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TUNKHANNOCK — Jack Chilson threw for 288 yards.
He ran for two touchdowns.
From his quarterback position, he calmly engineered a Tunkhannock offense that fired off 28 offensive plays in just 6:28 of possession time during the game’s final 11 minutes.
But the Tigers may have never gotten a chance to complete their frantic comeback from 25 points down in the fourth quarter if he did not slip into the defensive backfield for a little extra duty between touchdown drives.
Chilson’s jarring hit on a fourth-down pass inside the Tigers 15-yard line paved the way for a game-winning, 73-yard touchdown drive and Chilson’s 7-yard pass to Jake Frisco to complete a 35-32 victory over Pittston Area.
Between the third and fourth touchdowns that Tunkhannock rattled off in 8:03 to erase a 32-7 deficit, Pittston Area moved the ball to the a fourth-and-seven situation at the 27.
Mike Nocito, who passed for 332 yards while accounting for four Pittston Area touchdowns, found his receiver past the chains, but Chilson got there right after the ball arrived and delivered the hit to knock it free.
“The coaches don’t want me playing too much defense because they don’t want me getting hurt there,” Chilson said. “ … It helps being a quarterback to be able to read where they’re going there.”
The comeback was still not complete.
Chilson hit passes on the next three plays, finding Jhamal Zacharias for 21 and 12 yards before a slant pattern to Nathan Lord broke free for 36 yards to the Pittston Area 4.
After a running play for a loss and an incomplete pass, Chilson rolled right and found Jake Frisco in the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown with 1:05 left. The catch was the 11th of the game for Frisco, who accounted for 123 yards.
Two plays later, Matt Prebola batted a pass into the air and Ty Konen pulled it in for a game-clinching interception.
“We played a horrible three quarters of football,” Tunkhannock coach Mike Marabell said. “To fight throw that mess and come back, I’m so proud.”
The comeback started with two touchdowns in 37 seconds.
Lineman Alex Daily stepped into the backfield for a 1-yard touchdown run, the Tigers recovered an on-side kick and Gavin D’Amato scored on an 8-yard run two plays later to make it 32-21 with 8:37 left.
Chilson, who had hit four straight passes for 77 yards in the first scoring drive of the comeback, pulled off his first clutch fourth-down play midway through the quarter.
The Tigers went for fourth-and-10 from their 16 and Riley Jones came down with a gutsy, 18-yard catch over the middle.
Chilson completed 12 passes for 193 yards in the fourth quarter and finished 25-for-42.
A zone read keeper by Chilson for a 23-yard touchdown cut the deficit to four with 5:05 left.
Nocito hit his first eight passes for Pittston Area, which had a 274-95 advantage in first-half total offense. He threw three touchdown passes in the first half and ran for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Dylan Lukachko’s touchdown run early in the fourth made it 32-7.
Tunkhannock 35, Pittston Area 32
Pittston Area`14`6`6`6`—`32
Tunkhannock`7`0`0`28`—`35
First quarter
PA – Andrew Krawczyk 14 pass from Mike Nocito (Matt Soy kick), 4:21
T – Jack Chilson 1 run (Jaxson Montross kick), 2:55
PA – Andrew Krawczyk 42 pass from Nocito (Soy kick), 1:10
Second quarter
PA – Brennan Higgins 35 pass from Nocito (bad snap), 4:33
Third quarter
PA – Nocito 11 run (pass failed), 5:30
Fourth quarter
PA – Dylan Lukachko 12 run (Soy kick), 11:06
T – Alex Daily 1 run (Montross kick), 9:08
T – Gavin D’Amato 8 run (Montross kick), 8:37
T – Jack Chilson 23 run (Montross kick), 5:05
T – Jake Frisco 7 pass from Jack Chilson (Montross kick), 1:05
Team statistics`PA`T
First downs`25`21
Rushes-yards`34-140`25-85
Passing yards`332`284
Total yards`472`369
Passing`24-40-2`25-42-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`1-7
Punts-avg.`2-39.5`3-26.7
Fumbles-lost`4-1`3-1
Penalties-yards`13-115`7-65
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — PA, Dylan Lukachko 16-42, Devin Atkins 5-37, Franny George 7-36, Mike Nocito 5-27, Team 1-minus 2. TUNK, Gavin D’Amato 14-72, Jack Chilson 3-17, Ben Chilson 1-2, Michael Sickler 1-2, Alex Daily 1-1, Jhamal Zacharias 1-0, team 4-minus 9.
PASSING — PA, Nocito 24-40-2-332. TUNK, Jack Chilson 25-42-0-284.
RECEIVING — PA, Andrew Krawczyk 10-157, Alex Anastasi 5-59, Lukachko 4-44, Brennan Higgins 3-57, George 2-15. TUNK, Frisco 11-123, Matt Prebola 6-51, Nathan Lord 3-47, Zacharias 3-39, Riley 2-24.
INTERCEPTIONS — PA, None. TUNK, Ty Konen 1-18, Sickler 1-12.
MISSED FIELD GOALS – PA, None. TUNK, Jaxson Montross 43.