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WILKES-BARRE — Wilkes-Barre Area kept hanging in there with Delaware Valley on Friday night.
Eventually, though, it became a case of a perennial District 2 Class 6A power wearing down a newbie to the classification.
The senior backfield of running back Josh Balcarcel and quarterback Zach Scillia became too much to handle for the Wolfpack as Delaware Valley exited Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium with a 54-20 victory.
Balcarcel rushed 20 times for 220 yards and three touchdowns. Scillia threw three TD passes to go with 123 yards rushing as the Warriors (3-1) piled up 625 yards of offense.
“It helps us that Josh plays one way and Zach plays one way,” DelVal coach Keith Olsommer said. “The two of them carry a heavy load for us and we’re able to keep a really good pace going offensively. As the game wears on, if we can continually move the chains we can wear people down.”
After a 13-0 loss to Pennridge in its opener, DelVal has scored 61, 70 and 54 points in consecutive games.
“Execution has improved tremendously over the last three weeks,” Olsommer said.
WBA (2-2) was a looking at the game as gauge to see how far the first-year program needs to advance to play in the state’s highest classification.
“You knew from the get-go that’s your benchmark,” WBA coach Ciro Cinti said. “You want to go against that team. They’re well coached, they don’t quit. We knew this going in. Again, we have to tackle better. There are things we can work on absolutely and get better.
“That’s a quality team and we knew that going in, but our kids didn’t give up. That’s one thing I’ll hang our hat on. We kept coming back, kept fighting.”
Early on, things went well for WBA.
After DelVal went up 7-7 at 8:55 of the first quarter, the Wolfpack tied the score about seven minutes later on a 36-yard run by quarterback Kam Taylor.
But DelVal started mixing in Scillia’s passing with Balcarcel’s running to take a 27-7 lead into halftime. Scillia had TD passes of 23 and 38 yards in the second quarter, with Balcarcel squeezing in a 27-yard touchdown run between them.
Although only 5-foot-6, Balcarcel used a low running style, quickness and slashing ability to be a difficult moving target to hit. At times, he’d dart into the line, disappear and emerge from the chaos.
“He’s stocky. He’s a true running back,” Cinti said. “He keeps his feet moving at all times. You’re tackling shoulder pads or knees. That’s all you’re tackling with that kid.”
Two more touchdown runs by Balcarcel bumped the DelVal lead to 41-7 midway through the third quarter, but WBA kept battling.
WBA answered those DelVal scores with a 46-yard TD pass to speedster Rafael McCoy, who turned a short pass from Talee Swinney into six points by zipping across the field and past several Warriors.
McCoy added a 19-yard TD reception from Kam Taylor in the fourth quarter.
Delaware Valley 54, Wilkes-Barre Area 20
Delaware Valley`7`20`14`13 — 54
Wilkes-Barre Area`7`0`7`6 — 20
First quarter
DV — Josh Balcarcel 2 run (Noah Sorrell), 8:55
WBA — Kam Tayor 36 run (Mike Deutsch-Jones kick), 2:19
Second quarter
DV — Matt Studsrud 23 pass from Zach Scillia (Sorrell kick), 11:50
DV — Scillia 27 run (kick blocked), 9:17
DV — Jason Henderson 38 pass from Scillia (Sorrell kick), 1:48
Third quarter
DV — Balcarcel 15 run (Sorrell kick), 11:20
DV — Balcarcel 3 run (Sorrell kick), 6:03
WBA — Rafael McCoy 46 pass from Talee Swinney (Deutsch-Jones kick), 1:46
Fourth quarter
DV — Seth Croll 3 pass from Scillia (Sorrell kick), 11:55
WBA — McCoy 19 pass from K.Taylor (run failed), 9:47
DV — Joey Sciascia 2 run (kick blocked), 4:22
Team statistics`DV`WBA
First downs`29`12
Rushes-yards`47-429`31-138
Passing yards`196`145
Total yards`625`283
Passing`11-19-0`11-20-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0
Punts-avg.`1-36`7-40.7
Fumbles-lost`1-0`3-1
Penalties-yards`5-32`6-65
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — DelVal, Balcarcel 20-220, Scillia 6-123, Henderson 4-21, Croll 2-8, Preston Machado 4-18, Aiden Oliver 2-2, Nick Barie 3-21, Sciascia 3-16, Shane Bowe 1-2, team 2-(minus-2). WBA, Corey Brown 11-15, Noah Taylor 6-57, K.Taylor 7-46, Swinney 6-19, McCoy 1-1.
PASSING — DelVal, Scillia 10-18-0-166, Oliver 1-1-0-30. WBA, K.Taylor 8-15-0-89, Swinney 3-5-0-56.
RECEIVING — DelVal, Infinite Campbell 1-2, Henderson 4-85, Studsrud 1-13, Jawon Fousbee 1-21, Mark Callaman 3-44, Balcarcel 1-8, Croll 1-3. WBA, McCoy 5-91, Malachi Williams 4-28, Nino Cinti 1-25, Swinney 1-1.
INTERCEPTIONS — none.
MISSED FGs — none.
