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Letter to the Editor: Schiel’s Family Market owners constantly giving boost to community

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Police searching for woman reported missing from Valley Youth House

<p>Both coaches agree. They should be a curiosity, but not the focus of Friday night&#8217;s football game.</p><p>Still, when coach Frank Sheptock&#8217;s Berwick Bulldogs visit coach Rich Mannello and the Dallas Mountaineers it will be hard to ignore the long history the two men have on the sidelines.</p><p>Sheptock coached Wilkes University for 18 years before resigning in 2013 to become Berwick&#8217;s athletic director. Mannello coached at King&#8217;s College from 1990 to 2009 before leaving after building a program that was dormant for 27 years. During their stints at the Wilkes-Barre schools, the two faced each other 14 times with Wilkes winning 11 of those games.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;ll say the same thing. It&#8217;s about the kids,&#8221; Mannello said. &#8220;This high school thing is tremendous. It&#8217;s really special and now having a second season of doing it. We all have great kids and I know he would say the same thing. I&#8217;m sure he is happy and I&#8217;m happy for him. It&#8217;s no secret he and I have become great friends over the years.&#8221;</p><p>Mannello knows his friend and coaching adversary well.</p><p>&#8220;Obviously, Richie and I are good friends,&#8221; Sheptock said. &#8220;But we know it&#8217;s about the teams and it&#8217;s about the players. We just want to compete the best we can. You always want to do well against someone you&#8217;re close to and Richie and I have always brought out the best in each other. I don&#8217;t think it will be any different this Friday.&#8221;</p><p>Since both coaches agree it&#8217;s about the guys on the field not on the sideline, let&#8217;s take a look at the matchup instead.</p><p>Berwick enters off a 44-0 victory against Hazleton Area in Sheptock&#8217;s high school coaching debut. He was hired shortly after George Curry resigned following the 2015 season. Curry died on April 1.</p><p>Running back Len Wyda rushed for a career-high 179 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Jared Marshman, no longer hobbled by a bum ankle that was an issue throughout last season, threw for two touchdowns. Lineman Kyle Pierce was his usual disruptive force.</p><p>&#8220;We were very pleased with how our players executed being that we were able to play well early in the special teams area,&#8221; Sheptock said. &#8220;We were covering kicks well and our punt return game set up some good field position for us. We had a few short fields and got a little bit of momentum early which we were able to sustain throughout the game.&#8221;</p><p>The victory wasn&#8217;t without some flaws.</p><p>&#8220;We need to work on finishing some blocks,&#8221; Sheptock said. &#8220;We need to do a better job in pure pass rush situations in being able to get some pressure on the passer. The kicking game, we had some mistakes that if we don&#8217;t get better we feel will be critical as the season moves forward. Our protection schemes and our coverage schemes had some things that certainly need to be addressed.&#8221;</p><p>Sheptock, though, has a veteran group with which to work. Mannello is dealing with new faces throughout the lineup. Stone Mannello, the coach&#8217;s son, made his first varsity start at quarterback last Friday in a 20-7 loss to Coughlin. Running back Justin Hutchins carried the ball 32 times for 173 yards. He had six carries all of last year.</p><p>&#8220;We had a bunch of new kids out there and they handled that part of it well,&#8221; Mannello said. &#8220;They settled in the first time the lights went on and I thought they did a nice job. It was really hot and they handled that. We&#8217;re in shape. We were physical. Obviously, we have to limit the big plays. The game changed on a couple of plays.</p><p>&#8220;We drove the ball from 30 to 30, but we didn&#8217;t finish drives. We have to get that done.&#8221;</p><p>The two big plays by Coughlin &#8212; an 80-yard TD pass in the second quarter and a 75-yard TD run midway through the third &#8212; change the complexion of the game. Dallas controlled the ball for the most part, running 60 plays to Coughlin&#8217;s 36.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Mannello </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_dallasfootball01.jpg</photo0><caption0>Mannello </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL082516HSF-Berwick-Preview-spt_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Sheptock </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL082516HSF-Berwick-Preview-spt_2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Sheptock </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Sheptock, Mannello faces each other again as Berwick visits Dallas</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>WEEK 2 SCHEDULE</strong></p><p><strong>Friday</strong></p><p><strong>(7 p.m.)</strong></p><p>Berwick at Dallas</p><p>Blue Mountain at Hanover Area</p><p>Crestwood at Wyoming Area</p><p>Lake-Lehman at Northwest</p><p>Montrose at Meyers</p><p>Tunkhannock at Pittston Area</p><p>Williamsport at Mifflin County</p><p>Wyo. Valley West at Hazleton Area</p><p>Wyo. Seminary at Episcopal Academy</p><p><strong>Saturday</strong></p><p>Holy Redeemer at Susquehanna, 1 p.m.</p><p>Nanticoke at CM Vo-Tech, 1 p.m.</p><p>Scranton Prep at Coughlin, 7 p.m.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Frank Sheptock, Rich Mannello square off again as Berwick visits Dallas tonight