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Police: Man lured child into residence, tells boy to take off clothes

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Jones leads TD drive in Giants’ win over Bengals

Athens at Hanover Area7 p.m. FridayThe Coaches: Athens&#8217; Jack Young (137-74, 19th year); Hanover Area&#8217;s Rick Hummer (0-0, 1st year)Last Meeting: Athens 38-6 in 2018All-Time Series: Athens leads 1-0Scouting Athens: After starting last season 3-1, Athens won just one more time to finish 4-7. The offense sputtered at times during the swoon, which ended a streak of three consecutive winning seasons. The Wildcats play in the Northern Tier League, which is where Northwest is heading next year.Scouting Hanover Area: Hummer inherits a program which had trouble scoring last season. Hanover Area was shut out three times and scored just one TD in five other games. The Hawkeyes also snapped a 16-game losing streak on the way to a 3-8 finish. The program&#8217;s last winning season came in 2014 when Hummer&#8217;s twin brother Ron was in charge.What To Expect: Closer than last year, but for Athens to prevail once again.Dallas at Tunkhannock7 p.m. FridayThe Coaches: Rich Mannello (26-20, 5th year); Mike Marabell (3-7, 2nd year)Last Meeting: Dallas 53-21 in 2018All-Time Series: Dallas leads 17-8-1Scouting Dallas: The senior class has slowly climbed the ladder of success since many of them took their lumps as freshmen on the varsity. The skill positions are stacked and arguably the deepest in the WVC. A couple things need to be worked out in the trenches. A legitimate contender for the D2-4A championship.Scouting Tunkhannock: The Tigers finished 3-7 in 2018, the program&#8217;s most victories since finishing with the same mark in 2010. They haven&#8217;t made the postseason since 2007 and haven&#8217;t ended with a winning record since 1998. There have been some key losses so it&#8217;s going to be tough to end those slides.What To Expect: Dallas has been building for this year and won&#8217;t stumble here.Wyoming Valley West at Scranton7 p.m. FridayThe Coaches: WVW&#8217;s Jack Baranski (0-0, 1st year); Scranton&#8217;s Steve Shumbres (1-10, 2nd year)Last Meeting: WVW 24-13 in 2018All-Time Series: WVW leads 13-8Scouting WVW: The Spartans should be OK defensively with seven starters back. The offense, though, may take some time to click with a new quarterback and guys running the ball. The receiving corps and O-line are in solid shape. A 3-0 start in 2018 collapsed into a 5-5 finish that included a couple blowout losses.Scouting Scranton: The Knights finished 1-10 last season, with the only victory a 28-16 win over Abington Heights. They battled against two strong teams &#8211; North Pocono and Delaware Valley &#8211; and a few others. Overall, though, the offense need to take it up a few notches in 2019 after being shut out three times.What To Expect: An outcome similar to last season.Lackawanna Trail at Northwest7 p.m. FridayThe Coaches: Trail&#8217;s Steve Jervis (93-84, 17th year); Lon Hazlet (110-104, 21st year)Last Meeting: Trail 34-14 in 2018All-Time Series: Trail leads 13-3Scouting Trail: Trail is coming off a 14-2 season that included a spot in the PIAA Class A championship game. FYI, Jervis was the last coach to get Tunkhannock in the postseason in 2007 before he was inexplicably let go a short time later. The Lions are always a tough bunch and will rely on 1,000-yard rusher Ray Melinkoff..Scouting Northwest: Northwest starts its farewell journey to the WVC as it will join the Northern Tier League in 2020 to play schools closer to its size. The Rangers lost two opponents &#8211; GAR and Meyers &#8211; to the Wilkes-Barre merger and will play just nine games after Holy Cross shut down for the season. A good amount of talent was lost to graduation.What To Expect: Trail to pull away in the second half.Lake-Lehman at Western Wayne7 p.m. FridayThe Coaches: Western Wayne&#8217;s Randy Wolff (19-15, 4th year); Jerry Gilsky (63-39, 10th year)Last Meeting: Western Wayne 30-20 in 2018All-Time Series: Tied 1-1Scouting Lehman: The Black Knights led at halftime of last year&#8217;s matchup before a five-minute segment of the second half flipped the momentum. Plenty of guys are back from that team and determined not to let that happen again. Lehman is bigger up front, but game action is lacking for some of the linemen.Scouting Western Wayne: The Wildcats started 2018 with a 5-1 record before a brutal four-game stretch completely shut down the offense. The defense didn&#8217;t play too badly during the 0-4 slide. The running game is the team&#8217;s bread-and-butter, by they need to find a dependable workhorse to carry the ball.What To Expect: Lehman to avenge last season&#8217;s loss.Mid Valley at Wyoming Area7 p.m. FridayThe Coaches: Mid Valley&#8217;s Dave Rebar (40-66, 10th year); Randy Spencer (60-50, 11th year)Last Meeting: Wyoming Area 48-7 in 2018All-Time Series: Wyoming Area leads 3-0Scouting Mid Valley: Mid Valley&#8217;s only win last season was against Holy Cross, which won&#8217;t field a team because of a lack of players. The Spartans were also shut out four times and scored a lone touchdown on three other occasions. Nearly all the starters are back, so with a year under their belts things could be different this season.Scouting Wyoming Area: The Warriors rolled to an 11-0 start last season before losing to Lakeland 21-14 in the D2-3A semifinals. There are more speed bumps this season as Wyoming Area replaced the three Wilkes-Barre city schools with Lackawanna powers Dunmore and Scranton Prep along with Tunkhannock. The offense is loaded at the skill positions, but the line graduated some darn good players.What To Expect: Pretty much what transpired last year.Nanticoke Area at Pittston Area7 p.m. FridayThe Coaches: Ron Bruza (39-54, 10th year); Nick Barbieri (10-12, 3rd year)Last Meeting: Pittston Area 28-21 in 2018All-Time Series: Pittston Area leads 15-10Scouting Nanticoke Area: Nanticoke Area finished 6-5 last season, but there were a couple issues along the way. The offense and defense struggled against better teams, something that needs to be rectified if the Trojans are to take the next step. The progress of the running game is something to keep an eye on.Scouting Pittston Area: Pittston Area finished 4-7 in 2018 and was a lot like Nanticoke Area in a sense. The Patriots couldn&#8217;t find their footing against the better teams. Perhaps things will start changing in Barbieri&#8217;s third season, which based on the recent pattern is usually when the school board gets antsy.What To Expect: Pittston Area in another close game.Wilkes-Barre Area at Crestwood7 p.m. FridayThe Coaches: Ciro Centi (71-73, 14th year); Crestwood&#8217;s Ryan Arcangeli (0-0, 1st year)Last Meeting: never playedAll-Time Series: never playedScouting WBA: Well, it&#8217;s finally here. The Wolfpack&#8217;s first game in program history. The team has some excellent athletes on the perimeters, but the key is going to be in the trenches. That was a problem last year for two of the three schools which formed the Wolfpack. Things ran hot and cold in the scrimmage vs. Wyoming Area.Scouting Crestwood: The Comets played OK down the stretch in 2018, losing by seven and three points in their last two games. But before that, the defense was carved up way too much and the result was a 2-8 record. Victories have been tough to come by since that 12-win district championship season back in 2014.What To Expect: WBA to get the program&#8217;s first win &#8230; maybe.Hazleton Area at Pottsville7 p.m. FridayThe Coaches: Pottsville&#8217;s Tim McGeoy (27-38, 7th year); Mike Brennan (134-96, 18th year)Last Meeting: Hazleton Area 35-7 in 2018All-Time Series: Pottsville leads 8-5Scouting Hazleton Area: Hazleton Area had a powerful offense and a suspect defense last year. The Cougars were 6-6 with a pair of one-point losses. As of now, the offense doesn&#8217;t look like it will have the same punch, so the defense need to perform much better. It&#8217;s a bit of a rebuilding year for the Cougars.Scouting Pottsville: After losing to Hazleton Area last season, the Crimson Tide went on a four-game tear before finishing 7-5. Pottsville returns all the fellas from its passing game, so the ball could be in the air a bit tonight. The running game was a bit pedestrian last year, but the team&#8217;s leading rusher missed half the season.What To Expect: Slight edge to Pottsville because of the experience factor.Williamsport at Central Mountain7 p.m. FridayThe Coaches: Chuck Crews (41-46, 9th year); Central Mountain&#8217;s Jim Renninger (27-48, 8th year)Last Meeting: Williamsport 62-26 in 2018All-Time Series: Williamsport leads 11-6Scouting Williamsport: The Millionaires are in a rebuild mode after being hit hard by graduation. There is plenty of raw athletic talent on the roster, but that doesn&#8217;t always translate to the football field &#8230; at least this early in the season. Another WVC big school is a transition mode.Scouting Central Mountain: Central Mountain won once in 2018 and had issues finding the end zone in many games. The Wildcats, though, return their backfield and a few guys who caught passes last season. The defense had its own set of troubles on a weekly basis.What To Expect: While it won&#8217;t be a smooth four quarters for Williamsport, it should head home with a win.Berwick at Abington Heights2 p.m. SaturdayThe Coaches: Carmen DeFrancesco (152-97, 23rd year); Abington Heights&#8217; Joe Repshis (102-60, 15th year)Last Meeting: Berwick 42-0 in 2018All-Time Series: Berwick leads 3-2Scouting Berwick: No new coach is under more pressure than DeFrancesco. He is a proven coach who inherits a very talented roster. Berwick is considered among the top teams in District 2 and should be favored to win every weekend. This game could be the first step toward a first district title since 2014.Scouting Abington: Since winning the D2-5A title in 2016, the Comets have slid out of the traditional Lackawanna Conference power group. They were 1-9 in 2017 and 2-9 last season. The defense was very leaky last year, allowing 40 or more points six times. The offense couldn&#8217;t get on the board five times.What To Expect: Berwick should be able to control the play throughout.<style>
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High School Football Capsules: Week 1