AJ Sports

By Tom Robinson
Go Lackawanna sports correspondent

The District 2 Class AA football championship is being played Friday night at John Henzes/Veterans Memorial Stadium in Peckville so it only makes sense that Dunmore, Lakeland or, in this case, both will be involved.

The 20 finalists in the last 10 years include Lakeland and Dunmore a combined 12 times with all the other teams in the district a combined eight times.

Either the Bucks or the Chiefs, or both, have been in every final played since 2001 and they have produced five of the six, as well as eight of the last 10 champions.

Lakeland has the more impressive overall numbers during that time (seven finals, five titles and 2-1 in their head-to-head championship meetings), but Dunmore has been the stronger team in recent years.

The Bucks enter the game unbeaten and ranked first in the state among Class AA teams, according to the Harrisburg Patriot-News. They are the two-time defending champions and used those district titles to reach the 2007 state final and 2008 state semifinals.

Dunmore also has the edge this year from a convincing 35-8 win at Lakeland. The Bucks rushed for more than 300 yards and put the game into the Mercy Rule before the Chiefs scored late.

Frank Santarsiero scored two touchdowns, including one on one of David Olivetti's two touchdown passes, and Michael Perry rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown in the win. Perry has rushed for more than 1,000 yards for the fourth straight season.

Lakeland was still working through some early-season injury problems at the time and followed up a 2-3 first half of the regular season with an unbeaten second half. The Chiefs enter the rematch on a six-game winning streak, including last week's 26-21 victory over host GAR in the semifinals.

Lakeland and defending Class A champion Riverside were the only lower-seeded teams to go on the road and win in the 10 games of the District 2 tournaments and the combined District 2-4-11 Class AAAA Subregional on the opening weekend of the playoffs.

Riverside is in its third straight district final.

The Vikings have been particularly successful in the time that they have spent in Class A while straddling the bubble of Class AA/A enrollment. Dunmore will cross that line and drop into Class A next season.

Riverside lost to Dunmore in the 2007 Class AA district final then won last year's district title in Class A. It also reached a state final in 1998 at the end of a run of three straight district titles in A.

The Vikings play Friday night at Wyoming Valley West against Northwest, a team trying to break through for its first district championship.

The Rangers have rebuilt their program in recent years to the point that they are ready to rejoin the Wyoming Valley Conference next season after several years dominating the lower-level All-American Football Conference.

Northwest lost in the district final in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Riverside's Corey Talerico and Northwest's Bret Rutkowski have each rushed for more than 1,000 yards.

The last District 2 title will be decided Saturday at 1 at Scranton Memorial Stadium when Abington Heights plays Dallas in a game that will be televised by Fox-56.

Abington Heights is in its fourth final in five years and looking for its third title.

Dallas, which won a state title in 1993 in Class AA, has not won a district title since its AAA championship in 1999.

The Comets and Mountaineers have three common opponents.

Abington Heights and Dallas each have district semifinal wins over the team that handed the other its only loss during the regular season.

The Comets reached the district final with a 53-19 rout of Berwick, the team that beat Dallas, 14-13.

Dallas won the semifinal, 21-14, over North Pocono, which stopped Abington Heights, 29-21.

Both teams also played Tunkhannock, with Abington Heights rolling, 37-6, and Dallas winning, 21-14.

Those scores are typical of the teams' results.

Since losing to North Pocono, Abington Heights has crushed five opponents by a total of 206-38. On the season, the Comets have had just one of their 10 wins come by fewer than 15 points.

Dallas has won six of its 10 games by a single touchdown.

Paul Gallagher and James Fruehan, who has six interceptions, have combined for well over 2,000 yards rushing for Abington Heights.

While Gallagher was rushing for 188 yards and three touchdowns, Charlie Armetta and John Snyder led the defense which held Berwick to four yards per play while forcing four turnovers.

Armetta had 12 tackles, including three for 11 yards in losses, and assisted on two others while also breaking up a pass. Snyder was in on 12 tackles.

The Dallas defense gave North Pocono's strong offensive line trouble up front and quarterback Adam Goeringer led the Mountaineers offense.

Goeringer carried 22 times for 104 yards and two touchdowns while passing for 73 yards and another score on just nine attempts.

For coverage throughout the district championship weekend, return to www.scrantonedition.com/sports.

PREDICTIONS

Dunmore 34, Lakeland 21

Northwest 35, Riverside 19

Abington Heights 28, Dallas 13

Last week: 5-4 (55.6 percent)

Season: 103-25 (80.5 percent)