Ten of the 44 teams still vying for PIAA state football championships are unbeaten.
Wyoming Area could have made it 11. All the Warriors had to do was say “No thanks” to Southern Columbia when approached about a schedule switch for Week 8. They could have stuck with winless Holy Redeemer, which would have been decisively outmanned, and posted a name-the-score victory.
Instead, Wyoming Area accepted the challenge of perennial state power Southern Columbia and lost 42-0. But that one loss could end up being more important than the 11 victories as Wyoming Area plays Montoursville at 1 p.m. Saturday at Williamsport High School in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals.
“I think that game was tremendous to our growth this season,” senior defensive end/tight end Derek Ambrosino said. “Just for the fact they have multiple Division I athletes and are very talented. They have state championship experience and had the chance to see what it’s like to make a run through district playoffs and state playoffs.”
Southern Columbia has two linebackers heading to Big Ten programs and another going to New Hampshire. Running back Gaige Garcia will be at Michigan in the fall where he’ll play football and wrestle. Receiver Julian Fleming is the top recruit in the country, according to ESPN’s rankings, and will play at Ohio State.
So the Warriors know something about anybody they face.
“We look at that and say, ‘Hey, this team isn’t going to be better than Southern Columbia,’” Ambrosino said.
That’s a safe statement considering Southern Columbia has outscored its 13 opponents 708-26 this season.
Wyoming Area trailed Southern Columbia 14-0 with under four minutes left in the first half when Garcia zig-zagged 49 yards to the end zone with a short pass. The Tigers then scored on their second play of the third quarter to pretty much put the game out of reach.
“It was great competition,” senior linebacker FJ Braccini said. “We played against a lot of fast, super-athletic players. Some of the top players in the country. I think that will carry on well through our state run since we’ve seen a team that’s one of the top teams in the state.”
For the record, Montoursville’s only loss was 35-0 to Southern Columbia in Week 9.
DRESSED FOR SUCCESS
Dallas lineman Taylor Bolesta has a unique wardrobe for weight lifting. Normal attire for players is a t-shirt, sometimes with the arms cut off. Bolesta, though, wears a flannel shirt minus the arms.
“The flannel? I had a flannel and it was too small for me so I cut off the sleeves and started lifting in it,” the 255-pound senior said. “I do it every Sunday now. It’s a ritual.”
Bolesta occassionally posted his lifting exploits on Twitter wearing his Larry The Cable Guy outfit.
SAME OLD SAME OLD
The week leading up to a football game is very regimented. Teams deviate little from the same routine since they play once a week, usually on Friday night. Other sports can play two or three — sometimes more — games per week. Off days can vary.
“In football, you have to master monotony,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “You got to be able to do the same things over and over and over and over. And the teams that can pay attention to that detail throughout the year in every phase of the game and every lift in the weight room, how they carry themselves every day, those are the teams that are successful.”
BROADCAST COVERAGE
WQMY will finish off its high school football season by televising Dallas vs. Imhotep on Friday night.
Wyoming Area Football Alumni plans on an audio broadcast of the Warriors’ game vs. Montoursville on Saturday on its Facebook page.
REUNION POSSIBLE
If Dallas gets past Imhotep, the Mountaineers will be going against either a former WVC coach or former WVC team. The Mountaineers play the Panthers at 7 p.m. Friday at Lehighton High School in the PIAA Class 4A state quarterfinals.
District 4 champion Jersey Shore plays District 11 champion Pottsville in the other quarterfinal game in Dallas’ part of the bracket.
Jersey Shore is coached by Tom Gravish, who ran the Williamsport program from 2008-2012. The Bulldogs posted their first-ever state playoff victory last Friday by defeating D1 champion Bishop Shanahan 33-14.
Pottsville was a football-only member of the WVC from 1994-1999. When the WVC and Lackawanna Conference merged to form the ill-fated Northeast Pennsylvania Football Conference in 2000, Pottsville decided not to be part of it. The NEPFC dissolved after two seasons.
FAKE GRASS NOW
The remaining state playoff games will all be played on artificial turf.
That’s not a problem for Dallas, which has a turf football field. The Mountaineers had the baseball outfield available during the season when the stadium was being used for soccer or field hockey.
Wyoming Area, though, has grass and has made arraignments to practice on turf. The Warriors were scheduled to practice at Wyoming Valley West on Wednesday and Thursday and then shift to the Wyoming Valley Sports Dome on Friday.
STATE RANKINGS
The pennlive.com had plenty of juggling after the first round of the state playoffs. The District 2 championship games in Class 3A and 4A were considered first-round state games as well.
Dallas maintained its third spot in Class 4A after defeating Valley View 29-7. Valley View slipped from fifth to ninth.
Wyoming Area jumped from sixth to fourth in Class 3A after shutting out Scranton Prep 27-0. Prep dropped from ninth to the honorable mention category.
Lackawanna Trail made the biggest jump, shooting up from seventh to third after defeating fifth-ranked Williams Valley 44-30.
QUITE DIFFERENT
Dallas will be the first WVC team to play at Lehighton High School in 19 years when it faces D12 champion Imhotep Charter there. Pittston Area was the last when the Patriots defeated Lehighton 37-0 in a D2/11 Class 3A subregional game in 2000.
Back in 2000, Lehighton’s field was worn-out grass and the lighting wasn’t very good. The school district, though, spent several million dollars in 2016 to upgrade the facility, which includes a multi-sport turf surface.
