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Law and order key to city’s turnaround for Wilkes-Barre mayoral candidate Tony George

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EDWARDSVILLE &#8212; Wilkes was right where it wanted to be.Tied with 70 seconds left before halftime and the option to receive the second-half kickoff.Unfortunately, Lebanon Valley College would play the spoiler.Jeremy De La Cruz caught a 7-yard score from Tim Pirrone with 22 seconds before halftime, and the Flying Dutchmen scored on every possession of the second half, pulling away from the Colonels, 48-17, at Schmidt Stadium Saturday afternoon.&#8220;We knew this would be a tough football game. Wilkes always plays us tough up here,&#8221; Lebanon Valley head coach Jim Monos said. &#8220;We had chances in the first half with turnovers, but we couldn&#8217;t take advantage. Hey, I&#8217;ve said this for weeks. Anyone could beat anyone on any day in this league. I think that&#8217;s true.&#8221;Who knows what would have been?If Wilkes could have went into halftime knotted at 10, the momentum it carried could have been unimaginable.The first-half deficit could have been worse but the Colonels&#8217; defense held strong after two disastrous spots where LVC had picture-perfect field position.The first came when Wilkes muffed a punt at its own 31. The second was even worse as a bad snap flew over the punter&#8217;s head &#8211; setting Lebanon Valley up on the Colonels&#8217; 10.End result from both? Just one field goal.Yet, all momentum was lost when the Flying Dutchmen took over at their own 36 with 1:10 left in the half and got a jump-start on the very first play, thanks to Jon Jones&#8217; 27-yard run. From there, Pirrone took over &#8211; completing four passes on the 7-play, 64-yard drive, the last one to a wide-open De La Cruz in the end zone for the 17-10 lead.&#8220;That was huge because we kind of squibbed the kick and got it rolling,&#8221; Wilkes head coach Trey Brown said. &#8220;They popped that first play for 25 yards that got them into our territory. Now, they are saying what we say all the time. We are going to run the two-minute drill, but if we pop that first play, we are looking to score. If we stop them there, I don&#8217;t know. Maybe they don&#8217;t keep up that pace on offense.&#8221;The lasting effect was felt.On his first possession of the second half, Wilkes quarterback Ryan Dailey threw his first of two interceptions, and it led to Marcus Brown&#8217;s third field goal for a 20-10 lead.Wilkes (1-6) got it back to three, 20-17, early in the third. Dailey found Aaron Coyne for a 14-yard strike, taking the ball to the LVC 13. PJ Incremona did the rest, reaching the end zone after four straight carries &#8211; the last being a 2-yard blast through the middle.That&#8217;s the closest it got as the Dutchmen ripped off 28-unanswered points to end the game.&#8220;I think our kids took it up another level in the second half,&#8221; Monos said. &#8220;I liked the way that we executed on offense, and Pirrone threw the ball very well. Defensively, I think we shored up in the second half. We gave up too many yards in the first half.&#8221;Up 27-17 after three quarter, Lebanon Valley (4-3) dominated the fourth.Pirrone threw his third touchdown of the game, finding a wide-open Corey Keen in the back-corner of the end zone for the 22-yard score. Brendon Irving and Blake Lutz both added scores in the quarter. Irving crossed the goal line on a 7-yard run, and Lutz picked off a pass with 1:55 left and took it back 46 yards.&#8220;I thought they wore us out a little bit in the second half,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;I thought our guys kept believing and playing hard. But they are a physical, big team with a good-sized back. Credit goes to them. They believe in what they believe in, and stick with it.&#8221;Pirrone had a good day for LVC, throwing for three scores and running in another on an 18-yard keeper up the middle with time ticking away in the third. Dailey wasn&#8217;t too bad, either, completing 25 of 34 for 234 yards and one TD.&#8220;We&#8217;ve had some opportunities to pick up a few more points this year, and convert those chances, but we just haven&#8217;t. It&#8217;s the story of our season this year,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;There are so many good things going on in defeat. As disappointed as I am in the final score, I am disappointed that they can&#8217;t experience that same feeling they felt after that DelVal game. I&#8217;m proud that we continue to fight. At times, it&#8217;s a simple game where you have to block the guy in front of you and catch the ball. We just have to continue to work on the little things.&#8221;Lebanon Valley 48, Wilkes 17LV `7`10`10`21 &#8211; 48W `0`10`7`0 &#8211; 17First QuarterL &#8212; Saylor 7 pass from Pirrone (Brown kick), 3:00Second QuarterW: &#8212; Von Glahn 28 field goal, 13:56L &#8212; Brown 29 field goal, 3:12W &#8212; Deemer 41 pass from Dailey (Von Glahn kick), 1:14L &#8212; De La Cruz 7 pass from Pirrone (Brown kick), 0:22Third QuarterL &#8212; Brown 38 field goal, 11:44W &#8212; Incremona 2 run (Von Glahn kick), 7:02L &#8212; Pirrone 18 run (Brown kick), 1:07Fourth QuarterL &#8212; Keen 22 pass from Pirrone (Brown kick), 10:13L &#8212; Irving 7 run (Brown kick), 3:51L &#8212; Lutz 46 interception return (Brown kick), 1:55Team Statistics `L`WFirst Downs `22`21Rushes-Yards `52-215 `34-87Passing Yards `160`245Total Yards `375`332Passing `15-24-0`26-35-2Sacked-Yards Lost `1-9`0-0Punts-Average `3-35.7`3-37.3Fumbles-Lost `1-0`3-2Penalties-Yards `10-95`7-81Individual StatisticsRUSHING &#8212; L, Irving 26-109, Jones 13-70, Pirrone 10-33, Fink 3-3. W, Incremona 18-67, Dailey 6-38, Hayes 3-7, Fink 5-6, Team 2-(-31).PASSING &#8212; L, Pirrone 15-24-0 160 yards. W, Dailey 24-34-2, 234 yards; Hayes 1-1-0, 11 yards.RECEIVING &#8212; L, De La Cruz 4-48, Zimnik 4-27, Keen 2-29, Saylor 2-19, Johnson 1-15, Manning 1-15, Wise 1-7. W, Deemer 5-71, Coyne 5-54, Armstong 5-34, Fink 4-37, Brook 4-21, Richards 1-19, Incremona 1-5, Gattuso 1-4.INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; L, Adams 1, Lutz 1.MISSED FG &#8212; none<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</shirttailMeta></div>

Dutchmen dominate 2nd half, pull away from Wilkes