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KINGSTON — Donte Rhodes knew something was wrong when none of his teammates followed him into the end zone in celebration.

Rhodes made it right on the next play.

The Wyoming Valley West quarterback ran 18 yards for a touchdown, immediately after his 13-yarder was nullified by a penalty, lifting the Spartans to their first victory of the season, 26-24, over visiting Pittston Area Friday night in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 football game.

Rhodes threw for a first-quarter touchdown. After being held to zero net rushing yards in the first half, he ran for 111 in the second half, including 59 in four carries on the drive that produced the game-winning score with 5:45 remaining.

“We’re lucky to have him,” Wyoming Valley West coach Jack Baranski said.

Rhodes had no way of knowing his run for an apparent touchdown seconds earlier was no good. As he ran off the right side for a touchdown, a flag was being thrown over on the left sideline for illegal procedure on one of his teammates.

“I didn’t see anyone celebrating, so I realized I didn’t get the touchdown,” Rhodes said.

It took him a moment to understand what had happened.

“I didn’t know it got called back until the end,” Rhodes said. “But, once I realized, I said, ‘No, there’s no way they’re going to take away my touchdown like that.’

“It was awesome blocking by the line on that drive.”

The Spartans line ripped holes in the Patriots defense in the second half, paving the way for 193 yards of total offense after the team managed just 65 while falling behind 17-13 in the first half.

Pittston Area moved the ball consistently throughout, racking up 388 yards, including 279 on the ground, and 18 first downs. The Patriots, however, were hurt by big plays.

Rhodes intercepted a pass at the 1 midway through the second quarter with Pittston Area threatening to add to a 14-7 lead.

Instead, Rhodes went 79 yards with the interception to set up a Darius Redguard touchdown. Redguard broke two tackles, then slipped between four other would-be tacklers on the 9-yard touchdown run.

Pittston Area drove the ball for more than 6½ minutes in the third quarter, picking up five first downs and covering 64 yards before losing a fumble at the Wyoming Valley West 16.

After having red zone trips spoiled by an interception, a fumble and a fourth-down stop at the 3, penalties were the culprit on the last attempt to pull out a win.

Rob Barbieri’s blocked extra point following the Rhodes touchdown kept Pittston Area within two, allowing the chance for a game-winning field goal. Anthony Thomas had already hit a 28-yarder on the last play of the first half.

The Patriots appeared to reach the 10 only to have a holding penalty – their third infraction of the drive – move them back to the 28.

Coming out of a timeout with 1:46 left and facing fourth down at the Spartans 19, the Patriots attempted to draw an off-sides call to cut the field goal attempt from 36 yards to 31. Instead, it was Pittston Area that moved and Thomas’ attempt from 41 yards was short and just left of the target.

Wyoming Valley West opened the scoring 2:23 in.

Elijah Cropp’s sack forced a fumble on the game’s second play and Jason Pearson recovered at the 6. Rhodes found Tyler Weidman with a 7-yard touchdown pass on third down.

Bryheem Patterson brought Pittston Area right back down the field with a 37-yard run to set up his own 3-yard touchdown on the way to a 148-yard night.

Pittston Area used a sack to take the lead before the first quarter was over. David Behm, who later caught a touchdown pass from P.J. Pisano, blasted Rhodes from the blind side, forcing a fumble in the end zone. Alex Hoban picked up the loose ball for the touchdown.

The Spartans took a 20-17 lead in the first minute of the second half when Rhodes ran for 17 yards, and fumbled. Teammate Jerimiah Williams did the rest, scooping up the ball and taking off for the remaining 47 yards and the touchdown.

“He’s blocking downfield and picked up a loose ball,” Baranski said. “He’s the fastest man on the team. When he picked up the ball and it was clear, it was over.

“Jerimiah can really move.”

Wyoming Valley West 26, Pittston Area 24

Pittston Area`14`3`0`7 — 24

Valley West`7`6`7`6 — 26

First quarter

WVW – Tyler Weidman 7 pass from Donte Rhodes (Ryan Stevens kick), 9:37

PA – Bryheem Patterson 3 run (Matt Soy kick), 5:39

PA – Alex Hoban recovered fumble in end zone (Soy kick), 1:07

Second quarter

WVW – Darius Redguard 9 run (kick failed), 6:56

PA – Anthony Thomas 28 FG, 0:00

Third quarter

WVW – Jerimiah Williams 47 advance of teammate’s fumble (Stevens kick), 11:12

Fourth quarter

PA – David Behm 12 pass from P.J. Pisano (Soy kick), 8:38

WVW – Rhodes 18 run (kick blocked), 5:45

Team statistics`PA`WVW

First downs`18`12

Rushes-yards`50-279`29-222

Passing yards`109`36

Total yards`388`258

Passing`8-13-1`5-8-0

Sacked-yards lost`2-17`1-2

Punts-avg.`1-44.0`3-28.3

Fumbles-lost`2-2`4-2

Penalties-yards`9-90`7-47

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — PA, Patterson 20-148, Hoban 10-69, David Sudo 10-47, Pisano 7-11, Rob Barbieri 1-3, Thomas 2-1. WVW, Rhodes 14-111, Williams 1-62, Redguard 11-55, Team 3-minus 6.

PASSING — PA, Pisano 8-11-1-109, Team 0-1-0-0. WVW, Rhodes 5-8-0-36.

RECEIVING — PA, Behm 4-86, Patterson 2-13, Sudo 1-6, John Morris 1-4. WVW, Weidman 2-12, Williams 1-15, Redguard 1-8, Conner Olisewski 1-1.

INTERCEPTIONS — PA, None. WVW, Rhodes 1-79.

MISSED FIELD GOALS – PA, Thomas 41. WVW, None.