Dallas City News

DALLAS TWP. — The Dallas Mountaineers scored early and often on a windy and chilly November night in the Back Mountain, as they triumphed over the visiting Honesdale Hornets 48-14 in the District 2 Class 4A semifinals.

Second-seeded Dallas will now get a chance to defend its district title next Friday in a road trip to No. 1 Valley View.

With Friday’s decisive win, coach Rich Mannello and the Mountaineers have now won eight straight games after an 0-3 start as they look to win another 4A title after going all the way to the state finals a year ago.

Logan Geskey helped lead the Mounts, hauling in three passes for 120 yards, including a pair of touchdowns.

Geskey was proud of his team’s effort and how hard the team has fought during this eight-game winning streak.

“We just wanted to come in here and get out quick and throw the ball out quick,” Geskey said. “We had big runs, big chunk plays and great stops on defense. On my two touchdown catches, we set it up for that reason, kind of like a crack and then run it deep. And we were wide open, we set it up for that play and we hit that play.

“It feels great to be playing this well, after coming off three losses early in the season, and we knew what had to get done and we’ve just been hammering down.”

Dallas opened the scoring party less than three minutes into the battle, when the Mounts completed their successful 70-yard opening drive with a 1-yard quarterback sneak from senior Brady Zapoticky to take the early 7-0 advantage with 9:09 left in the first quarter.

The Mounts would score again late in the first as senior kicker Rowan Laubach connected on a 24-yard field goal to stretch the lead to 10-0 with 41 seconds remaining in the opening period.

In the second quarter, Dallas would outscore the Hornets by a 17-6 clip to take a three-touchdown cushion into halftime.

Zapoticky would scamper into the end zone for the second time on the evening, this one from 9 yards out to give his squad a 17-0 advantage with 7:50 left in the first half.

Third-seeded Honesdale would show some fight and get on the scoreboard with 5:24 remaining in the second when senior quarterback Aiden Collins found a wide-open Mason Avery for a 45-yard touchdown pass down the sideline to cut the deficit to 17-6 after a blocked extra point.

The hometown Mounts would punch right back to regain the momentum when Laubach made a 33-yard field goal to up his team’s lead to 20-6 with 2:15 left.

For Dallas’ final score of the first half, Zapoticky found stalwart senior wideout Gavin Lewis, who made an incredible one-handed 31-yard touchdown grab to give his squad a 27-6 lead with 54 seconds left.

Dallas opened up the second half of play by outscoring Honesdale 14-0 in the third quarter to stretch out the lead to 35 points.

For the Mounts’ next score, Zapoticky connected with Geskey on a wide-open long ball down the field, this one from 56-yards out, for a 34-6 advantage with 8:50 left in the third quarter.

Dallas’ second score in the third came on another long-distance connection from Zapoticky to Geskey, this one from 43 yards out to stretch the lead to 41-6 with 4:07 remaining in the period.

In the fourth quarter, the Mounts would hit paydirt once again when senior tailback Dylan Geskey, Logan’s older brother, barreled his way into the end zone for an overpowering 23-yard touchdown run to up his squad’s advantage to 48-6 with 4:16 left in regulation.

The Hornets managed to score one more time to close it out as senior standout Avery tallied his second touchdown of the contest, this time on the ground with a 7-yard score with Collins’ QB sneak on a 2-point conversion making it 48-14.

Coach Paul Russick’s Honesdale squad had entered the night on a four-game win streak. The Hornets’ season ended at 6-5.

District 2 Class 4A semifinals

Dallas 48, Honesdale 14

Honesdale`0`6`0`8 — 14

Dallas`10`17`14`7 — 48

First Quarter

DAL — Brady Zapoticky 1 run (Rowan Laubach kick), 9:09.

DAL — Rowan Laubach 24 field goal 0:41.

Second Quarter

DAL — Zapoticky 9 run (Laubach kick), 7:50.

HON — Mason Avery 45 pass from Aiden Collins (kick failed), 5:24.

DAL — Laubach 33 field goal, 2:15.

DAL — Gavin Lewis 31 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 0:54.

Third Quarter

DAL — Logan Geskey 56 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 8:50.

DAL — L. Geskey 43 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 4:07.

Fourth Quarter

DAL — Dylan Geskey 23 run (Laubach kick), 4:16.

HON — Avery 7 run (Collins run), 2:03.

Team statistics `Honesdale `Dallas

First downs`14`20

Rushes-yards`31-112`28-173

Passing yards`145’314

Total yards`257`487

Passing`13-25-1-2`12-15-3-0

Sacked-yards lost`2-26`0-0

Punts-avg.`3-22`0-0

Fumbles-lost`0-0`0-0

Penalties-yards`3-45`8-85

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — HON, Mason Avery 26-93, Aiden Collins 2-13, Gabe Duda 2-2, Bradley Bibalo 1-4. DA, Dylan Geskey 12-85, Brady Zapoticky 14-75, Nate Malarkey 2-13.

PASSING — HON, Aiden Collins 13-25-145-1-2. DA, Brady Zapoticky 11-14-288-3-0, Dylan Geskey 1-1-26-0-0.

RECEIVING — HON, Mason Avery 3-60, Kobe White 4-14, Conlan Keast 3-56, Gabe Duda 1-6, Bradley Bibalo 1-4, Jakub Randolph 1-5. DA, Gavin Lewis 5-139, Nate Malarkey 2-24, Logan Geskey 3-120, Brady Zapoticky 1-26, Tyce Mason 1-5.

INTERCEPTIONS — DAL, Gavin Lewis 2-15.