Sports

Paul Sokoloski

They may have a super record, but the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers sure aren’t superheroes.

Good teams do what the Pioneers did Saturday, rallying back from a fourth-quarter deficit against an inferior opponent while scoring the game’s last 28 points to avoid what would have been an embarrassing upset.

Great teams don’t put themselves in that unenviable position in the first place.

“I knew we were going to win the game,” Pioneers coach Rich Ingold fumed after Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 54-34 comeback win over the Peoria Pirates. “We’re not only playing to win the game, we’re playing to win a championship.”

That’s why Saturday’s lackluster effort should be a concern.

This was a Peoria team the Pioneers walloped, 74-26, back in April. This was a Peoria team that rode into Wachovia Arena fresh off three straight losses. This was a downtrodden Peoria team with a 4-9 record that had just cut its best player.

Meanwhile, the supposedly powerful Pioneers have locked up the East Division at 12-2 and are eyeing home-field advantage throughout the American Conference playoffs.

The Pioneers have a real chance to win the ArenaCup this season and become the first professional sports franchise from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area to capture an overall championship.

But it was hard to tell that from the way the Pioneers played Saturday.

Ryan Vena, nursing a bruised throwing arm but still possibly the best quarterback in the league, missed badly on a couple of first-quarter passes and nearly got booed out of the place.

“And deservedly so,” Ingold said.

Sure-handed Rich Musinski, a Wyoming Area graduate, dropped a sure touchdown pass. And that fierce pass rush the Pioneers brag about couldn’t get near Peoria’s quarterbacks for three quarters.

The defense got pushed around for awhile, receivers fell on their faces more than once and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s special teams gave up a touchdown return on a kickoff.

“We were shooting ourselves in the foot a lot,” Pioneers defensive lineman Troy Blackwell said.

The Pioneers were quick to chalk it all up to some rust following a bye week.

“Maybe that’s just our kryptonite – coming out of that bye week,” Pioneeers star defensive back Micheaux Robinson said, noting his team’s last loss came following a bye. “Something really is just not there when we come off the bye.”

Fortunately for the Pioneers, there are no byes in the af2 playoffs. But if they can’t keep their focus against an also-ran like Peoria while trying to avoid a playoff road game, then the Pioneers may have real problems when they face elite teams such as Green Bay, Florida or South Georgia in the playoffs.

“They don’t feel good,” Ingold said of his players, who were verbally scolding themselves after Saturday’s win. “Our ultimate goal is to win a championship. We’re not going to get it done if we play like this.”

Sure, clunkers can happen near the end of a long season. But not to champions.

Paul Sokoloski is a Times Leader sports columnist. You may reach him at 970-7109 or e-mail him at psokoloski@timesleader.com.