Frank Kastreva Report
D2 Week 8 Football Schedule
(Note)- Rankings district 2 overall according to WVCD2.com
Wyoming Valley Conference
(#3) Hazleton Area @ Valley West FRI 7 PM
(#4) Wyoming Area @ Tunkhannock FRI 7 PM
(#5) Berwick @ Williamsport FRI 7 PM
(#6) Hanover Area @ Reading Holy Name FRI 7 PM
Crestwood @ Meyers FRI 7 PM
Dallas @ Nanticoke Area FRI 7 PM
Pocono Mtn. East @ Pittston Area FRI 7 PM
Bishop Hoban @ GAR SAT 1 PM
Lake-Lehman @ Coughlin SAT 7 PM
Other Area Teams
Bishop O'Reilly @ Minersville THU 7 PM
Columbia Vo-Tech @ Northwest FRI 7 PM
Nativity BVM @ Bishop Hafey SAT 1 PM
Hill School @ Wyoming Seminary SAT 1:30 PM
Lackawanna League
Valley View @ (#1) Delaware Valley FRI 7 PM
(#2) Abington Heights @ Wallenpaupack FRI 7 PM
(#7) North Pocono @ (#9) Scranton FRI 7 PM
(#8) West Scranton @ Honesdale FRI 7 PM
(#10) Lakeland @ Western Wayne FRI 7 PM
Bishop O'Hara @ Riverside FRI 7 PM
Dunmore @ Carbondale FRI 7 PM
Old Forge @ Lackawanna Trail FRI 7 PM
Scranton Prep @ Montrose FRI 7 PM
Mid Valley @ Susquehanna SAT 1 PM
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Kastreva's Picks
(Week 8)
Season Record 104-51
Berwick over Williamsport
Meyers over Crestwood
Dallas over Nanticoke Area
Hanover Area over Holy Reading Name
Hazleton Area over Valley West
Pittston Area over Pocono Mt. East
Wyoming Area over Tunkhannock
GAR over Bishop Hoban
Coughlin over Lake-Lehman
Minersville over Bishop O'Reilly
Northwest over Columbia Vo-Tech
Nativity BVM over Bishop Hafey
Hill School over Wyoming Seminary
Delaware Valley over Valley View
Abington Heights over Wallenpaupack
Bishop O'Hara over Riverside
Carbondale over Dunmore
Lakeland over Western Wayne
Scranton over North Pocono
Old Forge over Lackawanna Trail
Scranton Prep over Montrose
West Scranton over Honesdale
Susquehanna over Mid Valley
Wyoming Area @ Dallas
(Monday, October 17, WK 7)
Warriors top Mounts
By Frank Kastreva, WVCD2.com
Mountaineer Stadium was host to WVC football Monday afternoon as the Wyoming Area Warriors traveled to the Back Mountain to butt heads with the Dallas Mountaineers. Big plays for the Warriors got them the 21-7 victory in what was a very hard hitting game by both teams.
Wyoming Area got off to a strong start scoring on their first series of the game. Sr. TE Matt Rynkiewicz hauled in a 81 yard pass reception from Jr. QB Justin Pointkowski, scampering into the gold zone. The PAT was booted through by Sr. K Kyle Shymanski, which ended up being a long attempt due to a unsportsmenlike penalty by the Warriors.
The Warriors' next score would come in the 2nd quarter, a 9 play drive going 45 yards. Sr. Dan Kettell would intercept a pass, stalling a Mount's drive and setting up the Warriors at the Dallas 45 yard line. From there the Warriors would use the ground game and a 4th down conversion to strike paydirt. Pointkowski would cap the drive on a 3 yard QB keeper. Shymanski would again boot through the PAT, with the score WA 14 Mounts 0.
The score would hold at 14-0 until Wyoming Area's 1st series of the 2nd half. Sr. RB Ryan McDonnell would shake lose and scamper 63 yards for the Warriors third TD of the game. Wyoming Area had Dallas reeling at this point, but the Mounts tightened up the "D" and hung in there. The Warriors did get in a hard hitting battle, both teams were smacking eachother.
Dallas would make it interesting, scoring exactly 2 minutes after the Warriors third score. Jr. WR Brad Figula would get the Mounts down to the WA 31 yard line on a 58 yard pass reception. Sr. Nick Samanas would score on a 21 yard dash. Sr. Mike Race would nail the PAT and we had ourselves a ball game, WA 21 Mounts 7 with 7:08 remaining in the 3rd quarter.
Both teams got a little sloppy in the 2nd half. Dallas had a punt blocked and gave the ball away a few times and WA just seemed a bit flat at times. The Mounts did have their chances, but WA held their ground when they had to. All and all it was a good game that had 2 teams coming at each other head on, very physical.
Warriors' RB Ryan McDonnell had a good game rushing for 120 yards on 18 carries and #95 Matt Rynkiewicz was a force on both sides of the ball. Rynkiewicz will be one of those guys to watch in college, he could be a good one, this kids got skills, he's big and he's got the heart.
"Rynkiewicz is an animal, he is one of my best buddies. He is really fun to have around, a great player who puts his heart and soul into everything he does," said teammate Ryan McDonnell.
The Warriors seem to be jelling together more and more as the season progresses and the playoffs are surely in the picture. But of course WA head coach Paul Marrancca is too smart of a coach to be thinking playoffs just yet.
"I am concerned about the 3 day week now. We have to go to Tunkhannock Friday night and Tunkhannock is a good football team waiting to knock someone off, noted Marrancca after the game.
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Valley West @ Berwick
(Saturday, October 15th, WK 7)
Dawgs snap Spartans 3 game win streak with 42 point shutout
By Frank Kastreva, WVCD2.com
The Wyoming Valley West Spartans came into Crispin Memorial Stadium Saturday afternoon on a 3 game win streak. The Spartans had beaten Billport, Pleasant Mountain and Pittston Area the last 3 weeks. The Berwick Bulldogs on the other hand had just lost to quad A power Bishop McDevitt, bad news for Valley West.
You just don't want to play the Dawgs after a loss, in years past not too many teams had to worry about that. But with the teams that Berwick schedules out of conference, a loss is very possible these days and of course Wyoming Valley Conference foes give the Dawgs some stiff competition.
Its not an easy thing to go 15-0 in H.S. football now a days and if you do, you have one special group of players. But ya know what, they don't look at your win loss record if you win a state title and you don't get better if you play a week schedule. A team can rack up all the points they want during the regular season, but if they are not battle tested, could be that deer in the headlights look come crunchtime.
That was kind of the scenario in this one with Valley West, the Spartans seemed confident on the way in but after the 1st quarter much of that confidence had dissolved.
Berwick scored on their first series of the game, Sr. RB Brant Quick scampered 43 yards for a TD capping a 7 play 69 yard drive. Quick would leave the game late in the 2nd quarter after rolling up under his ankle, the injury didn't seem that serious, but at the time Berwick was up 21-0 and had the game well in hand. Using Quick, even if he could play, would of been a senseless thing to do.
The Dawg's second TD of the day came from Sr. Pete Celona, a 93 yard punt return with the clock winding down in the 1st quarter. Sr. Tristan DiPippa threw a key block to break Celona free down the sidelines. Jr. Zach Alley booted through the PAT, with the score Dawgs 14 Spartans 0.
Sr. QB Mike Walton was the next Berwick player to find paydirt. Walton scampered 49 yards on a QB keeper to cap the scoring for the Dawgs in the first half. Both teams headed to the locker room with the score Dawgs 21 Spartans 0.
Berwick would tack on scores in the 2nd half from Sr. RB Dalen Broussard on a 6 yard dash, Sr. WR Ryan Martz on a 53 yard strike from Walton and Sr. Tristan DiPippa on a 20 yard strike, also from Walton.
Berwick QB Mike Walton did have a very impressive game, rushing for 95 yards on 12 carries with a TD and passing for 100 yards, adding 2 more TD's.
On the defensive side of the ball Sr. DL Chris Ervin had 11 solo tackles and added 2 assist with a fumble recovery to boot, earning him defensive player of the game by berwickdawgs.com.
"We all played a good game, I am pretty happy with our play today,"said Ervin. "We still have hopes of getting a playoff bid, but no matter what every game is a big game for us."
The Dawgs will travel to Billport this coming Friday night looking for there second consecutive win. Every streak has to start somewhere, 1 down 8 to go!
Week 7
(#1) Delaware Valley 48 Honesdale 3
(#2) Abington Heights 42 (#7) North Pocono 0
(#3) Hazleton Area 41 Pittston Area 0
(#4) Wyoming Area 21 Dallas 7
(#5) Berwick 42 Valley West 0
(#6) Hanover Area 48 GAR 28
(#8) West Scranton 54 Wallenpaupack 7
(#9) Scranton 41 Valley View 31
(#10) Lakeland 26 Scranton Prep 17
Williamsport 27 Glen Mills 6
Carbondale 44 Montrose 16
Dunmore 26 Western Wayne 0
Old Forge 26 Mid Vallley 12
Lackawanna Trail 14 Bishop O'Hara 0
Bucktail 8 Bishop Hafey 7
Northwest 49 Bishop O'Reilly 6
Meyers 31 Tunkhannock 19
Lake-Lehman 31 Crestwood 7
Valley Forge Military 34 Wyoming Seminary 7
Susquehanna 40 Riverside 21
Coughlin 48 Nanticoke Area 7
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2005 WVC Standings
(Note)- Conference record posted 1st, overall posted last.
Division I
5-0 Hazleton Area 6-1
3-1 Wyoming Area 6-1
3-1 Berwick 5-2
2-1 Valley West 3-4
2-2 Tunkhannock 3-4
1-2 Coughlin 4-3
0-4 Williamsport 3-4
0-5 Pittston Area 0-7
Division II
6-0 Hanover Area 7-0
3-1 Meyers 5-2
3-2 Lake-Lehman 4-3
3-2 Crestwood 3-4
1-2 Dallas 3-4
1-3 GAR 2-5
1-4 Bishop Hoban 1-5
0-4 Nanticoke Area 2-5
Other Area Teams
Northwest 3-4
Wyoming Seminary 0-6
Bishop Hafey 2-5
Bishop O'Reilly 0-6
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The official District 2 rankings of WVCD2.com
These rankings are compiled by Frank Kastreva for entertainment purposes only. All questions or comments can be made to wvcgridironman@aol.com
2005 Week 7 Rankings
Wyoming Valley Conference
1.) Hazleton Area (6-1)
2.) Wyoming Area (6-1)
3.) Berwick (5-2)
4.) Hanover Area (6-0)
5.) Dallas (3-4)
6.) Coughlin (4-3)
7.) Meyers (5-2)
8.) Valley West (3-4)
9.) Tunkhannock (3-4)
10.) Lake-Lehman (4-3)
District 2 Overall
1.) Delaware Valley (7-0)
2.) Abington Heights (7-0)
3.) Hazleton Area (6-1)
4.) Wyoming Area (6-1)
5.) Berwick (5-2)
6.) Hanover Area (7-0)
7.) North Pocono (6-1)
8.) West Scranton (5-2)
9.) Scranton (4-2)
10.) Lakeland (5-2)