Dallas City News

WEST PITTSTON — The big question coming into Wyoming Area’s season was who would fill the void left by the graduation of all-state running back Aaron Crossley.

Lidge Kellum answered that Friday night.

Kellum ran for a career-high 337 yards and three touchdowns plus returned a kickoff for another score as Wyoming Area outlasted Dallas 49-41 in a Wyoming Valley Conference interdivisional game.

“With Aaron gone, somebody has to step up,” said Kellum, who rushed for 369 yards during the 2023 regular season. “I had to be the one who stepped up and I did just that.”

Kellum carried 39 times, with his running to start the third quarter allowing Wyoming Area to take its first lead of the game. He carried the load on two scoring drives that were capped by touchdown runs of 3 and 9 yards by Trustin Johnson.

“They told me I was going to be running a lot,” Kellum said. “I didn’t expect to have the game I did, I’ll tell you that.”

Wyoming Area extended its lead to 42-28 at 8:47 of the fourth quarter on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Anthony DeLucca to Luke Kopetchny.

Dallas came right back 39 seconds later to cut it to a one-possession game. Quarterback Brady Zapoticky, who finished with 396 passing yards, threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cole Rigol to move the Mountaineers within 42-35.

Kellum then struck for the final time, running for a 61-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 49-35. Kellum also answered Dallas’ first touchdown by returning the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a score. He had touchdown runs of 5 and 63 yards in the second quarter as the teams combined to scored 35 points in those 12 minutes.

“I’ve talked about it all preseason,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “(Kellum) has been evaluated very highly at the camps he’s gone to as far as going to that next level. He has the potential to be the most dynamic player in District 2 and if not on a state level.

“When he plays with confidence, when he plays like he’s the best player on the field he is the best player on the field. We’re thrilled to see him have that kind of night tonight with his teammates.”

As like in last Friday’s loss to Jersey Shore, Dallas once again had trouble generating a running game. The Mountaineers managed just 53 yards on 26 carries.

Dallas relied heavily on the pass as Zapoticky threw four touchdowns among his 46 attempts. Logan Geskey finished with eight receptions for 177 yards and Sam Kelley caught five passes for 128 yards.

Wyoming Area 49, Dallas 41

Dallas`7`21`0`13 — 41

Wyoming Area`7`14`21`7 — 49

First quarter

DAL — Logan Geskey 82 pass from Brady Zapoticky (Rowan Laubach kick), 4:17

WA — Lidge Kellum 85 kick return (Nick Ciampi kick), 4:08

Second quarter

DAL — Nate Malarkey 19 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 11:46

WA — Kellum 5 run (Ciampi kick), 7:20

DAL — Dylan Geskey 2 run (Laubach kick), 2:09

WA — Kellum 63 run (Ciampi kick), 1:53

DAL — Sam Kelley 27 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 1:04

Third quarter

WA — Trustin Johnson 3 run (Ciampi kick), 6:15

WA — Trustin Johnson 9 run (Ciampi kick), 2:16

Fourth quarter

WA — Luke Kopetchny 15 pass from Anthony DeLucca (Ciampi kick), 8:47

DAL — Cole Rigol 28 pass from Zapoticky (Laubach kick), 8:08

WA — Kellum 61 run (Ciampi kick), 5:19

DAL — Zapoticky 2 run (kick failed), 3:58

Team statistics`DAL`WA

First downs`15`21

Rushes-yards`26-53`50-366

Passing yards`396`75

Total yards`449`441

Passing`22-46-1`7-17-1

Sacked-yards lost`3-14`0-0

Punts-avg.`5-38`4-28.3

Fumbles-lost`0-0`2-1

Penalties-yards`5-46`4-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Dallas, D.Geskey 14-36, Zapoticky 10-7, Malarkey 2-10. Wyoming Area, Kellum 39-337, Johnson 7-23, DeLucca 3-7, team 1-(minus-1).

PASSING — Dallas, Zapoticky 22-46-1-396. DeLucca 7-17-1-75.

RECEIVING — Dallas, L.Geskey 8-177, Malarkey 1-19, Rigol 2-31, Kelley 5-128, D.Geskey 3-29, Ben Wickenheiser3-12. Wyoming Area, Kopetchny 2-31, John Turner 1-3, Kellum 1-9, Johnson 2-18, Kevin Wiedl 1-14.

INTERCEPTIONS — Dallas, Wickenheiser 1-0. Wyoming Area, Wiedl 1-0.

MISSED FGs — none.