Dallas quarterback Brady Zapoticky tries to shake free of a Crestwood tackle in the first quarter of Friday night’s win for the Mountaineers.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
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Crestwood’s running back Jacob Jeckell gets stopped by Dallas’ Hunter Pitcavage on Friday night.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Crestwood’s Matthew Bealla tries to avoid Dallas defensive back Gavin Lewis in the second quarter.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dallas wide receiver Gavin Lewis pulls in a Brady Zapoticky pass in the end zone for a Dallas touchdown in the second quarter against Crestwood.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dallas wide receiver Nate Malarkey turns a screan pass into a big gain against Crestwood in the second quarter.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
WRIGHT TWP. — Fans hoping to see a glimpse of the aurora borealis from the top of the Penobscot Mountains might have been disappointed at the cloudy skies on Friday night. But Crestwood and Dallas fans didn’t even need their cell phone cameras to witness an out-of-this world performance by Mountaineers receiver Gavin Lewis.
The Comets secondary simply had no answer for Lewis’ lights-out performance.
Dallas won its fifth consecutive game with a 44-14 victory over Crestwood on Friday night.
The Gavin Lewis Show netted some of the top receiving statistics that the Wyoming Valley Conference had seen in some time: 11 catches, 174 yards, three touchdowns. His finest catch was a diving one-handed 35-yard catch with his back turned to the field — that was unfortunately called back due to a holding penalty.
But it was the defense that quietly, efficiently, emphatically was the story of the game. The Dallas rushing defense kept a multi-faceted Crestwood offense to less than 200 yards and one offensive touchdown. Nearly half of the Comets’ rushing yards came on just two quarterback sneaks.
Lewis gave Dallas an early lead with an 11-yard touchdown catch from Brady Zapoticky at the 7:58 mark of the first quarter. The Mountaineers’ first touchdown drive was aided in part by two Crestwood penalties deep in their defensive territory.
Crestwood committed 14 penalties for 130 yards.
The Mountaineers extended their lead to two scores with 8:21 left in the second quarter. After two touchdowns — Lewis’ one-handed grab and a long Nate Malarkey score — were called back due to penalties, Dylan Geskey punched in a 3-yard touchdown.
“The good thing is that at the end of that drive is that, after getting two called back on us, we were still able to score as a team,” Lewis said. “I was glad we were able to get a touchdown on the board there.”
The Comets put up their lone offensive touchdown in the second quarter. Jack Rodgers carried the ball for a 52-yard run, setting up a Lincoln Bible score that cut their deficit to 14-7.
With less than two minutes remaining in the first half, Lewis made another acrobatic catch — sans the style points —on a 25-yard catch while falling down on his behind just short of the end zone pylons.
Dallas scored 16 unanswered points to begin the second half. For the second straight week, the Mountaineers scored points on a botched punt when a Crestwood snap sailed over the punter’s head for a safety. Lewis capped the Mountaineers’ scoring with a 74-yard screen pass touchdown.
Zapoticky completed half of his passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns.
Crestwood’s Nate Walsh returned an 85 yard kick late in the game.
Rodgers led the Comets’ offense on the ground from the quarterback spot. He gained 116 yards on nine carries.
Dallas 44, Crestwood 14
Dallas`7`14`16`7 — 44
Crestwood`0`7`0`7 — 14
First quarter
DAL — Gavin Lewis 11 pass from Brady Zapoticky (Rowan Laubach kick), 7:58
Second quarter
DAL — Dylan Geskey 3 run (Laubach kick), 8:21
CRE — Lincoln Bibla 3 run (Ethan Zabroski kick), 5:17
DAL — Lewis 25 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 1:38
Third quarter
DAL — Zapoticky 12 run (Laubach kick), 8:31
DAL — Team Safety, 6:41
Fourth quarter
DAL — Lewis 74 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 9:47
CRE — Nate Walsh 85 kick return (Zabroski kick), 9:34
Team statistics`DAL`CRE
First downs`23`8
Rushes-yards`33-96`36-179
Passing yards`365`15
Total yards`361`192
Passing`18-34-0`3-14-2
Sacked-yards lost`2-13`2-3
Punts-avg.`2-38`4-24
Fumbles-lost`2-1`2-0
Penalties-yards`8-90`14-130
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — DAL, DGeskey 18-50, Zapoticky 13-48, TEAM 2-(minus-2). CRE, Jack Rodgers 9-116, Nate Walsh 2-6, Jake Jeckell 10-27, Colin Lazo 8-51, Matthew Bealla 1-2, Bibla 3-4, Gio Barna 1-0, TEAM 2-(minus-27).
PASSING — DAL, Zapoticky 18-34-265-0. CRE, Rodgers 3-13-15-2, Barna 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING — DAL, Lewis 13-194, Logan Geskey 2-30, Nate Malarkey 3-41. CRE Jeckell 1-5, Barna 2-8
INTERCEPTIONS — DAL, LGeskey 1-25, Sam Kelley 1-18.
MISSED FGs — None