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<p>WRIGHT TWP. &#8212; On the third snap of the game, Wyoming Valley West lost a fumble. One play later, Crestwood was in the end zone.</p><p>A rough start for the Spartans. But it wouldn&#8217;t turn into another long night.</p><p>After scoring on their first play from scrimmage, the Comets were blanked the rest of the way as Valley West used a powerful ground game to fuel a 39-7 win Friday at Crestwood High School.</p><p>&#8220;Just proud of the guys. We&#8217;ve been through a lot,&#8221; Spartans coach Pat Keating said after scoring 39 unanswered points. &#8220;I thought they showed some grit coming here with (Crestwood) on a three-game winning streak. We just came off a tough loss to a rival (Berwick) last week. And they had a great week.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of teams could&#8217;ve just quit. But we didn&#8217;t. They responded and they came out and they executed.&#8221;</p><p>Trailing 7-3 midway through the second quarter, the Spartans took complete control of the game in a seven-minute span as tailback Sean Mikovitch and quarterback Rob Dwyer both found the end zone.</p><p>From there, Zach Davies scooped up a bouncing ball on a Crestwood fumble and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown. Valley West recovered the live ball on the ensuing kickoff and soon after Dwyer smashed through a stunned Comets defense for another score to make it 32-7 at halftime.</p><p>The Spartans (3-6) rushed for 358 yards as tailback Sean Mikovitch went over 200 and quarterback Rob Dwyer topped 100. Keating said it was &#8220;absolutely&#8221; his team&#8217;s best game in the trenches all season.</p><p>&#8220;I think the big thing is we were able to control the line of scrimmage up front, especially offensively,&#8221; Keating said. &#8220;Really moved the sticks, and I was really happy with our run game tonight. And that got everything going.&#8221;</p><p>On the other side, things just seemed to snowball for the Crestwood (5-4), who had been playing strong fundamental football recently.</p><p>That wasn&#8217;t the case Friday as the Comets turned it over four times and gave the Spartans the ball a fifth time on the kickoff they couldn&#8217;t track down. Communication issues also led to five false start penalties in the second half.-</p><p>&#8220;We were pretty much turnover-free, mistake-free the last couple weeks,&#8221; Crestwood coach Greg Myers said. &#8220;But you start giving a good football team the ball too many times and they&#8217;re gonna put some points on the board. That&#8217;s what happened tonight.</p><p>Kevin Klusewitz scored the Comets&#8217; lone touchdown on a 28-yard run.</p><p>Both teams were assured of a playoff spot before the game. With one game left in the regular season, the Comets will be in the eight-team Class 4A bracket. All three District 2 Class 5A teams &#8212; Valley West, Wallenpaupack and Abington Heights &#8212; qualify for the postseason, and the Spartans could still end up as the top seed, which would put them right into the final.</p><p>&#8220;We want to build upon this because a lot can happen,&#8221; Keating said. &#8220;We still have a shot to get a bye and host the district championship with everything we&#8217;ve been through. That&#8217;s the reality of it, and that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re shooting for.&#8221;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Wyoming Valley West 39, Crestwood 7</strong> </ins></p><p><ins><strong>Wyo.Valley West`3`29`0`7`&#8212;`39</strong> </ins></p><p><ins><strong>Crestwood`7`0`0`0`&#8212;`7</strong> </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>First quarter</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>CRE &#8212; Kevin Klusewitz 28 run (Garrett Swank kick), 1:18 </ins></p><p><ins>WVW &#8212; Jake Gurtis 22 field goal, 4:06 </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Second quarter</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>WVW &#8212; Sean Mikovitch 1 run (Gurtis kick), 7:43 </ins></p><p><ins>WVW &#8212; Rob Dwyer 23 run (Gurtis kick), 4:38 </ins></p><p><ins>WVW &#8212; Zach Davies 46 fumble return (Carson Canavan pass from Gurtis), 3:52 </ins></p><p><ins>WVW &#8212; Dwyer 14 run (Gurtis kick), 0:50 </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Fourth quarter</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>WVW &#8212; Mikovitch 19 run (Gurtis kick), 2:34 </ins></p><p><ins><strong>Team statistics`WVW`CRE</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>First downs`17`10 </ins></p><p><ins>Rushes-yards`55-358`31-127 </ins></p><p><ins>Passing yards`41`88 </ins></p><p><ins>Total yards`399`215 </ins></p><p><ins>Passing`4-11-0`8-15-2 </ins></p><p><ins>Sacked-yards lost`2-7`0-0 </ins></p><p><ins>Punts-avg.`4-26.5`4-20.5 </ins></p><p><ins>Fumbles-lost`2-1`5-2 </ins></p><p><ins>Penalties-yards`9-87`7-35 </ins></p><p><ins><strong>INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS</strong> </ins></p><p><ins><strong>RUSHING</strong> &#8212; WVW, Sean Mikovitch 22-214, Rob Dwyer 17-105, Zach Davies 7-36, Carson Canavan 2-18, Jake Shusta 3-0, Darrian Tyson 2-(minus-3), Team 2-(minus-12). CRE, Nick Grosek 5-61, Kevin Klusewitz 4-37, Garrett Swank 5-27, Patrick Rother 11-6, Matt Tirpak 1-2, Michael Macri 3-(minus 2), Team 2-(minus-4). </ins></p><p><ins><strong>PASSING</strong> &#8212; WVW, Shusta 3-5-0-34, Dwyer 1-6-0-7. CRE, Swank 8-15-2-88. </ins></p><p><ins><strong>RECEIVING</strong> &#8212; WVW, Tyson 3-29, Jake Blaski 1-12. CRE, Klusewitz 3-37, Grosek 2-18, Rother 2-15, Brandon Brozena 1-18. </ins></p><p><ins><strong>INTERCEPTIONS</strong> &#8212; WVW, Zach McDaniels, Blaski. </ins></p><p><ins><strong>MISSED FGs</strong> &#8212; None. </ins></p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102117WVW-Crestwood_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Zach Davies falls forward for a first down on Friday night at Crestwood. The Spartans ran for 358 yards as a team. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102117WVW-Crestwood_2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Zach Davies falls forward for a first down on Friday night at Crestwood. The Spartans ran for 358 yards as a team. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader  </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102117WVW-Crestwood_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood&#8217;s Patrick Rother delivers a stiff-arm in Friday&#8217;s game against Valley West. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102117WVW-Crestwood_3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Crestwood&#8217;s Patrick Rother delivers a stiff-arm in Friday&#8217;s game against Valley West. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader  </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102117WVW-Crestwood_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood&#8217;s Michael Macri tries to fend off Valley West&#8217;s Zach Davies on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102117WVW-Crestwood_4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Crestwood&#8217;s Michael Macri tries to fend off Valley West&#8217;s Zach Davies on Friday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader  </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102117WVW-Crestwood_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Zach McDaniels returns an interception against Crestwood, the first of four takeaways for the Spartans that fueled a 39-7 victory in Mountain Top. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102117WVW-Crestwood_1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Zach McDaniels returns an interception against Crestwood, the first of four takeaways for the Spartans that fueled a 39-7 victory in Mountain Top. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader  </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wyoming Valley West storms back to thump Crestwood