2 for 7 in the second half.
“We definitely wanted to bring the pressure,” Pitcavage said. “We wanted to make sure the running back was on his heels and the quarterback had to throw the ball hot.”
Dallas 42, Abington Heights 23
Abington Heights 0 10 0 13 – 23
Dallas 14 7 14 7 – 42
First quarter
D—Hunter Pitcavage 5 run (Brandon Miller kick), 8:30
D—Mark Saracinaj 3 run (Miller kick), 1:46
Second quarter
AH—Race Moraski 11 pass from Gavin Shay (Jack Hartshorn kick), 10:29
D—Pitcavage 3 run (Miller kick), 2:57
AH—Hartshorn 32 field goal, :19
Third quarter
D—Talan Geskey 1 run (Miller kick), 6:25
D—Saracinaj 4 run (David Worth kick), :46
Fourth quarter
AH—Rodman Azar 12 pass from Shay (Hartshorn kick), 10:38
D—Pitcavage 40 run (Worth kick), 7:08
AH—Jayden Anglin 1 run (kick failed), 5:41
AH Dal
First downs 12 21
Rushes-yds 24-243 52-287
Com-att-int 6-11-0 10-12-0
Pass yards 62 124
Total yards 305 411
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 4-10 7-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing—Abington Heights: Jayden Anglin, 14-153, TD; Gavin Shay, 5-41; Brayden McColligan, 2-37; Scott Weiland, 2-6; Rodman Azar, 1-6. Dallas: Hunter Pitcavage, 19-128, 3 TDs; Mark Saracinaj, 19-103, 2 TDs; Talan Geskey, 9-48, TD; Tyce Mason, 2-6; Jim Youngblood, 1-4; Team, 2-(-2).
Passing—Abington Heights: Shay, 6-11-1, 62 yds., 2 TDs. Dallas: Geskey, 10-12-0, 124 yds.
Receiving—Abington Heights: Race Moraski, 3-32, TD; Rodman Azar, 2-21, TD; Anglin, 1-9. Dallas: Bobby Gallagher, 3-52; Youngblood, 2-22; Saracinaj, 2-19; Mason, 2-9; Pitcavage, 1-12.
RECORDS: Abington Heights (1-2); Dallas (3-0).