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Wilkes ready to kick off 2016 season

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Special teams in the spotlight for Nittany Lions

Some teams need to win that season-opening game more than others. Wyoming Area fell into that category.The Warriors entered last Friday off their third consecutive 3-7 season. They hadn&#8217;t won a season opener since 2010. They hadn&#8217;t sniffed the postseason since winning the District 2 Class 2A championship in 2012.But during those lean years, coach Randy Spencer promoted some freshmen to the varsity squad in hopes the experience against more mature players would eventually pay off.Perhaps it did &#8212; at least for now &#8212; last Friday. Wyoming Area defeated Wallenpaupack 32-0, recording the team&#8217;s first shutout in 51 games. Junior quarterback P.J. Angeli threw a 57-yard TD pass to junior wideout Marc Anthony Minichello. Senior linebacker Dante DeLuca had a couple tackles. All three were brought up the varsity as freshmen.&#8220;Even with the perceived shortened season with one week of doubles, the hope was we were the more experienced team coming in,&#8221; Spencer said. &#8220;Between our first scrimmage and Week 1, I think that experience paid off for us with 18 seniors and a lot of those seniors playing significant time over the past two years. And those juniors that have been up since freshmen are three-year players at this point.&#8220;That was our hope coming in. That we would get off to that kind of start with that experience.&#8221;Even some of the current freshmen made their marks. Brian Williams scored on a punt return and blocked punt. Corey Mruk had four tackles and forced a fumble. Dominic Deluca made some stops.Of course, it helped that Wyoming Area&#8217;s opponent was Wallenpaupack, a team in a bit of a rebuilding mode. The Warriors opened the past three seasons against traditional District 2 powers &#8212; Scranton Prep in 2013 and Wyoming Valley West the past two years.But a loss against Wallenpaupack could have set a bad tone to start the season.There&#8217;s still plenty of work to do to get back to the playoffs, starting with a home game against Crestwood on Friday. Wyoming Area won 32-7 last year, but by that point of the season Crestwood had lost four starting linemen for the season to injuries.The schedule doesn&#8217;t get any easier after Crestwood. Wyoming Area heads to Berwick in the third week and then has home games against Coughlin and Scranton Prep. Berwick, Coughlin and Prep all made the D2-3A playoffs last year, with Prep winning it all.&#8220;It was very critical, especially the way the schedule sets up,&#8221; Spencer said. &#8220;Four of our first five games are home games. We have to find a way to get it done if we want to be successful over the course of the season. We basically play the field of last year&#8217;s Triple-A district playoffs minus one team. We&#8217;ll find out early where we stand.&#8221;Safety in numbersMaybe it was because the teams lost a week of practice. Maybe it was just coincidence. Either way, there were four safeties during the opening weekend. There were five the entire 2015 season.Wyoming Valley West posted one on a bad punt snap by Scranton. Tunkhannock pinned Nanticoke at the 1-yard line on a kickoff and recorded a safety on the next play.The oddest occurrence was Hanover Area recorded two against Old Forge. Both accounted for the only second-half points as Hanover Area won 10-8.Lineman&#8217;s dreamLake-Lehman lineman Mason Rios did something all guys who never touch the ball dream of &#8212; he scored a touchdown. He returned a short Meyers punt 35 yards for a TD in the Black Knights&#8217; 27-7 victory.If it seems strange Meyers couldn&#8217;t catch a lumbering lineman, Rios doesn&#8217;t fit that description. He&#8217;s 5-foot-7 and 230 pounds and one of the fastest linemen in the WVC. He excels at getting to the second level and making blocks downfield.Plus, when Rios came up to the varsity he was listed as a fullback so he knows what to do with the ball.Hot ColesIf Pittston Area quarterback Walter Coles could play every game against Crestwood, he&#8217;d be an all-state candidate.Coles was 12 of 15 for 123 yards and three touchdowns in the Patriots&#8217; 35-28 loss to Crestwood. He also threw for three touchdowns last year against the Comets.Kyle Gattuso is the last Pittston Area quarterback to throw four TD passes in a game. He did so in Week 6 of 2014 against Tunkhannock.Changing placesHoly Redeemer first-year coach Dwayne Downing decided to reshuffle the offense this season. He moved running back Thomas Engle, the team&#8217;s leading rusher in 2015, to quarterback. Former quarterback J.D. Turosky shifted to tight end.The results were promising in a 34-6 victory over Holy Cross. Engle completed just four passes, but two were for touchdowns of 60 and 22 yards to Turosky. Engle also rushed 13 times for 113 yards.Around the stateFormer Holy Redeemer coach Scott Dennis won his debut with Central Columbia, which edged Mifflinburg 21-20. &#8230; Mifflin County opens its season against Williamsport on Friday as it plays in a district that decided to go with two scrimmages. However, Mifflin County is able to play 10 regular-season games as well because of how the PIAA playoffs are structured. &#8230;Juniata, which decided it needed a late field goal in last year&#8217;s 67-0 victory over Holy Redeemer, was at it again in its opener. It defeated Susquenita 71-0. &#8230; Springfield-Montco, a Class 3A team from District 1, cancelled its season due to a lack of players. According to papreplive.com, Springfield-Montco had about 30 players on the roster during the offseason, but the number dwindled to 18 and many of those were freshmen and sophomores with little experience. The decision came after a scrimmage and hopes are the program could come back in 2017.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Area quarterback P.J. Angeli, left, calls a play against Wallenpaupack under center John Rubino Friday night in West Pittston. Wyoming Area won its season opener for the first time since 2010. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_PSD082816WAfootball_2cmyk.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Area quarterback P.J. Angeli, left, calls a play against Wallenpaupack under center John Rubino Friday night in West Pittston. Wyoming Area won its season opener for the first time since 2010. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By John Erzarjerzar@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</shirttailMeta></div>

WVC Football Notebook: Opening win more important to some teams