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Dallas boys’ third try no charm as state cross country title streak ends

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Surge in pickleball interest leads to first-ever tournament

EDWARDSVILLE &#8211; In a season where Wilkes will finish with its lowest win total in 26 years, there haven&#8217;t been many positives.Injuries and mistakes have plagued the Colonels all season.On Saturday though, there was plenty to be excited about for the future of the team.Even though the team dropped a 44-12 decision to Stevenson, Wilkes gave the defending MAC champion fits before the Mustangs pulled away in the second half at Schmidt Stadium.&#8220;It&#8217;s easy to look at this team and see that they&#8217;re 0-8 coming in, but you see them on film and they&#8217;re getting better. They&#8217;re coaching them up,&#8221; Stevenson coach Ed Hottle said about the Colonels.Being winless, Wilkes had to be nearly perfect to pull off the upset for the second straight season after having gone on the road and knocking off Stevenson last year.But it seemed like whenever the Colonels showed promise in the game, mistakes were made afterward and accomplishing the upset became 10 times harder.For instance, the Colonels started the game with a 13-play, 75-yard scoring drive to start the game. The possession ended in a three-yard TD run by Nick Geimer to give them a 6-0 lead. But the extra point was blocked, the first of two times in the game that the Colonels had a point-after attempt blocked.On its next drive after forcing the Mustangs (5-3 MAC, 5-4 overall) to punt on a three-and-out, Wilkes (0-8, 0-9) drove into Stevenson territory but left with a missed field goal.The Mustangs followed a touchdown and a field goal on consecutive drives to go ahead 10-6. Geimer then led the Colonels to their second score of the game, hooking up with Garrett Armstrong for 30 yards and putting Wilkes back in front 12-10 with 4:23 left in the first half.&#8220;For a while, we were able to only allow a field goal and hang in there. But over time against an offense like they have&#8230;you gotta do a good job with your own offense and we didn&#8217;t do a good enough job offensively,&#8221; Colonels coach Trey Brown said.Two more scoring drives occurred for Stevenson before halftime, including a field goal off a Wilkes fumble giving the Mustangs a 20-12 lead at halftime. But the rest of the game didn&#8217;t go as well for Wilkes.&#8220;We go into halftime in an eight-point game and then we stop them on their first drive of the third quarter. We did some good things, but that&#8217;s just crazy,&#8221; Brown added. &#8220;I have no complaints about the effort. They&#8217;re still showing up lifting and showing up to meetings on time.&#8221;Geimer, a freshman making just his third career start, looked phenomenal in the first half while connecting on 16 of his 18 attempts with a tossing score and adding another on the ground. In a gutty performance, he finished with 307 passing yards and a game-high 71 rushing yards despite taking a beating from the physical defenders.But with his first-half numbers also came three fumbles when rushing the ball that were recovered by Stevenson.&#8220;He&#8217;s a great kid that&#8217;s 162 pounds and plays really hard. He plays hard just like a lot of our kids do,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;Against a really good Stevenson defense, it would surprise me on some level that he is that accurate. But he&#8217;s become more comfortable, too. Over time, as a young guy, you settle in a little more.&#8221;Three times in the second half, the Colonels put together long drives, moving deep into Stevenson territory. But all three scenarios ended on a turnover on downs on the Stevenson 17-, 4- and 23-yard lines.The mistakes weren&#8217;t all Wilkes&#8217; fault. The Mustangs are the defending league champions for a reason. They fly to the football on defense and deliver smash-mouth hits. On offense, their speed and athleticism showed up numerous times, as quarterback Dan Williams threw for 446 yards and five touchdown passes, including long scores of 90 and 62 yards. His favorite target was Preston Addo, who hauled in 10 receptions for 230 yards.Wilkes will take its improved effort into next week&#8217;s Mayor&#8217;s Cup Game against crosstown rival King&#8217;s at McCarthy Stadium, looking to avoid a winless season.&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t hurt, but one of the things we talk about all the time is that you can&#8217;t just plug in the good things that happened last week into next week,&#8221; Brown added. &#8220;Every game is unique. I think for us, we&#8217;re playing better ball. We&#8217;re just not making a play, or like today, making enough plays.&#8221;Delaware Valley 51, Misericordia 7Fifth-ranked Delaware Valley ran for seven touchdowns while using a solid rushing attack to hand the Cougars a 51-7 defeat before a Senior Appreciation Day crowd at Mangelsdorf Field.The Aggies added a safety to improve to 9-0 overall and 8-0 in the MAC.Senior Mark Rainey had a 40-yard scoring run for the Cougars in his final home game. Rainey led the Cougars with 58 yards rushing on 10 carries and David Cromwell added 36 yards on eight carries.The Cougars will wrap up the season at FDU-Florham next week.Widener 27, King&#8217;s 6The Widener University defense forced six turnovers and registered 11 quarterback sacks while building a 21-6 halftime lead, as the host Pride walked away with a 27-6 victory over the Monarchs.Widener struck first on a three-play, 62-yard drive, capped by a 49-yard pass from Sean McGaughey to James Gillespie with 7:53 left in the first quarter. King&#8217;s answered with a 11-play drive that ended with a career-long 44-yard field goal from Mike Tumminello to trim the Pride lead to 7-3 with 4:53 remaining in the quarter.The Pride countered quickly with a three-play, 53-yard drive when McGaughey hit Montrell Hicks-Taylor for a 50-yard scoring strike at the 2:28 mark as Widener took a 14-3 lead after the first quarter.King&#8217;s took advantage of a Widener turnover and used a 33-yard field goal from Tumminello to trim the score to 14-6 with 5:55 to play in the half. But the Widener&#8217;s defense came up big two possessions later when Anthony Jordan intercepted Monarch quarterback Zach Whitehead and scored on a 28-yard return as the Pride took a 21-6 lead into halftime.The score grew to 27-6 midway through the third quarter when King&#8217;s was threatening to score. Whitehead found Trey Campbell at the Pride 19 but the Monarch senior was stripped of the ball and Widener&#8217;s Jordan Powell returned the fumble 81 yards for a touchdown with 7:17 to go in the period for the final points of the game.King&#8217;s outgained Widener 315-294 in total yards while the Monarchs also held a 25-14 advantage in first downs. But Widener&#8217;s ability to hit big plays, combined with King&#8217;s turnovers, kept the Pride in control of the game.Whitehead had his most difficult day of the season while playing with a leg injury and completed 22-of-45 passes for 216 yards and five interceptions while being sacked 11 times by the Pride defense.Defensively, King&#8217;s was led by Bruce Damon with 15 tackles, while Mike Dohn followed with 10 stops. Jake Manetti added nine tackles while Kody Stevens contributed eight.With the win Widener improved to 7-2 overall and 7-1 in the MAC while King&#8217;s slipped to 4-5 and 3-5 in MAC play.King&#8217;s will close out the season Saturday when the Monarchs host cross-town rival Wilkes in the annual Mayor&#8217;s Cup game, slated for noon at McCarthy Stadium.Stevenson 44, Wilkes 12Stevenson`0`20`10`14`&#8212;`37Wilkes `6&#8217;6`0`0`&#8212;`12SCORING SUMMARYFirst QuarterWIL &#8211; Geimer 3 run (kick blocked) 10:08Second QuarterSTE &#8211; Vainqueur 23 pass from Williams (Gould kick) 14:28STE &#8211; Gould 28 field goal 12:52WIL &#8211; Armstrong 30 pass from Geimer (kick blocked) 4:23STE &#8211; Addo 21 pass from Williams (Gould kick) 2:11STE &#8211; Gould 19 field goal 0:00Third QuarterSTE &#8211; Salisbury 90 pass from Williams (Gould kick) 9:05STE &#8211; Gould 33 field goal 2:26Fourth QuarterSTE &#8211; Addo 62 pass from Williams (Gould kick) 12:30STE &#8211; Addo 39 pass from Williams (Gould kick) 1:13Team statistics`STE`WILFirst downs`22`25Rushes-yards`23-96`42-109Passing yards`446`337Total yards`542`446Passing`28-45-1`34-50-1Sacks by-yards lost`2-23`0-0Punts-avg.`4-40.5`3-37.7Fumbles-lost`0-0`3-3Penalties-yards`5-42`4-40INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING&#8212; STE, Hill 15-49, Williams 3-26, Salisbury 1-9, Austin 3-8, Addo 1-4. WILKES, Geimer 24-71, Deemer 8-14, Yanik 3-6, Steeber 1-5, Williams 1-10, Kadis 1-4, Rippeon 4-(minus-1).PASSING &#8211; STE, Williams 28-45-1-446. WILKES, Geimer 32-44-0-307, Rippeon 2-6-1-30.RECEIVING&#8212; STE, Addo 10-230, Vainqueur 8-79, Salisbury 6-110, Scott-Kelow 3-25, Najmola 1-2. WILKES, Armstrong 7-99, Yanik 4-33, Deemer 4-36, Steeber 7-76, Nelson 5-49, Coyne 3-27, Kadis 2-5, Ermeus 1-7, Reich 1-5.INTERCEPTIONS &#8211; STE, Bolanos 1-20. WILKES, Brook 1-9.MISSED FG&#8217;S &#8211; WILKES, Hauck (23, WL)<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave RosengrantFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLSports</shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes shows some promise on football field, but remains winless in loss