DALLAS — On a night when the Dallas football program honored former All-State lineman Josh Balara, the Mountaineers put together a performance he would have been proud of.
Dallas’ 28-20 win over Williamsport on Friday night was by no means pretty. But it sure as heck was gutty. It was the embodiment of who Balara was as a player and a person when he played for the Mountaineers and then at Dartmouth College.
Sadly, Balara died this spring of adrenal cancer less than 3 years after graduating from Dallas. The football program honored his memory last night, releasing 76 balloons (Balara’s number was 76), and encouraging people to wear green to raise awareness for adrenal cancer. They also honored him by coming up with two gutsy defensive stands in the fourth quarter. And they ground on offense for four touchdowns against a spirited Williamsport defense.
At the end of the night, the Mounts were 3-0, and coach Rich Mannello held back tears as he talked about the win and what it meant.
“This was a win Josh would be proud of,” Mannello said.
It was the third consecutive week Dallas has fought through a tough end of the game to claw out a victory. Last night the Mountaineers nearly blew a 21-0 lead and needed a Zach Paczewski interception inside the 10-yard line to turn away a potential tying touchdown by the Millionaires.
“When you have heart and guys, you have a chance,” Mannello said. “And when you add a team that’s together like this, you’re capable of doing extraordinary things. We didn’t point fingers, we just found a way to get it done.”
Dallas senior lineman Dan Sabulski became the first player Mannello honored with wearing Balara’s No. 76. Mannello plans on handing out the jersey number to players who are the epitome of the grinder Balara was as a player, and the successful student he was in the classroom. Sabulski recorded a sack in the third quarter and helped the Dallas offense take advantage of short fields in the first half. Dallas broke out to a three-score lead with drives that covered 36, 1, and 34 yards.
Sabulski was right in the middle of Brady Zapoticky’s 1-yard quarterback sneak for a touchdown and Mike Lewis’ 1-yard scoring run. He also protected Zapoticky on a touchdown pass of 12 yards to Gavin Lewis. Zapoticky (11 0f 21, 102 yards) threw a second scoring pass in the third quarter to Paczewski to cap a 56-yard drive.
“There couldn’t have been a more perfect pick to wear No. 76,” Mannello said. “If you spend 10 minutes with him, he’s just an incredible young man. We wanted (Balara’s) brother and sister to be able to come here someday and see No. 76 on the field and say to their kids that that is what their uncle was like.”
Dallas was outgained 384-205 in total yards, but it was because of those short fields it was able to overcome a Williamsport defense that flew to the football after it had stacked the box on Dallas’ physical style of run game. The Mountaineers averaged just over 3 yards per carry thanks in part to a handful of high snaps which threw off the timing of some running plays and led to losses in yardage.
But they found just enough key plays offensively to get in the end zone, and a couple more defensively to keep Williamsport out.
“They were putting nine guys in the box. I wasn’t really good at math, but I know that means we’re outnumbered,” Mannello said. “We’re running a sweep play which we’ve never done before, but we had to get to the perimeter against that defense. It’s something we still need to work on.”
“Our kids learned how to step up tonight and make them earn everything,” Williamsport coach Mike Pearson said. “They kept slugging back and forth. Dallas earned everything they got tonight, and that’s encouraging to me.”
It took some time for the Williamsport offense to match what its defense was doing. The Millionaires’ lull-you-to-sleep passing attack was happy to take its 3 to 6-yard bits in the first half and eventually, they caught the Dallas secondary creeping forward.
Quarterback Caleb Williamson found Yazhir Slaughter behind the Dallas defense for a 61-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to cut the Dallas lead to two scores. After the Mountaineers again opened a three-score lead in the third quarter, Williamson again found Slaughter behind the defense for a 46-yard score.
Williamson finished 26 of 44 passing for 273 yards and those two scores. He also ran for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. All of that despite being sick all week and barely having a voice for Friday night’s game. Slaughter had a career-high 165 receiving yards on six receptions, including two touchdowns.
With Williamsport still trailing 28-12 in the fourth quarter and facing a fourth-and-1 from the Dallas 16, Williamson kept the ball up the middle and ran over a Dallas linebacker before high-stepping out of a couple more tackles and getting into the end zone with 6:06 to play to get the Millionaires within 28-20.
“That’s a statement of who he is,” Pearson said. “He’s always in the weight room and it paid off right there. He lowered the boom on that run.”
“You have to be able to tackle them in space, which is a chore,” Mannello said. “They have incredible speed and they’re doing the right thing offensively for the talent they have. But our guys found a way.”
After Williamson’s touchdown run, kicker Connor Poole’s kickoff hit an upback and Williamsport recovered with a chance to tie the game. The Millionaires drove to the Dallas 15 thanks to a fourth-down, 23-yard completion to Slaughter.
But on third-and-3, the Millionaires again tried to get Slaughter free behind the middle of the Dallas defense. But the Mountaineers’ Zach Paczewski intercepted the pass returning it to near midfield.
Williamsport had one more attempt with just over a minute to go but went three-and-out.
But as disappointing as the loss was, Pearson could find the silver lining. He saw an offensive line starting a freshman and two sophomores pave the way for 111 rushing yards at nearly 5 yards a clip.
“Where we are in our development, we’re waiting for our line to grow up,” Pearson said. “It’s hard to run the ball against Dallas, and we started to run the ball against Dallas from late in the second quarter on. That was encouraging.”
Dallas 28, Williamsport 20
Williamsport 0 6 6 8 – 20
Dallas 14 7 7 0 – 28
First quarter
D—Gavin Lewis 12 pass from Brady Zapoticky (Rowan Laubach kick), 9:00
D—Zapoticky 1 run (Laubach kick), 1:44
Second quarter
D—Mike Lewis 1 run (Laubach kick), 10:53
W—Yazhir Slaughter 61 pass from Caleb Williamson (kick blocked), 10:00
Third quarter
D—Zach Paczewski 10 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 6:32
W—Slaughter 46 pass from Williamson (pass failed), :08
Fourth quarter
W—Williamson 16 run (Kahyear Whaley run), 6:06
Will – Dal
First downs 17 13
Rushes-yds 23-111 33-103
Com-att-int 26-44-2 11-21-0
Pass yards 273 102
Total yards 384 205
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-0
Penalties-yards 11-85 3-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing—Williamsport, Devon Harris, 9-62; Caleb Williamson, 5-22, TD; Kahyear Whaley, 6-18; Semaj Hale, 3-9. Dallas, Dylan Geskey, 12-89; Mike Lewis, 12-37, TD; Zach Paczewski, 1-5; Brady Zapoticky, 6-(-11), TD; Team, 2-(-17).
Passing—Williamsport, Caleb Williamson 26-44-2, 273 yds., 2 TDs. Dallas, Brady Zapoticky, 11-21-0, 102 yds., 2 TDs.
Receiving—Williamsport, Kyreek Bradshaw, 8-51; Salaij Moses, 8-41; Yazhir Slaughter, 6-165, 2 TDs; Semaj Hale, 4-16. Dallas, Zach Paczewski, 6-46, TD; Dylan Geskey, 2-27; Nick Farrell, 2-17; Gavin Lewis, 1-12, TD.
RECORDS: Dallas (3-0); Williamsport (1-2).
