Jake Howe MVP QB WBA
WILKES-BARRE-The 75th Unico Game took place on a somewhat chilly Thursday night at Wilkes-Barre Area High School. Despite the cool weather conditions, it was some hot tempers that brought an abrupt end to things with just under two minutes remaining. The end result was a 14-14 tie.
It looked like the Pioneers made a huge play on a 4th and 12 that would have put the ball deep in Miners territory at the 1:52 mark of the fourth quarter. However, a penalty negated the long pass completion on a trick play. Flags flew shortly thereafter, as it appeared a Pioneers player was not happy with the call and was subsequently thrown out. The referees didn’t waste any time calling the game. Earlier in the third quarter, a scuffle on the Pioneers sideline on a kickoff return resulted in multiple ejections, and it definitely seemed like there were deep discussions of whether or not to continue the game then.
The game itself featured totally contrasting styles. Wilkes-Barre Area quarterback and Lock Haven commit Jake Howe completed 8-of-17 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown, good enough to capture the MVP award. His scoring strike went to fellow Wolfpack teammate Kevon Creech, which tied the game for a second time with 1:38 left in third quarter. Creech led the pass-happy Miners with five catches for 91 yards. It was quite an interesting day for Howe, who played shortstop on the Wolfpack baseball team in a playoff game against Hazleton Area earlier in the afternoon.
“We played in the District 2 6A championship game before this,” Howe said. “We sadly lost 6-2, but then I got here. I think it was the second or third snap of the game, and then it was just a great feeling to come and play one last high school football game.”
The Howe-to-Creech connection gave the Pioneers defense issues all night. That duo got started with a 14-yard completion on the Miners second possession of the game. Howe found Creech for gains of 15 and five yards on the Miners first scoring drive that was capped off by a 2-yard run from Wyoming Area’s Trustin Johnson that tied the game at 7-7 with 24 seconds remaining in the first half. Ironically, just before the long TD pass, Creech was stopped for a six-yard loss on the previous play. But Creech got well behind the defense on the next snap and easily hauled in the pretty pass from Howe.
“It felt great,” Howe said. “I had to like, get the rust off a little bit, but it felt good. One last pass to teammate I’ve been playing with for four years, so it just felt great.”
For the Pioneers, it was a run-heavy plan of attack without a true passing threat at quarterback. Dallas wide receiver Logan Geskey took the majority of the snaps, while Paulie Ferentino did play a couple of series. Lake-Lehman’s Jayden Skipalis led all rushers with 105 yards on 12 carries, and his 13-yard run put gave the Pioneers a 14-7 lead with 3:04 left in the third quarter. Skipalis shared the load with Brody Spindler of Pittston Area. Spindler had a productive night, as he tallied 52 yards on 12 carries. He crossed the goal line from four yards out in the middle part of the second quarter to open the scoring.
“I had a good time tonight,” Spindler said. “It was going back-and-forth. None of us are really in the best shape. The refs were kind of questionable tonight. But we can’t let the refs determine the game. Overall, it was a great time. I had fun my with my friends and made new friends in the process.”
Before the stoppage, the Pioneers ran 40 offensive plays. Of the 40 snaps, 35 were runs. In addition to Spindler and Skiplalis, Geskey chipped in with 43 yards on nine carries. Despite not playing football and taking on contact in months since his season ended, Spindler didn’t seem to mind the workload.
“It wasn’t as bad as other games before,” Spindler said. “Like I said before, I’m not in the best shape right now. But, we still were switching everybody in and out, so it wasn’t that bad.”
There were lots of changes to each roster leading up to the game. Obviously with Spring sports still going for some and graduation on the horizon, it was tough to get commitments from players. Despite limited practice time and learning to play along side new teammates, there were very few penalties outside of the second-half scuffles. Howe somehow found time to juggle multiple sports at the same time and had fun while doing so.
“It’s been rough but I love the grind,” Howe said. “It was great, and I’m not able to get these weeks back because I’m a senior. I had a bunch of fun.”
Miners 0 7 7 0-14
Pioneers 0 7 7 0-14
Individual Scoring
Second Quarter
P-Brody Spindler 4 run (Cole Baldwin kick) 5:04
M-Trustin Johnson 2 run (Jaedyn Sanchez kick) :24
Third Quarter
P-Jayden Skipalis 13 run (Baldwin kick) 3:04
M-Kevon Creech 61 pass from Jake Howe (Sanchez kick) 1:58
Team Statistics
………………………….M……………P
1st downs…………11……………..13
rush-yds…………16-68………….35-205
comp-att-int…….8-17-0……….0-5-0
pass yds…………..131…………….0
total yds……………199…………..205
fumb-lost……….3-1…………….0-0
pen-yds………….1-5……………2-20
Individual Statistics
Rushing-Miners: Trustin Johnson 7-28, TD; Jake Howe 5-13; Ashton Smith 2-11; Kevon Creech 1-10; Gene Ardo 1-6. Pioneers: Jayden Skipalis 12-105, TD; Brody Spindler 12-52, TD; Logan Geskey 9-43; John Richards 1-4; Aidan Brody 1-1.
Passing-Miners: Howe 8-17-0, 131 yds., TD. Pioneers: Geskey 0-3-0; Paulie Ferentino 0-2-0.
Receiving-Miners: Creech 5-89, TD; Jordan Kieselowsky 3-42.