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WILKES-BARRE — On a big board inside the Dallas locker room is a list of goals accompanied by open boxes, sort of a way for a laser-focused football team to keep building on an unbeaten season.
Check another one off for the Mountaineers.
If nothing else, the Mountaineers earned a mark for resiliency Saturday, as Michael Starbuck shrugged off an early interception to throw two touchdown passes and run for another score during a 35-7 whipping of Wilkes-Barre Area at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium.
“It’s never as easy as it looks,” Starbuck said. “They are a very talented team.”
As most District 2 football fans know by now, so is Dallas.
The Mountaineers proved it once again by banding together to hold a speedy and dangerous Wilkes-Barre Area team out of the end zone, until a quick-strike, 89-yard touchdown pass from Kam Taylor to Casmir Van Buren ruined the shutout bid with 5:49 remaining.
By then, Dallas had built a mercy rule-triggering 35-0 lead by imposing its will on the Wolfpack.
Not to mention it was led by a guy with the will of iron.
If Saturday’s trouncing proved anything, it’s that Starbuck has a short memory and a long arm.
His first pass of the game was picked off, setting off a celebration on the sideline of the upset-minded Wolfpack. But that was about his only blemish of the day.
The senior quarterback came back from that to hit eight of his 14 passes for 77 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Starbuck also surged across the goal line on a 1-yard touchdown run, then tossed an 8-yard scoring strike to Lenny Kelley to give Dallas a 14-point lead by the end of the opening quarter.
“I’m always happy when I throw them,” Starbuck said of the touchdowns, “but running them is always good, too.”
The deficit for Wilkes-Barre Area doubled before the end of the first half, as Danny Meuser darted into the end zone on a 4-yard run and Starbuck found Luke DelGaudio for 14 yards and his second touchdown pass of the half.
“He divorces bad stuff quickly,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said of his field general, “forgets it quick. He just puts that stuff away and goes and gets the next play.”
The way the Mountaineers played Saturday, through an 80-degree sunny day and through some nagging injuries — “Some guys got knicked, not bad, but enough to come out,” Mannello said — it was enough to make their coach crack a wide smile.
Kelley ran for 151 yards and Meuser went for 113 more as Dallas piled up 506 offensive yards while marching up and down the field.
“I’m telling you, this was big today,” said Mannello, whose Mountaineers kept pace with Valley View at 6-0 in the chase for the top seed in the District 2 Class 4A playoffs. “This was tremendous to see. A lot of guys stepped in and played. This was a big win against a fast team in very, very tough conditions. We hold camp in this, where the sun is beating in your face all day, but you usually don’t play in this stuff on Friday nights. It was hot.”
It may be enough to get another box checked.
Mannello explained that the team turns to its list of goals, and checks off boxes relating to the way the Mountaineers play in each game.
“We have special teams goals, offensive goals, defensive goals. We added a box to the goal board,” said Mannello, explaining that individual and team improvement from week to week is now among the objectives. “When there aren’t a lot of boxes filled, we’ve got issues.”
No issues Saturday, as even a few Dallas backups made a splash.
Running back Parker Bolesta ripped off a 50-yard run on his first carry in the fourth quarter, and fellow backfield mate Jacob Fenske went for a 60-yard run on this third touch. Together, they combined for 123 yards on seven handoffs in the final period.
“Parker stepped in there, he’s a ninth-grader. He needed this,” Mannello said. “He was playing more defensively than offensively. He’s got incredible strength and he runs well. Now he knows what he can do.”
Dallas 35, Wilkes-Barre 7
Dallas`14`14`7`0 — 35
Wilkes-Barre`0`0`0`7 — 7
First quarter
D — Michael Starbuck 1 run (Ryan Fisher kick), 6:54
D — Lenny Kelley 7 pass from Starbuck (Fisher kick), 3:46
Second quarter
D — Danny Meuser 6 run (Fisher kick), 10:02
D — Luke Delgaudio 14 pass from Starbuck (Fisher kick), 7:07
Third quarter
D — Kelley 8 run (Fisher kick), 7:37
Fourth quarter
WB — Casmir Van Buren 89 pass from Kam Taylor (Mike Deutsch-Jones kick), 5:49
Team statistics`DAL`WB
First downs`24`9
Rushes-yards`42-435`24-85
Passing yards`77`137
Total yards`512`222
Passing`8-14-1`5-11-2
Sacked-yards lost`2-10`2-11
Punts-avg.`1-26`3-36
Fumbles-lost`0-0`2-1
Penalties-yards`7-55`3-31
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — DAL, Lenny Kelley 17-151, Danny Meuser 11-113, Jacob Fenske 4-70, Parker Bolesta 2-52, Michael Starbuck 4-31, Jake DelGaudio 4-18. WBA, Noah Taylor 7-34, Kam Taylor 8-21, Corey Brown 6-20, Rafael McCoy 1-7, Jalid Timmons 1-2, Talee Swinney 1-1.
PASSING — DAL, Starbuck 8-14-1-77. WB, K. Taylor 2-8-2-99, Swinney 2-2-0-30, Brown 1-1-0-8.
RECEIVING — DAL, Luke DelGaudio 3-26, Kelley 2-21, Jack Farrell 2-21, Bolesta 1-9. WB, McCoy 2-18, Casmir Van Buren 1-89, Nino Cinti 1-22, Tyere Dobson 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS — DAL, Ben Fife 1-18, R.J. Wren 1-0. WB, Swinney 1-0.
MISSED FGs — None.