DALLAS — As Lucas Tirpak ran down the sideline untouched to put the finishing touches on Dallas’ 35-13 win over Wallenpaupack on Friday, it was the first time the Mountaineers were truly able to feel good about the football game.
A one-win Buckhorns team gave Dallas everything it could handle for the better part of 40 minutes last night. But the way the Mountaineers finished the football game – scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter – showed coach Rich Mannello everything he needed to see.
Dallas found a way to fight through its own mistakes Friday and coupled with 243 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns from senior tailback Parker Bolesta, the Mountaineers rebounded in the win column after last week’s disappointing loss to Berwick.
“We overcame a tremendous amount of self-induced stuff with penalties,” Mannello said “To overcome that and have that push at the end, that was great for our kids.”
Dallas opened a two-score lead in the second quarter when it scored on consecutive offensive snaps. Bolesta scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 54-yard sprint through the Buckhorns’ defense for a 7-0 lead. And after the defense forced a punt, sophomore quarterback Brady Zapoticky found Nick Farrell on a 49-yard catch-and-run which finally gave the Dallas offense some life following a scoreless first 20 minutes.
Although Dallas maintained the lead throughout the game, a Wallenpaupack team that hasn’t won since the first week of the season cut that deficit to just one score twice. First when Dylan Podrazil scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 3-yard run late in the third quarter. And then again on his 7-yard run with 3:35 left in the game to cut the Buckhorns’ deficit to 21-13.
But the Mountaineers found a way to respond to each score, leaning hard on its running game to extend the lead each time. First, it was Bolesta on a 17-yard run following a 32-yard punt return by teammate Zach Paczewski. Then after Bolesta ripped off runs of 23, 15, and 12 yards on the same drive, on third-and-5 Zapoticky went with a play-action fake to find Dylan Geskey in the flat. Geskey followed his blocking and zig-zagged to the end zone for a 41-yard score to put the Mountaineers up 28-13 with 1:46 to play.
Tirpak’s interception return for a touchdown just 23 seconds later gave Dallas its first comfortable lead of the night.
“They stayed with it and they didn’t get frustrated – and there were a lot of reasons to get frustrated – but they stayed with it and fought hard to the end,” Mannello said. “Hats off to Wallenpaupack because those kids came ready to play.”
But as well as the Buckhorns played, they had no answer for Bolesta, the senior running back who last week went over 1,000 yards for the season. The 205-pounder ground out yards up the middle but gouged Wallenpaupack’s defense on the perimeter for big runs.
Bolesta has nine of his 25 carries go for more than 10 yards. And four of those went for at least 20 yards. “All the credit goes to our O-line,” Bolesta said. “The holes I get to run through are great. They give me at least 5 yards to run through.”
“We knew from last spring that’s how it was going to be and we were going to lean on those seniors,” Mannello said. “As you go through the night you look for where those big runs are going to be. We can go to either side, but those big runs were there to the right toward the end of the game.”
Dallas still has everything it wants in front of it for the rest of the year. The Mountaineers are still locked atop Division I of the Wyoming Valley Conference with Crestwood at 4-1, and Dallas has a win over the Comets this year. The Mountaineers are also third in District 2 4A standings but have a key game against Class 6A Wilkes-Barre next week.
“We’re a 7-1 football team and we’re playing our butts off,” Mannello said. “These kids just do everything the right way and work so hard. We still have a lot of good things in front of us to accomplish.”
