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Lottery Numbers for Friday, Nov. 25

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Penn State has huge opportunity against Spartans

<p>Every player selected to participate in the UNICO All-Star Football Classic can. And that&#8217;s not a good thing for the Wyoming Valley Conference.</p><p>Kickoff for the annual charity game is 1 p.m. Saturday at Wyoming Area&#8217;s stadium in West Pittston.</p><p>PIAA rules prohibit participation in all-star games until a senior&#8217;s school team completes its season. But with Berwick being knocked off in the District 2 Class 4A championship game last weekend, it means everyone is eligible. Williamsport is the only WVC team still alive in the state playoffs, but it is located in District 4 and its seniors play in an all-star game in that district.</p><p>So Saturday will truly be the best of the best seniors for the first time in quite awhile. Nobody will be introduced wearing letterman jackets.</p><p>The UNICO game has undergone changes throughout its 66-year history. The game moved from June to Thanksgiving morning in 2003 and then to Thanksgiving eve in 2005. It shifted to the Saturday after Thanksgiving a few years ago.</p><p>Roster selection has also changed. The Susquehanna River was often used as a dividing line between the two teams. A big-school vs. small-school format was also used for a time. UNICO has jumped in the fantasy football craze &#8212; well, sort of &#8212; in the past few years with coaches selecting teams and getting those seniors to coach.</p><p>GAR coach Paul Wiedlich Jr. will head the UNICO Pioneers. He&#8217;ll have players from all three Wilkes-Barre city schools on the team. He&#8217;s been particularly impressed by the four Coughlin linemen, headed by Division I recruit Ryan Solt. Solt, the son of former NFL guard Ron Solt, has offers from Army, Maryland, Rutgers and Syracuse.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s nice we have all three city schools on one team,&#8221; Wiedlich said. &#8220;That&#8217;s pretty unique.&#8221;</p><p>The Pioneers also feature some of the top skill players at their positions this season, including GAR running back Josh Goodwin, Northwest receiver Ezra Judge and Nanticoke tight end Justin Casey.</p><p>Wiedlich has one advantage over Miners coach Rich Mannello; he&#8217;s coached the UNICO game before. Mannello, who just finished his second season at Dallas, hasn&#8217;t coached an all-star game either at the high school level or in his 19 years as King&#8217;s College&#8217;s head coach.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s definitely easier because you know what&#8217;s going on and how to set practices up,&#8221; Wiedlich said. &#8220;As far as a game plan, you don&#8217;t try to put in too many sets or formations and try to get verbage correct. Especially now because coach Mannello and I agreed on having five practices. It&#8217;s kind of modeled after the Big 33 and the East-West Game.&#8221;</p><p>The Miners put in a long day of practice last Saturday with temperatures in the mid-60s and with bad weather heading to the area the following day.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been fun,&#8221; Mannello said. &#8220;They&#8217;re all seniors and have all run some form of what we&#8217;re doing. We put in a long session on the first practice and they picked it right up. They&#8217;ve been a lot of fun to work with.&#8221;</p><p>The Miners don&#8217;t have the same name recognition in the trenches, but do have three excellent players among the skill guys &#8212; Wyoming Valley West quarterback Aaron Austin and running back Sean Judge and Crestwood multi-use threat Lance Blass.</p><p>Mannello has seen Judge grow up through the mini-football ranks and then had to scheme to stop him the past two years. He gained a different perspective coaching him.</p><p>&#8220;His vision is really something when you&#8217;re standing behind him and watching him and seeing what he sees,&#8221; Mannello said. &#8220;He&#8217;s really something. And he works. All these kids, they&#8217;re working really hard.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Running back Khabir Williams rushes against P.J. Marinko during the UNICO Pioneers football practice at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday. Sean McKeag | Times Leader </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112416UNICO1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Running back Khabir Williams rushes against P.J. Marinko during the UNICO Pioneers football practice at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday. Sean McKeag | Times Leader </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112416UNICO2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The UNICO Pioneers football team practices at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112416UNICO2.jpg</photo1><caption1>The UNICO Pioneers football team practices at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium in Wilkes-Barre. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112416UNICO3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">PJ Marinko runs in for the tackle during the UNICO Pioneers football practice  at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday, November 23. 11/23/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112416UNICO3.jpg</photo2><caption2>PJ Marinko runs in for the tackle during the UNICO Pioneers football practice  at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday, November 23. 11/23/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>UNICO ALL-STAR FOOTBALL CLASSIC</strong></p><p>1 p.m. Saturday at Wyoming Area</p><p><strong>Admission:</strong> $5 with all proceeds going to local charities. Free admission for children under 10 and to high school players wearing their teams jerseys or jackets.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

A full house for annual UNICO showdown