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YATESVILLE — The fate of Wallenpaupack’s game against Pittston Area seemed so certain that the White Out had all but faded by the fourth quarter.
Although their team trailed by a mere four points, the Patriots student section — loud, white-clad and armed with confetti — was a mere tenth of its size, at best, by the time the Buckhorns scored their second touchdown to cement the win.
Wallenpaupack outlasted Pittston Area 22-10 Friday in a defensive battle that rarely seemed as close as Charlie Trippi Stadium’s scoreboard indicated.
Credit to the Pittston Area defense: Although the Buckhorns had five times as many yards as the Patriots on offense, Wallenpaupack was limited to just one touchdown through the first 41 minutes.
Pittston Area senior Samuel Hankey’s name was a common refrain on the public announcements with tackle after tackle to keep the Buckhorns at bay.
After finding such trouble to find the end zone, Wallenpaupack scored a pair of touchdowns in a 3:30 span in the final minutes.
Quarterback Drew Kiesendahl took control on a long run-oriented drive that slowly worked over the Patriots’ rushing defense. Kiesendahl converted two fourth-and-4 plays with quarterback sneaks that just barely reached the first down marker. He capped it off with a 5-yard rushing touchdown for a 15-3 lead.
Kiesendahl ran 19 times for 123 yards.
Wallenpaupack’s two other touchdowns came off identical plays from two different quarterbacks. Michael Passenti ran a deep slant and beat free of the safety for a 37-yard touchdown from Kisendahl on the first play of the second quarter to take a 7-3 advantage.
Shortly after Kiesendahl’s rushing score, Passenti mimicked the same pattern for a 35-yard receiving touchdown from Jake Rafferty that gave Wallenpaupack a 22-3 lead with 3:06 remaining
Pittston Area took an early 3-0 lead in the opening frame. Wallenpaupack turned it over inside its 20 when Logan Caruso caught a pass and fumbled when colliding with a pair of Pittston Area backs. Gavin Wolf made a 30-yard field goal after the Patriots were unable to move the chains.
The Patriots were kept to just 47 yards of total offense during the first 45 minutes. Third-string quarterback Santino Capitano picked up 61 yards of offense in the remaining three minutes. Capitano’s 17-yard pass found a falling Lucas Lopresto at the back of the end zone that marked the Patriots’ lone offensive touchdown.
Capitano went 5 for 10 for 49 yards and a touchdown. He also had the Patriots’ longest run of the game on a 12-yard scamper.
Wallenpaupack 22, Pittston Area 10
Wallenpaupack`0`7`0`15`—`22
Pittston Area`3`0`0`7`—`10
First quarter
PA — Gavin Wolfe 30 field goal, 7:26
Second quarter
WAL — Michael Passenti 37 pass from Drew Kiesendahl (Nick Annunziata kick), 11:54
Fourth quarter
WAL — Kiesendahl 5 run (Logan Caruso pass from Annunziata), 6:36
WAL — Passenti 35 pass from Jake Rafferty (Annunziata kick), 3:06
PA — Lucas Lopresto 19 pass from Santino Capitano (Wolfe kick), 1:36
Team statistics`WAL`PA
First downs`17`9
Rushes-yards`48-193`18-37
Passing yards`133`71
Total yards`327`108
Passing`8-14-0`9-24-1
Sacked-yards lost`1-8`2-14
Punts-avg.`4-25.75`4-39
Fumbles-lost`5-1`2-0
Penalties-yards`9-79`3-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WAL, Edward Kiesendahl 13-73, DKiesendahl 14-123, Caruso 13-43, TEAM 3-(minus-26). PA, CJ Pietrzak 5-18, Matt Walter 8-9, Lopresto 2-8, Paulie Ferentino 1-(minus-9), Capitano 1-12, TEAM 1-(minus-1).
PASSING — WAL, DKiesendahl 7-13-98-0, Rafferty 1-1-35-0. PA, Walter 3-9-14-0, Ferentino 1-5-8-0, Capitano 5-10-49-1
RECEIVING — WAL, Caruso 3-20, Mason Gonzalez 1-13, Passenti 2-72, Ryan Vargo 1-24, Rafferty 1-4. PA, Steven Barnic 2-14, Lopresto 4-43, Malkolm Blackshear 1-(minus-1), Walter 1-8, Colton Lis 1-6
INTERCEPTIONS — WAL, Passenti 1-35.
MISSED FGs — PA, Wolfe 1-30