“You never want to see a game change momentum because of an injury,” Berwick coach C.J. Curry said. “But you know, things happen, and our guys did a really good job. We’re counting on these seniors and these leaders to show up and make big-time plays in big-time moments, and Gavin did that tonight. That was incredible, and then he comes back out, he runs hard, and he had a touchdown run. He called that play from the huddle when he had his (offensive) touchdown. He’s a gamer. He’s a warrior. All these guys are warriors. We’re playing a treacherous schedule with 35 guys on our team, and about 15 or 16 can contribute on the varsity level.”
Once Galutia scored to put Berwick up 24-17, the air was let out of the home sideline at Charley Trippi Stadium. The Bulldogs got bottled up a now one-dimensional Pittston offense that was without the services of Santo Capitano, who made a couple of key runs that gave the Patriots a 14-7 lead in the second quarter. Berwick (1-1) starting to rip off big chunks of yardage against a tiring defensive front. Brady Cleaver capped off a seven-play drive with a 1-yard quarterback sneak at the 8:15 mark of the fourth quarter, and Landon Zapata scored on a 5-yard run a little over five minutes later to put an exclamation point on a night that saw the Bulldogs rack up 370 rushing yards.
“That’s incredible,” Curry said. “You have to replace two all-staters from last year, but we’ve got three or four guys that are stepping up and doing a really, really nice job for us. How about a guy like Malikiah Brown stepping in as a sophomore on the offensive line when Nico (Lonczynski) gets hurt, and our offense really didn’t skip a beat. We had our fair share of pre-snap penalties we had our fair share of turnovers, which is unacceptable. But I’m really, really proud of the offensive line with the way they’ve come together.”
Trailing 14-10 at halftime, Berwick came out with an impressive three-play drive that quickly wrestled the lead back. Galutia finished it with authority as he bowled over a defender on his way to the end zone for a 31-yard touchdown run. Defensively, the Bulldogs were up against it a couple of times in the second half after giveaways. Chance Radzewicz recovered a fumble that gave Pittston a first-and-goal at the Berwick 10, but the defensive held up and only surrendered a field goal. On the Bulldogs’ next possession, Salvo intercepted a pass to give the Patriots a golden opportunity in the red zone, but after Capitano left with a hurt shoulder, Galutia did his thing and turned the game around. In addition to his heroics on defense Galutia finished with 120 rushing yards on 14 carries.
“We pride ourselves on being a second-half team,” Curry said. “All offseason, we worked our tails off. And with everything that we do at a specific point in our workouts, we really talk about a second-half mentality. The fours go up every time we go to the fourth quarter, and we’re saying everybody does it. It isn’t just hot air, but you really have to lock in, focus, and be about it, not just talk about it.”
Pittston (0-2) started the game with a bang when Lucas Lo Presto picked up the opening kickoff that a teammate originally muffed, made a nifty cutback, and was off to the races on a brilliant 84-yard kickoff return. Cleaver provided a swift answer when he executed a nice fake to the running back, kept the ball himself, and raced past the defense on an 85-yard sprint to paydirt with 9:13 left in the opening quarter. Berwick did all these good things despite being guilty of 15 penalties for 89 yards, which included four offsides penalties on Pittston’s opening offensive series. The Bulldogs had nine pre-snap penalties and were also offsides twice on kickoffs.
“Better enjoy it tonight, because Monday’s going to be brutal for these cats and they know it,” Curry said. “On their first drive, talking about unacceptable, we gave them like 20 yards. Then obviously, all of our false starts offensively, I think from a personnel standpoint from Week 1 to Week 2 we cleaned it up. We really didn’t have any miscommunications there, but still, young guys trying to figure it out, getting a little bit jumpy up there. (Pittston is) a really, really good football team. They’re going to have some success this season. But obviously we have to be much better than that, and they’re going to pay for it on Monday. They know that.”
Berwick 7 3 14 12-36
Pittston Area 6 8 3 0-17
Individual Scoring
First Quarter
PA-Lucas Lo Presto 84 kickoff return (run failed) 11:40
B-Brady Cleaver 85 run (Caleb Yost kick) 9:13
Second Quarter
PA-Santino Capitano 5 run (Kayden Bailey run) 3:45
B-Yost 27 field goal :06
Third Quarter
B-Gavin Galutia 33 run (Yost kick) 11:01
PA-Sam Augustine 24 field goal 7:07
B-Galutia 97 interception return (Yost kick) 3:38
Fourth Quarter
B-Cleaver 1 run (kick blocked) 8:15
B-Landon Zapata 5 run (kick blocked) 2:49
Team Statistics
…………………….B………………..PA
1st downs………….17…………………..11
rush-yds………….38-370………….31-102
comp-att-int……5-8-1……………….8-16-2
pass yds…………..38……………………87
total yds…………….408……………….189
fumb-lost………….2-1………………….2-0
pen-yds……………15-89……………..8-23
Individual Statistics
Rushing-Berwick: Brady Cleaver 10-161, 2 TDs; Gavin Galutia 14-120, TD; Landon Zapata 10-62, TD; Conner Roberts 2-21; Jake Lisnock 1-7; Team 1-(-1). Pittston Area: Santino Capitano 12-55, TD; Lucas Lo Presto 3-25; Jude Ferentino 11-23; Santino Salvo 1-7; Kayden Bailey 3-(-3); Chase Baron 1-(-5).
Passing-Berwick: Cleaver 5-8-1, 38 yds. Pittston Area: Capitano 4-8-1, 25 yds.; Salvo 4-8-1, 62 yds.
Receiving-Berwick: Gabe Decker 4-31; Zapata 1-7. Pittston Area: Ferentino 1-39; John Jadus 2-18; Lo Presto 3-15; Patrick Roman 1-11; Deondre Miller 1-4.