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He was the one guy Wyoming Area couldn&#8217;t afford to lose in a state championship game that already looked lost.His team was already behind by two touchdowns and struggling to maintain any offensive consistency when Dominic DeLuca took off on a quarterback keeper with less than 20 minutes left in the season.And he didn&#8217;t get up.At least, not immediately.And when he did, DeLuca went to the bench hobbling badly. And he wasn&#8217;t walking much steadier when he returned to the field.Understand, he is more than Wyoming Area&#8217;s leader.He is one of the top defensive backs in the Wyoming Valley Conference, his team&#8217;s punter, the quarterback who is just as likely to take off on a touchdown run when he takes as snap as he is to throw a touchdown pass. He&#8217;s taken back kickoffs for touchdowns and returned interceptions for others.DeLuca seems to be everything Wyoming Area needs at the most critical times, because he does everything he can think of to change games in the biggest moments.So when he went limping out of the PIAA Class 3A title game Saturday, the moment was monumental.&#8220;Scary moment,&#8221; Wyoming Area wide receiver Brian Williams said. &#8220;He was down, grabbing his knee. All of us were (emotionally down), feeling like, &#8216;Is this it?&#8217; &#8221;It turned out that DeLuca injured both knees on a scramble that took the ball inside Central Valley&#8217;s 30-yard line as Wyoming Area was pushing for its first points, but a wicked helmet hit that cut up his right knee felt most damaging to him.And it didn&#8217;t help ease his pain when his replacement threw an interception on the very next play.&#8220;I knew I needed to go back out there,&#8221; DeLuca said. &#8220;We worked our butts off all summer. I had to pull through.&#8221;First, though, he had to pull away from Wyoming Area&#8217;s medical staff.&#8220;Doctor (Gerald Gibbons) held me back a little bit,&#8221; DeLuca said, &#8220;before I could run.&#8221;And while he ran out for Wyoming Area&#8217;s next defensive series, it wasn&#8217;t fast.A couple times, he nearly buckled while simply walking to his spot to line up in Wyoming Area&#8217;s defensive backfield.&#8220;I got drilled right in the kneecap,&#8221; DeLuca said. &#8220;It was hurting. It stings from a cut. I got tangled up a couple times. I was tripping up a little on myself. I felt it a little when I ran. It happens. I&#8217;ll be fine. I had to deal with the pain.&#8220;It&#8217;s what I had to do for my team.&#8221;His presence on the field meant every bit as much to Wyoming Area as the momentum-changing, 80-yard touchdown pass he threw, the tying touchdown he tossed or the 39-yard bomb that set up the game-winning 1-yard touchdown DeLuca ran in with 41 seconds to play.&#8220;Dominic&#8217;s a gritty guy,&#8221; said wide receiver Derek Ambrosino, who snagged a 4-yard pass from DeLuca for the tying touchdown on fourth-and-goal with 4:02 remaining on the game clock. &#8220;It&#8217;s just kind of &#8230; he&#8217;s our leader. We just have that want, that desire, to play with him.&#8221;Call it a will to win that rubs off.With things looking bleak on a fourth-and-8 play in a game Wyoming Area was behind 14-0 two plays into the final quarter, DeLuca somehow eluded the grasp of two charging Central Valley linemen.On one very bad knee and another shaky one.Then, just as he was hammered from the side by one of those sack-seeking guys, DeLuca launched a pass that changed everything.He was trying to hit Ambrosino deep downfield when fellow Wyoming Area receiver Riley Rusyn stepped in front of it and took it to the house for an 80-yard touchdown and a play that changed the day.If it didn&#8217;t save it for Wyoming Area.&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t even for him,&#8221; DeLuca said later, &#8220;it was for Derek. Rus came out of nowhere, cut across the field and took it long. Thank God he did. I just threw a 50-50 ball, hoping someone catches it.&#8220;That was a game-changer.&#8221;The real game-changer, Wyoming Area insists, happened the moment Dominic DeLuca hobbled off the sideline and back onto the field.Because it gave them hope.&#8220;That sparked us,&#8221; Williams said, &#8220;to try even harder. When he came back, and we scored, we said, &#8216;We can do this.&#8217; &#8221;Pretty soon, Rusyn was racing 80 yards for one score, Ambrosino was alone in the flat for another and Williams came down with a 39-yard contested catch at the 1 to lead DeLuca into the end zone on a winning 1-yard keeper.And after helping Wyoming Area&#8217;s defense stop Central Valley short of a first down and then taking a knee from the victory formation that took the final few seconds off the clock, DeLuca leaped high in the air and kept hopping across the field with his hands held high.Apparently, he even discovered a new medicine for pain relief.State gold.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Warriors QB and game MVP Dominic DeLuca straight-arms an opponent on a quarterback draw Saturday during a dramatic 21-14 PIAA Class 4A championship comeback victory over Central Valley. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_WA-CV-Championship-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Warriors QB and game MVP Dominic DeLuca straight-arms an opponent on a quarterback draw Saturday during a dramatic 21-14 PIAA Class 4A championship comeback victory over Central Valley. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>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 @SokoloskiSports.</shirttailMeta></div>

Sokoloski: The will to win prevented pain of certain defeat for Warriors