PLAINS — Gene Ardo wasn’t the intended receiver on a pass that hit him in the chest late in the third quarter Friday night. But the way he read the pass and handled it, he sure looked like the intended receiver.
The problem on that red zone play for the Scranton offense is that Ardo plays linebacker for Wilkes-Barre. And Ardo’s interception turned the Spartans away for the second consecutive drive inside the Wolfpack 10-yard line.
But that was the theme of the second half of Friday’s District 2/4 Class 6A semifinal. Ardo and the Wilkes-Barre offense pitched a second half shutout, including stopping three drives inside the 10-yard line on its way to a 35-7 victory over Scranton. The Wolfpack host next week’s district final against Williamsport, which was a 15-6 winner over Hazleton in the other semifinal.
Williamsport defeated Wilkes-Barre, 34-20, in Week 10 of the regular season. That is the Wolfpack’s only loss in six home games this season.
“I told the guys, you now get to defend your district championship on your home field. There’s nothing better you can ask for,” Wilkes-Barre coach Ciro Cinti said. “We don’t have to worry about getting on a bus anywhere no matter who we play.”
Cinti and the Wolfpack will get the chance to avenge a frustrating loss from a week ago which saw Williamsport score three times in the fourth quarter to turn a seven-point deficit into a 14-point victory. Cinti said he was much more pleased following the win over Scranton because all the ills which plagued Wilkes-Barre a week ago were cleaned up.
On top of that, the Wolfpack forced a pair of turnovers, and on two other occasions they recovered punts which were muffed by the Knights’ special teams.
“I thought our kids played well,” Cinti said. “We even ran the ball a little bit. That’s a nice thing.”
Ardo’s interception came at the end of a Scranton drive which saw the Knights march 74 yards to put themselves in scoring position. Scranton took advantage of a Wilkes-Barre holding penalty to convert a fourth down and extend the drive into the red zone. But two plays later, as Knights quarterback Brody Coyle looked for a quick slant in the end zone, Ardo jumped in front of the pass and returned it out near midfield. The stop was critical because the Wolfpack had turned away a Scranton fourth-down attempt from the Wilkes-Barre 10-yard line just 6 minutes earlier.
Any momentum the Knights had built in the second half with an offense which was chewing up ground, seemed to be washed away with Ardo’s interception. And 5 minutes later the Wolfpack put the game on ice with a Davon Underwood 16-yard touchdown run. It was his third touchdown of the game.
“Our defense played great,” Cinti said. “They got it in the red zone twice and those were just two huge stops. We were on our heels, but we bent and didn’t break. That’s a huge play from Gene, but we expect that from him. He’s a very smart kid and he watches film and he’s ready for that.”
Ardo’s play was the highlight of a defense which allowed just one score, a 66-yard touchdown pass from Coyle to Memphis Shotto in the second quarter. The Wolfpack defense allowed just two first-half first downs, one of which came on Shotto’s touchdown.
“Hats off to coach (Ed) Michaels and the defense because when it came down to it, we bent but didn’t break,” Cinti said. “They had one big play on us, but Scranton is an explosive team and I’m very proud of the way we combated that.”
The Wilkes-Barre offense got off to a slow start as quarterback Jake Howe didn’t complete any of his first six passes. But the floodgates seemed to open when he hit Treyvon Gembitski on a quick out route late in the first quarter and Gembitski made one defender miss before finishing an 89-yard catch and run to give the Wolfpack a 7-0 lead.
One series later, Howe (13 of 26, 231 yards., 3 TDs) found Underwood on a scramble drill. Underwood made one defender miss and scampered into the end zone for a two-score Wolfpack lead. Howe, who eclipsed 2,000 passing yards for the season last night, later found Underwood on a 19-yard fade pass for his third TD strike of the first half.
“We had a couple of drops early, but after that, Howe got hot,” Cinti said. “Treyvon made a great and so did Underwood. They’re wonderful kids and they work hard at practice and it shows on game day.”
Wilkes-Barre 35, Scranton 7
Scranton 0 7 0 0 – 7
Wilkes-Barre 7 21 0 7 – 35
First quarter
WB—Treyvon Gembitski 89 pass from Jake Howe (Jaedyn Sanchez kick), 2:07
Second quarter
WB—Davon Underwood 50 pass from Howe (Sanchez kick), 11:16
WB—Gene Ardo 2 run (Sanchez kick), 3:53
S—Memphis Shotto 66 pass from Brody Coyle (Jorge Rodriguez kick), 3:32
WB—Underwood 19 pass from Howe (Sanchez kick), :32
Fourth quarter
WB—Underwood 16 run (Sanchez kick), 7:07
S WB
First downs 12 14
Rushes-yds 28-103 37-157
Com-att-int 12-23-1 13-26-0
Pass yards 186 231
Total yards 289 388
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 9-65 11-80
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing—Scranton, Reece Whitman, 13-41; Memphis Shotto, 5-32; Brody Coyle, 7-24; Edie Salazar, 3-6. Wilkes-Barre, Jake Howe, 6-58; Davon Underwood, 15-54, TD; Gene Ardo, 11-30, TD; Brody Reh, 4-16; Kymani Hubbard-Jones, 1-(-1).
Passing—Scranton, Coyle, 12-23-1, 186 yds., TD. Wilkes-Barre, Howe, 13-26-0, 231 yds., 3 TDs.
Receiving—Scranton, Whitman, 6-62; Shotto, 3-93, TD; Salazar, 3-31. Wilkes-Barre, Underwood, 4-67, 2 TDs; Treyvon Gembitski, 3-102, TD; Jordan Kieselowsky, 3-32; Nick Saracino, 2-12; Rajon Watson, 1-18.
INTERCEPTIONS—Wilkes-Barre, Gene Ardo.
RECORDS: Scranton (5-6); Wilkes-Barre (6-5).
