When the Warriors handed Scranton Prep their first loss on the last day of August; many pundits predicted that that the two teams would see each other again in the Playoffs and that a young Prep team would be stronger by then.  The Pundits were right; to a point.  The two teams would meet again the District Title Final, and Scranton Prep did improve from Week 2 to Week 3 but it wasn’t enough to tame a determined Wyoming Area football team, and the Warriors prevailed 27-0 on Friday Night in West Pittston to take the D-2 AAA Title for the first time since 2012; and ending a four year run for the defeated Cavaliers.

It didn’t start out well for Coach Randy Spencer’s Warriors, as Scranton Prep took the opening kickoff and moved  80 yards to the Warrior 3 on the Opening Drive.  The Cavaliers did it with a combination of quick slant passes; misdirection, and Warrior Penalties.  Faced with a 4 ^th and 2 at the Warrior 2 with just about four minutes gone in Q1; the Cavaliers attempted to get a momentum creating score but Sam Solomon and Charlie Banashefski stopped Tailback Ryan McAndrew in his tracks to give the Warriors the turnover.   With the Warriors back to the end zone for their first drive; Prep forced a three and out and received the ball back in good field position near mid field.  A second Prep possession would end on a fourth and 17 pass attempt from Paddy Grady to Robert Rossi near the sticks at midfield at the 20; as the pass floated a bit high over the Wideout’s finger tips.

The next series would see the Warriors score first with a 1 yard keeper from Dominic DeLuca with 7:22 left in the second quarter.  The Key play in that drive was a third and seven conversion from  the Prep 41. DeLuca would lateral the ball to Jacob Williams; and the JR would escape several Prep Defenders before throwing the ball cross field back to DeLuca for a 12 yd gain to keep the drive alive.   Late in the Second Quarter; the Cavaliers found themselves with a third and fifteen inside their own 30 and less than a minute left.  They chose to run the ball and run down as much clock as possible so as not to provide the Warrior offense with much time to get a second score before the half ended.  It appeared the strategy would work as a Prep punt was downed at midfield with just 21 seconds left until halftime.

DeLuca looked to end the half on a simple keeper over center but found himself inside the Prep 40 with the first dash past the line of scrimmage.  From there he picked a couple of blocks from receivers split to his near side and left a few Prep defenders grasping at air as he galloped 50 yards for the second Warrior score of the game with 0.8 seconds left on the clock.  A stunned Scranton Prep team would return to the locker room down two scores and the four time repeating District Champs would never fully recover.   A 28 yard TD pass from DeLuca to SR TE Derek Ambrosino on the first possession of second half would put Prep in too big a hole to dig out of; and increased pass rush pressure led to a couple of second half interceptions including a second by SR Brian Williams and one by Soph Leo Haros to close out the Game.  The Warriors Travel to Williamsport on Saturday Nov 23 ^rd to take on the D-4 AAA Champions Montoursville at 1pm as the final 8 teams in the State battle to get to Hershey.