Click here to subscribe today or Login.
YATESVILLE — Late in the second quarter of Friday night’s game against Nanticoke Area, the Trojans were dominating statistically. And Pittston Area needed a spark.
A jolt came from Andrew Krawczyk. In a big way.
The senior returned a blocked field goal and an interception for touchdowns on consecutive drives in the second quarter as part of a four-TD performance to lead Pittston Area to a 30-8 victory over the Trojans.
“Ridiculous,” Patriots coach Nick Barbieri said about his senior’s performance. “First of all, I didn’t think anybody had enough sense to pick the ball up on a blocked field goal. He picked up and went with it. Then he picks off a pass and goes with it.
“He saved our rear ends in the first half. And comes back with two more in the second half, so that’s a great effort by him.”
Krawczyk’s first score gave the Patriots some momentum after the Trojans (0-1) put together a 19-play, 86 yard drive that took nearly 10 minutes off the clock. The field goal try, which was blocked by Franny George, was returned 89 yards for the score and a 7-0 Patriots lead with 5:55 to go before halftime.
The Trojans got the ball back and again put together a long possession. But again it resulted in a big play by Krawczyk. This time, he picked off Colby Butczynski for his second interception of the game and took it to the end zone from 62 yards out, halting an 11-play drive that took up five minutes by Nanticoke.
The Patriots went up 14-0 with 44 seconds left in the half.
“I saw they were coming in the flat, we were in cover 2 and I just read that ball,” Krawczyk said about the second interception.
Nanticoke held the ball the entire second quarter and the last 2:36 of the first quarter as the Patriots (1-0) ran just 13 plays in the first half to the Trojans’ 39. But that gave Barbieri time to talk to his offense and get situated.
After the Trojans’ Keanu Ammons returned the second-half kickoff 90 yards for a score to cut the lead to 14-8, the Patriots offense got in gear.
In the first half, Pittston Area had a pair of three-and-outs and a turnover on downs deep in Nanticoke territory. The second half was a different story putting together scoring drives on two of its four possessions.
After a Trojans safety gave the Patriots a 16-8 advantage in the third quarter, Krawczyk (3 receptions, 34 yards) hauled in a 5-yard score from QB Mike Nocito (8 of 14, 86 yards) for a 23-8 lead.
A similar situation occurred on the next drive when the signal-called and wideout connected for a 21-yard touchdown for the 30-8 score.
“It’s unbelievable. You always think about (having a game like this), but you just come out here and play and and do what you gotta do,” Krawczyk said. “It’s been eons since we started the season 1-0. It’s always great to start 1-0 and drives everyone throughout the season.”
Dylan Lukachko paced the Patriots’ running game grinding out 95 yards on 17 carries.
The Trojans, who racked up 171 yards on the ground, were led by Collin Kudrako-Kashatus, who picked up 85 yards on 17 touches.
Despite the big output in the first half in which it totaled 152 yards, Nanticoke was held to just 41 in the second half.
“We didn’t protect the football. We didn’t make the plays when we needed to,” Trojans coach Ron Bruza said. “We had opportunities to put points on the board and it didn’t work out for us. We gotta regroup, get better and get ready for the (Tunkhannock) Tigers. And hats off to coach Barbieri. He did a great job getting his guys ready.”
Pittston Area 30, Nanticoke Area 8
Nanticoke Area`0`0`8`0 — 8
Pittston Area`0`14`2`14 — 30
Second Quarter
PA – Krawczyk 89 blocked field goal return (Soy kick) 5:55
PA – Krawczyk 62 interception return (Soy kick) :42
Third Quarter
NAN – Ammons 90 kick return (Shilo pass from Butczynski) 11:35
PA – Safety, fumble recovery in end zone 5:37
Fourth Quarter
PA – Krawczyk 5 pass from Nocito (Soy kick) 11:59
PA – Krawczyk 21 pass from Nocito (Soy kick) 8:47
Team statistics`NAN`PA
First downs`14`12
Rushes-yards`47-171`26-133
Passing yards`22`86
Total yards`193`219
Passing`2-6-2`8-14-1
Sacks by-yards lost`0-0`1-8
Punts-avg.`1-22.0`3-34.2
Fumbles-lost`3-1`1-1
Penalties-yards`5-45`4-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
PASSING – NAN, Butczynski 2-6-2-22. PA, Nocito 8-14-1-86.
RUSHING— NAN, Ammons 9-54, Kudrako-Kashatus 17-85, Park 6-10, Butczynski 8-16, Boseman 4-8, TEAM, 1-(minus-12), Lohman 2-10. PA, Lukachko 17-95, George 3-10, Hoban 2-(minus-2-3), Nocito 2-23, Darbenzio 2-9.
RECEIVING— NAN, Boseman 1-15, Ammons 1-7. PA, George 1-15, Anastasi 4-40, Krawczyk 3-34.
INTERCEPTIONS – PA, Krawczyk 2-62.
MISSED FG’S – NAN, Klepadlo (26 blocked)
