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Dallas’ undefeated season ends in PIAA Class 4A championship vs. Thomas Jefferson

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State audit flags WVW for disappearing fund balance, reporting error

<p>Showing the fight, the heart and the spirit that delivered the most dynamic high school football season Dallas has seen in decades, Danny Meuser put his head down and headed for the end zone.</p><p>Twenty-six yards later, he scored.</p><p>With 4:21 left in the season, it wasn&#8217;t going to change the outcome of a state championship game Thomas Jefferson won 46-7.</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t even so much about breaking the shutout.</p><p>It was all about the Mountaineers being true to themselves. Because long ago, they vowed to never quit. And never back down.</p><p>&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t matter if it&#8217;s 100-0,&#8221; Meuser was saying afterwards, &#8220;or 46-0, or 0-0. We&#8217;re never, ever going to quit.&#8221;</p><p>The Mountaineers had to know they were up against a formidable force when they went into halftime trailing 20-0. They knew even before they kicked off that winning a state title against a Thomas Jefferson team that nobody but Erie Cathedral Prep came within 25 points of beating would be not just an uphill battle, but a mountainous task.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a good football team,&#8221; Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. &#8220;From top to bottom, they are stout. You could see it on film.&#8221;</p><p>You could see it on the field.</p><p>Jaguars running back Dylan Mallozzi ran roughshod through the Dallas defense, piling up 215 yards and a touchdown. Thomas Jefferson quarterback Shane Stump was almost perfect, hitting seven of his eight passes for 104 yards and a 29-yard touchdown strike to Dan Deabner to get the scoring started.</p><p>Meanwhile, Dallas kept stalling.</p><p>The Mountaineers didn&#8217;t cross midfield until the fourth quarter, and that was mainly because they started their touchdown drive at their 42-yard line following a short kickoff into a whipping wind.</p><p>Dallas running back Lenny Kelley, a 2,600-yard rusher who piled up 200-yard games through the regular season and the postseason, was limited to 34 rushing yards.</p><p>&#8220;They were strong,&#8221; Kelley said of Thomas Jefferson&#8217;s defensive players, &#8220;they were fast, they were good.&#8221;</p><p>So good that the Jaguars never let Dallas get going.</p><p>They intercepted three passes, held Dallas to seven short completions and until Meuser&#8217;s breakaway burst, were about to hold high-power Dallas to under 100 total offensive yards for the game.</p><p>&#8220;They beat us,&#8221; Mannello said. &#8220;They beat us good.&#8221;</p><p>Yet, Dallas never gave up the good fight.</p><p>It would have been easy to roll over &#8212; heck, maybe it&#8217;s even human nature &#8212; when Thomas Jefferson defensive back Ian Hansen returned an interception for a 39-yard touchdown and a 26-0 lead on the third play of the second half. Or when Mallozzi ripped off a 30-yard run to set up Stump&#8217;s 1-yard touchdown sneak that moved the game into the mercy rule with 3:29 to play in the third quarter.</p><p>Packing it in isn&#8217;t in Dallas&#8217; nature, though.</p><p>&#8220;They were a tough, hard-nosed team, just like we were,&#8221; Meuser said. &#8220;They have good linebackers, good safeties that fill. We respected them and they respected us. They&#8217;re just like us.&#8221;</p><p>Only this time, Mallozzi played the rampaging running back part that is typcially Kelley&#8217;s starring role, and Jaguars quarterback Stump was the efficient passer Michael Starbuck had been for Dallas through the postseason.</p><p>So the Mountaineers wound up on the other end of the kind of score they&#8217;d been beating opponents by.</p><p>&#8220;Not the way we wanted to end this game,&#8221; Meuser said. &#8220;But I&#8217;m proud of my guys for sticking with it. When you have two teams that are similar, it&#8217;s hard to keep that level of play.&#8221;</p><p>That didn&#8217;t stop Dallas from trying.</p><p>So when Meuser reached the end zone, it was more than a meaningless touchdown or a score that ruined a shutout.</p><p>It was a final testament to what the Mountaineers became through a season that gave Dallas 15 wins for the most in school history and a District 2 title and more pride than the program had known in years.</p><p>&#8220;Future employers should get their cell numbers,&#8221; Mannello said of his graduating guys, &#8220;find out where they&#8217;re going to college and hire them the day they graduate. They are game-changers.&#8221;</p><p>They couldn&#8217;t change the final outcome from silver to gold in the end.</p><p>But they changed a culture.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Paul Sokoloski covers area sports for the Times Leader. You may reach him at 570-991-6392, at psokoloski@www.timesleader.com or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Sokoloski: Dallas football denied a gold, but undeniably special