On a warm, sometimes rainy Friday night in the Back Mountain, the hometown Dallas Mountaineers seized their third consecutive win with a 45-28 triumph over the visiting North Pocono Trojans to even up their record at 3-3 on the season.
Dallas and North Pocono are now on two ends of the streaky spectrum, as the Mountaineers who began the season dropping three straight games are now on a red hot three game winning streak and are 3-3, meanwhile, the Trojans who started the year a stellar 3-0 now have dropped three consecutive contests and sit at 3-3 on the season tally.
Nate Malarkey, who scored two touchdowns for the Mounts, was happy with his team’s solid effort and how they are starting to roll on this winning streak.
“We don’t talk about last season and the state championship run anymore, but if you go back to last season, the first three games if a couple of plays don’t go our way, we are 0-3,” Malarkey said. “This year a couple of plays didn’t go our way we were 0-3. We just couldn’t let it affect our season.
“We could have easily folded and we would have been 0-6 right now if we just folded. We just kept going, there’s no doubt, we just do what we have to do to win and keep going.”
Dallas started the scoring party early and outscored the Trojans by a 10-0 margin in the first quarter. Mounts senior kicker Rowan Laubach gave his club an initial 3-0 lead with 8:36 left in the first quarter when he connected on a 41-yard field goal.
For Dallas’ other points in the quarter, the Mountaineers defense shined bright, as senior Gavin Lewis picked off a pass from Trojans sophomore signal caller Chase Zimmerman and took it all the way to the house for a 27-yard interception return touchdown to stretch his squad’s advantage to 10-0 with 3:19 remaining in the stanza.
In the second quarter of play, both teams scored 10 points apiece, as Dallas would enjoy a 24-14 lead heading into the half-time break in the action. North Pocono this time got in on the scoring party when their senior tailback Brady Lavery barreled through numerous would-be tacklers for a 10-yard rushing touchdown just 42 seconds into the quarter. That cut the deficit to 10-7.
Dallas, however, would come right back, as senior quarterback Brady Zapoticky scampered into the end zone from 6 yards out to give his team a 17-7 advantage with 5:13 left in the first half, completing an impressive 82-yard scoring drive for the Mounts.
In this back-and-forth affair, the Trojans came storming back, as Zimmerman connected with his junior tight end Nico DeSantis for a 5-yard scoring strike with just 42 seconds left before the half-time whistle.
That momentum before halftime would be short lived however, as Dallas scored an awe-inspiring 64-yard touchdown with just 10 seconds left before the break in action, as Malarkey took a short Zapoticky pass and went on an electrifying sprint to paydirt to give his club the 24-14 cushion at the break.
North Pocono would come fighting right back to start the second half, as Zimmerman scored from 9 yards out to cut the deficit to a mere three points at 24-21 with 9:48 remaining in the third quarter.
However, for a big momentum swing Dallas’ special teams showed up in a big way, as Malarkey came through with the clutch punt block and his teammate Sam Kelley recovered the ball for the touchdown to extend his team’s lead to 31-21 with 2:44 left in the third quarter.
In the fourth, Dallas kicked off the scoring when Malarkey completed his team’s stalwart 68-yard scoring drive by pounding his way into the end zone from 2 yards out for a 38-21 advantage with 9:26 left in regulation.
The Trojans though would come right back and show some life as Zimmerman found junior tight end Evan Wolff for a big 63-yard aerial scoring strike to cut the deficit to 38-28 with 8:07 left in the game.
Dallas would finally put away the contest for good with just 38 seconds left in the fourth when Zapoticky found a wide-open Lewis for a 25-yard touchdown pass to give the Mounts a 45-28 cushion.
Now coach Rich Mannello and his Mountaineers will look to make it four in a row in the win column when they go on the road next Friday night under the lights to take on the Wyoming Valley West Spartans in Kingston.
Meanwhile, head coach Greg Dohon and his 3-3 Trojans will look to snap their three-game losing skid when they host a tough Valley View Cougars squad next Friday night.
Dallas 45, North Pocono 28
North Pocono`0`14`7`7 — 28
Dallas`10`14`7`14 — 45
First Quarter
DAL — Rowan Laubach 41 field goal, 8:36.
DAL — Gavin Lewis 27 interception return (Laubach kick), 3:19.
Second Quarter
NP — Brady Lavery 10 run (Sam Magnotta kick), 11:18
DAL — Brady Zapoticky 6 run (Laubach kick), 5:13.
NP — Nico DeSantis 5 pass from Chase Zimmerman (Magnotta kick), 0:42.
DAL — Nate Malarkey 64 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 0:10.
Third Quarter
NP — Zimmerman 9 run (Magnotta kick), 9:48.
DAL — Sam Kelley punt block recovery in end zone (Laubach kick), 2:44.
Fourth Quarter
DAL — Malarkey 2 run (Laubach kick), 9:26.
NP — Evan Wolff 63 pass from Zimmerman (Magnotta kick), 8:07.
DAL — Lewis 25 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 0:38.
Team statistics `North Pocono `Dallas
First downs`15`12
Rushes-yards`36-194`26-59
Passing yards`116`217
Total yards`310`276
Passing`6-16-2-2`13-20-2-0
Sacked-yards lost`2-10`3-25
Punts-avg.`3-28`6-35
Fumbles-lost`3-1`1-0
Penalties-yards`16-115`12-110
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — NP, Brady Lavery 16-86, Chase Zimmerman 9-77, Joe Briskie 7-28, Josiah Gray 2-3, Jayden Taylor 1-2, Cole West 1-neg.2. DA, Dylan Geskey 12-28, Brady Zapoticky 11-27, Nate Malarkey 3-4.
PASSING — NP, Chase Zimmerman 6-16-116-2-2. DA, Brady Zapoticky 13-20-217-2-0.
RECEIVING — NP, Mike Stout 3-22, Cole West 1-26, Evan Wolff 1-63, Nico DeSantis 1-5. DA, Gavin Lewis 6-47, Nate Malarkey 6-166, Logan Geskey 1-4.
INTERCEPTIONS — NP, None. DA, Gavin Lewis 1-27, Nate Malarkey 1-3.
MISSED FIELD GOALS — None.
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