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H.S. Football: Dallas uses big second half to rally past Crestwood

john erzar, the times leader, wilkes-barre, pa.
·4 min read

Sep. 1—WRIGHT TWP. — Dallas had a rough first half Friday night, especially quarterback Brady Zapoticky. Crestwood picked off two of his passes, leading to touchdowns.

But just like last Friday, the Mountaineers regrouped and left with a victory.

Zapoticky threw three touchdowns passes in the fourth quarter to Zach Paczewski, the final one an 80-yard catch-and-run with 2:53 remaining, as Dallas rallied for a 42-35 victory over Crestwood in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 games.

Dallas improved to 1-0 in the division and 2-0 overall. Crestwood fell to 0-1 in the division and its second seven-point loss dropped its overall record to 0-2.

Zapoticky's 80-yard TD pass to Paczewski came on a first-down play after Crestwood tied the score 35-35 on a 2-yard run by quarterback Jaden Shedlock. Paczewski plucked the pass at his feet near the line of scrimmage and then angled across the field to his left, escorted by running back Dylan Geskey most of the way.

"It was a great block by Dylan," said Paczewski, who ended Crestwood's final hope with an interception on the final play of the game. "Me and Dylan are best friends and we talked about it. I go, 'Dylan, you're not going to be able to keep up with me.' And he goes, 'Trust me I will.' And he was there and it was amazing.

"I wouldn't have done it without him."

The touchdown completed an outstanding second half for Zapoticky, who threw four touchdown passes and ran for another in the final two quarters.

"My teammates had my back first of all," Zapoticky said. "All those guys have faith in me. I didn't put my head down. All those guys had my back and I'm blessed for that."

Faith could have been difficult considering Zapoticky was just 1-of-6 for 7 yards in the first half. Interceptions by Crestwood's Colin Lazo and Emmett Seyer led to touchdown passes of 7 and 18 yards from Shedlock to Matt Sklarosky. Shedlock added an 82-yard TD run — part of his 302-yard rushing performance — as Crestwood took a 21-7 lead into halftime.

Dallas went on an 80-yard scoring drive to start the game, capped by a 1-yard run by Zapoticky. After that, the Mountaineers managed just 36 more yards the rest of the first half.

"Credit to Crestwood," Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. "They had just on our heels in our offense. We couldn't get in a rhythm, you saw that. Take the first drive off the table and we didn't move the ball an inch in the first half."

Dallas also received a big boost from its special teams early in the third quarter. Nick Farrell blocked a punt that resulted in the Mountaineers taking possession at the Crestwood 15-yard line. After a holding penalty moved the ball back to the 23, Zapoticky took off up the middle for a touchdown.

Crestwood's next drive ended on an interception by Dallas' Lucas Tirpak. Zapoticky threw his first TD pass of the second half four plays later — a 34-yarder to Gavin Lewis as the Mountaineers tied the score 21-21 at the 5:26 mark.

Dallas 42, Crestwood 35

Dallas'7'0'14'21 — 42

Crestwood'8'13'7'7 — 35

First quarter

DAL — Brady Zapoticky 1 run (Rowan Laubach kick), 8:40

CRE — Matt Sklarosky 7 pass from Jaden Shedlock (Colin Lazo from Shedlock), 3:05

Second quarter

CRE — Sklarosky 18 pass from Shedlock (James Barrett kick), 10:38

CRE — Shedlock 82 run (kick blocked), 7:32

Third quarter

DAL — Zapoticky 23 run (Laubach kick), 9:12

DAL — Gavin Lewis 23 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 5:26

CRE — Shedlock 7 run (Barrett kick), 3:56

Fourth quarter

DAL — Zach Paczewski 21 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 10:15

DAL — Paczewski 58 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 5:58

CRE — Shedlock 2 run (Barrett kick), 3:11

DAL — Paczewski 80 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 2:53

Team statistics'DAL'CRE

First downs'15'23

Rushes-yards'29-181'50-357

Passing yards'244'134

Total yards'425'491

Passing'8-17-2'7-19-2

Sacked-yards lost'0-0'1-3

Punts-avg.'3-34.3'3-32.0

Fumbles-lost'0-0'2-1

Penalties-yards'7-57'10-63

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Dallas, Dylan Geskey 15-97, Zapoticky 11-86, Mike Lewis 3-0, Paczewski 1-(minus-2). Crestwood, Shedlock 34-302, Barrett 6-28, Lazo 4-11, Jason Swank 2-12, Allen Angon 5-4.

PASSING — Dallas, Zapoticky 8-17-2-244. Crestwood, Shedlock 7-19-2-134.

RECEIVING — Dallas, Geskey 1-7, Paczewski 5-184, G.Lewis 1-34, Nick Farrell 1-19. Crestwood, Sklarosky 3-36, Osten Grigas 2-23, Swank 1-45, Lazo 1-30.

INTERCEPTIONS — Dallas, Lucas Tirpak 1-5, Paczewski 1-32. Crestwood 1-15, Emmett Seyer 1-0.

MISSED FGs — none.