web1_121452715-f14ca40d8b5646b79d62be5c756b7318.jpg

Eyeing playoffs, Irish look to keep rolling at Northwestern

web1_WA-Hanover-ftbl-5-1-.jpg

H.S. Football: Wyoming Area rolls past Hanover Area

<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8212; Survive and advance. Dallas did both on Friday night.</p><p>Barely.</p><p>Honesdale came into the District 2 Class 4A quarterfinal game with just three wins. Before the second quarter was half over, leading rusher Andy Carroll was knocked out of the game with a left ankle injury. Yet, the Mountaineers had to fight until the final minute for a 23-16 victory.</p><p>&#8220;You just gotta win,&#8221; Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not a double-elimination tournament. You get one shot here.&#8221;</p><p>Dallas (10-1) will host Berwick (9-2), a 42-0 winner over Pittston Area, in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday. Dallas won the regular-season matchup 13-10 in Week 9.</p><p>The Mountaineers advanced to Week 12 for the first time in their last five tries. The last time a Dallas team got out of the initial round of the playoffs was in 2011.</p><p>Dallas defensive lineman Xander Shaner sealed the victory in the pouring rain by pouncing on a fumbled center exchange at the Dallas 27-yard line with 30 seconds left.</p><p>&#8220;I saw the quarterback go under center and saw him fumble the ball and I just jumped right on it,&#8221; Shaner said.</p><p>Lucky he did because Honesdale quarterback Ethan Dunn fumbled a snap earlier in the drive, picked it up and threw 27 yards to tight end Ryan Longman on a third-and-2 play. Two plays later, Dunn hooked up with Longman for a 14-yard pickup. The fumble happened on the next play after that.</p><p>&#8220;Hat&#8217;s off to them,&#8221; Mannello said. &#8220;They came down prepared, they were physical. They pushed us around. Honesdale did a great job. I&#8217;ll be honest with you. There were phases of that game where they out-physicaled us.&#8221;</p><p>Honesdale (3-8) led 14-13 at halftime on a 4-yard run by Carroll and a 3-yard score by Justin LoBasso, who took over the running chores when Carroll was injured at 7:01 of the second quarter.</p><p>Dallas scored on its first possession, with running back Lenny Kelley carrying the load on the 15-play, 74-yard drive. Quarterback Michael Starbuck sneaked in from the 1, but the extra point was blocked. After Carroll&#8217;s TD, Kelley scored on a 48-yard run, twisting off a tackler 20 yards from the end zone before scoring.</p><p>Dallas regained the lead, 20-14, on a 60-yard pass from Starbuck to Matt Maransky midway through the third quarter. The Mountaineers tacked on their final points on a 20-yard field goal by Ryan Fisher with 1:47 to play.</p><p>In between those scores, Dallas had to survive.</p><p>After Maransky&#8217;s touchdown, the Hornets drove to the Dallas 10, but came away empty on a bad snap on a 27-yard field goal try. However, the possession set up Honesdale&#8217;s final points on a safety when a Dallas punt snap rolled out of the end zone with 8:29 left in the fourth quarter.</p><p>Honesdale did little with the ensuing free kick, but against Dallas had to survive when a Honesdale punt hit off a Mountaineer. Christian Motley was able to jump on the ball to allow Dallas to keep possession.</p><p>Dallas went back to Kelley to chew nearly four minutes off the clock before Fisher&#8217;s field goal. Kelley finished with 204 yards on 31 carries.</p><p>&#8220;They shouldn&#8217;t be a three-win team,&#8221; Kelley said. &#8220;They&#8217;re a big team, they&#8217;re a physical team. They are a good team that came to play tonight. I don&#8217;t think we performed like we should have, but we overcame it in the end.&#8221;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>District 2 Class 4A Quarterfinals</strong> </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Dallas 23, Honesdale 16</strong> </ins></p><p><ins><strong>Honesdale`7`7`0`2 &#8212; 16</strong> </ins></p><p><ins><strong>Dallas`13`0`7`3 &#8212; 23</strong> </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>First quarter</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>DAL &#8212; Michael Starbuck 1 run (kick blocked), 5:40 </ins></p><p><ins>HON &#8212; Andy Carroll 4 run (Robbie Campen kick), 3:04 </ins></p><p><ins>DAL &#8212; Lenny Kelley 48 run (Ryan Fisher kick), 0:59 </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Second quarter</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>HON &#8212; Justin LoBasso 3 run (Campen kick), 5:51 </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Third quarter</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>DAL &#8212; Matt Maransky 60 pass from Starbuck (Fisher kick), 6:22 </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Fourth quarter</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>HON &#8212; Safety, Dallas punt snap goes out of end zone, 8:29 </ins></p><p><ins>DAL &#8212; Fisher 20 FG, 1:47 </ins></p><p><ins><strong>Team statistics`HON`DAL</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>First downs`13`15 </ins></p><p><ins>Rushes-yards`40-134`38-225 </ins></p><p><ins>Passing yards`131`80 </ins></p><p><ins>Total yards`265`305 </ins></p><p><ins>Passing`9-15-0`3-12-0 </ins></p><p><ins>Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0 </ins></p><p><ins>Punts-avg.`4-29`1-50 </ins></p><p><ins>Fumbles-lost`2-1`1-1 </ins></p><p><ins>Penalties-yards`4-25`6-36 </ins></p><p><ins><strong>INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS</strong> </ins></p><p><ins><strong>RUSHING</strong> &#8212; Honesdale, Carroll 7-46, Cameron Baker 8-28, Ethan Parker 2-3, Justin LoBasso 19-45, Ethan Dunn 3-4, team 1-(minus-2). Dallas, Kelley 31-204, Starbuck 3-7, Danny Meuser 2-10, Nickolus Gashi 1-5, team 1-(minus-1). </ins></p><p><ins><strong>PASSING</strong> &#8212; Honesdale, Dunn 9-15-0-131. Dallas, Starbuck 3-12-0-80. </ins></p><p><ins><strong>RECEIVING</strong> &#8212; Honesdale, Ryan Longman 4-89, LoBasso 4-43, Baker 1-(minus-1). Dallas, Meuser 1-3, Luke DelGaudio 1-17, Maransky 1-60. </ins></p><p><ins><strong>INTERCEPTIONS</strong> &#8212; none. </ins></p><p><ins><strong>MISSED FGs</strong> &#8212; Honesdale, 27 Blk. </ins></p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110318HSF-Dallas-Honesdale_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas running back Lenny Kelley gets tackled by Honesdale&#8217;s Isaiah Sims and Luke Bancroft in a District 2 Class 4A football quarterfinal game Friday night. Kelley rushed 31 times for 204 yards. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110318HSF-Dallas-Honesdale_1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dallas running back Lenny Kelley gets tackled by Honesdale&#8217;s Isaiah Sims and Luke Bancroft in a District 2 Class 4A football quarterfinal game Friday night. Kelley rushed 31 times for 204 yards. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110318HSF-Dallas-Honesdale_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas quarterback Michael Starbuck turns for a handoff against Honesdale in a District 2 Class 4A football quarterfinal game Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110318HSF-Dallas-Honesdale_2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dallas quarterback Michael Starbuck turns for a handoff against Honesdale in a District 2 Class 4A football quarterfinal game Friday night. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110318HSF-Dallas-Honesdale_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas&#8217; Matt Maransky, center, breaks the tackle of Honesdale&#8217;s Vance Hiller in a District 2 Class 4A football quarterfinal game Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110318HSF-Dallas-Honesdale_3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Dallas&#8217; Matt Maransky, center, breaks the tackle of Honesdale&#8217;s Vance Hiller in a District 2 Class 4A football quarterfinal game Friday night. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110318HSF-Dallas-Honesdale_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas quarterback Michael Starbuck releases a pass in the rain against Honesdale in a District 2 Class 4A football quarterfinal game Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110318HSF-Dallas-Honesdale_4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Dallas quarterback Michael Starbuck releases a pass in the rain against Honesdale in a District 2 Class 4A football quarterfinal game Friday night. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Mountaineers edged three-win Honesdale</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

H.S. Football: Dallas survives scare from Honesdale