H.S. Football: Pittston Area falls to Valley View as Cougars pull away in second half

YATESVILLE — Pittston Area contained Connor Hilling for the most part in the first half Friday night, so Adam Howanitz threw three touchdown passes.

The Valley View passing game slowed down while playing the entire second half with leads of two or more touchdowns.

That’s when Hilling went to work.

The all-state tailback ran for 114 of his 169 yards and both of his touchdowns in the second half to help the Cougars finish off the host Patriots 40-12 in a non-league high school football game.

“They’ve got a ton of weapons,” Pittston Area coach Nick Barbieri said. “(Receiver Taheed Jewell) is a weapon.

“You focus on one thing and they can hit you with another.”

With Hilling clearly accounted for, Howanitz found A.J. Kucharski deep off play action on the third play of the game for a 56-yard touchdown.

Jewell got in the act in the second quarter, catching touchdown passes of 5 and 25 yards for a 20-6 halftime lead.

Hilling carried 13 times in the first half, but had to work for his 55 yards, with runs of 12 and 7 yards his longest of the first 24 minutes.

Things changed on Valley View’s first offensive play of the second half. That’s when Hilling went around left end for a 75-yard touchdown and 27-6 lead with 7:59 left in the third quarter.

“I’ve been waiting all year to break one,” said Hilling, a state medalist track and field sprinter who broke plenty during Valley View’s 2021 run to a District 2 Class 4A title and the state quarterfinals.

Hilling added an 8-yard touchdown run less than two minutes into the fourth quarter on the last of his nine second-half carries.

Valley View won its fourth straight since losing at Crestwood on opening night.

Pittston Area dropped to 2-3 despite coming up with impressive responses to each of Valley View’s first two scores.

Following Kucharski’s touchdown, the Patriots moved 66 yards in eight plays with Drew DeLucca going 4-for-4 passing.

DeLucca found Kevin Lockett for 36 yards on Pittston Area’s first play and completed passes to convert a pair of third downs before Harry Pugliese ran it in from the 3 for a 6-6 tie that held up until the last five minutes of the half.

After Hilling’s sprint down the left sideline, David Sudo bulled up the middle for 32 and 2 yards, then a 19-yard touchdown.

The other eight Pittston Area possessions produced only a total of 57 yards.

Valley View 40, Pittston Area 12

Valley View`6`14`7`13 — 40

Pittston Area`6`0`6`0 — 12

First quarter

VV – A.J. Kucharski 56 pass from Adam Howanitz (pass failed), 10:36

PA – Harry Pugliese 3 run (kick failed), 6:10

Second quarter

VV – Taheed Jewell 5 pass from Howanitz (Jacob Nielsen kick), 4:35

VV – Jewell 25 pass from Howanitz (Nielsen kick), 1:14

Third quarter

VV – Connor Hilling 75 run (Nielsen kick), 7:59

PA – David Sudo 19 run (kick failed), 6:51

Fourth quarter

VV – Hilling 8 run (Nielsen kick), 10:01

VV – Jalliw Ferrer 31 interception return (kneel down), 4:40

Team statistics`VV`PA

First downs`17`9

Rushes-yards`40-222`24-93

Passing yards`127`83

Total yards`349`176

Passing`8-9-0`10-17-1

Sacked-yards lost`1-5`1-4

Punts-avg.`3-37.0`5-30.8

Fumbles-lost`2-0`1-1

Penalties-yards`10-77`11-132

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — VV, Hilling 22-169, Howanitz 8-39, Camryn Higgins 2-17, Preston Reed 2-10, Nick Kucharski 1-1, James Liparulo 1-0, Casey Malsberger 1-minus 5, Team 1-minus 9. PA, Sudo 7-67, Pugliese 9-21, Xzayvier Blackshear 5-7, Kyle Breymeier 1-2, Drew DeLucca 2-minus 4.

PASSING — VV, Howanitz 8-9-0-127. PA, DeLucca 10-16-0-83, Steven Barnic 0-1-1-0.

RECEIVING – VV, Jewell 3-35, Liparulo 2-14, A. Kucharski 1-56, Hilling 1-12, Reed 1-10. PA, Kevin Lockett 4-43, Pugliese 3-7, Nick Barbieri 1-13, Anthony Cencetti 1-12, A.J. Scialpi 1-7, Drew Menendez 1-1.

INTERCEPTIONS — VV, Ferrer 1-31. PA, None.

MISSED FGs – None.