HS Football: Pittston Area defeats rival Wyoming Area for WVC Division 2 title

YATESVILLE — The football banner hanging in the gymnasium hasn’t been touched in 20 years. Pittston Area has made sure it needs to be updated.

The Patriots completely dominated the Wyoming Area competition as quarterback Drew DeLuca threw four touchdown passes in a 35-0 rout Friday night that clinched the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 championship.

“We talked to them a lot,” Pittston Area coach Nick Barbieri said. “We brought them into the gym, showed them the banner and said, ‘It’s time.’ 2002 was the last year, it was time. You’ll come back in 20 years and it’ll be hanging in the gym.”

“This is a big deal for us. We are long down. It is special for us.”

The 2002 district championship team award at halftime was an added incentive.

Pittston Area finished 6-0 in the division and 7-3 overall. Based on late Friday night power rankings, the Patriots will play Delaware Valley at home next Friday in Game 2 of the Class 5A quarterfinals. Abington Heights was upset by Del Val, and that allowed Pittston Area to earn the second seed in the four-team playoff.

Wyoming Area (5-1, 5-5) will likely play Dallas in a D2-4A quarterfinal game, assuming the power rankings remain the same after Saturday’s game. A pair of games on Saturday could affect the final seeding of the Warriors, who currently sit in sixth place.

DeLuca followed up his game with five TD passes against Holy Redeemer, completing 13 of 19 passes for 154 yards and four more scores. He also threw for a two-point conversion and was awarded the Carmelo Falcone Award, given annually to the game’s top player since 1978.

“It’s a great feeling,” said DeLuca, who started last year for a team that won three games. “It doesn’t get any better than this. (Reward) is great, but it’s just an added part, a bonus. It’s great to go out and win with these guys, especially in a rivalry game.”

Kevin Lockett had the first two TD catches of 15 and 27 yards on the Patriots’ first two possessions. The next time Pittston Area got the ball, Robbie Barbieri’s rushing 10-yard TD pass made it 19-0 late in the first quarter.

Running back Harry Pugliese, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards during the game, added a touchdown on a 4-yard run at 4:21 of the second quarter. A throw from DeLuca to Barbieri for the two-point conversion extended the lead to 27-0 at halftime.

If Pittston Area didn’t make things worse for Wyoming in the first half, the Warriors made it miserable for themselves. They were penalized nine times in the first two quarters, often leading to long down-and-out situations that prevented top-heavy attacks from gaining traction.

Aaron Crosley, the Division 2 rushing champion, carried the ball 11 times for 67 yards, snapping his streak of three straight 300-yard rushers and six straight with at least 100.

Wyoming’s woes continued after its first possession of the third quarter. A false start and chop block penalties and later a lost fumble gave Pittston Area the ball at the 46.

Pugliese ran five straight times to bring the ball to the 26, where DeLuca found Anthony Ranielli for a 26-yard catch-and-run TD. Pugliese ran for the two-point conversion to start the mercy rule at 4:21 of the third quarter.