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Scranton Prep hangs on to defeat Delaware Valley

Tagged under: District 2, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| September 14, 2024


There’s not a better time of year to visit Delaware Valley. This weekend is homecoming and also “Warrior Days” which features plenty of craft vendors and food tents. A huge crowd was on hand for all of it, and also a big game was on tap as the Scranton Prep Cavaliers paid a visit to Warrior Stadium to take on the Warriors. Both teams were coming off losses, the Warriors to Central York and the Cavaliers to Canisius (NY). Delaware Valley won last year’s affair 31-26 which was Scranton Prep’s only regular season loss.

We expected to see quite a battle, and we were not disappointed.

The Cavaliers had a 28-10 lead late in the 3rd quarter, only to see the Warriors mount a comeback that fell just short as Scranton Prep escaped with a 28-25 win. Prep Senior WR Treyvon Dickey scored 2 TD’s as did Junior RB Will McPartland while the Warriors Senior QB Logan Olsommer threw for 2 scores.

Scranton Prep received the opening kickoff and started deep in their own territory at the 8 due to a holding penalty on the kickoff. The 15 yards to gain was too much for the Cavaliers and it was a quick 3-and-out. The Warriors started their first drive at their own 29 and took full advantage. After an 2 incomplete passes and a holding penalty that pushed Delaware Valley back to their own 19, Senior QB Logan Olsommer continued to air it out as he hit Freshman WR Trey Newton for a big 56-yard strike down to the Cavalier 30. After 2 short runs from Junior RB Mike Iuzzulino, Olsommer hit Junior WR Colin McGarvey in the corner of the end zone for a 24-yard toe-tap TD. With 7:31 left in the 1st, Delaware Valley had a 7-0 lead.

Scranton Prep started their next drive at their own 14 and had a lot more success. Senior QB Louis Paris decided to air it out also as he threw it to Senior WR Treyvon Dickey on 3 straight plays. Unfortunately, the last of those involved a holding penalty that pushed the Cavaliers back to the 12 but on the very next play Paris hit Senior WR Brady Holmes for a big 31-yard gain to the 43. Paris, Junior RB Will McPartland and Dickey then took to the ground on the next 6 plays as they gained yards down to the 20. On a 3rd-and- 6 from the Warrior 20, a bad snap caused a loss of 3 yards. On the very next play, Paris hit McPartland for 14 yards and a 1st down. As the 1st quarter gave way to the 2nd quarter, it was a 6-yard TD run for McPartland that tied the score at 7 with 11:54 left in the half.

Not to be outdone, the Warriors got their next drive going quickly. Starting at their own 20, Iuzzulino struck immediately with a big 34-yard run to the Cavalier 46 yard line. 2 plays later, Olsommer hit Newton again for a 28-yard gain to the Prep 19. Unfortunately, the drive stalled there and Junior K Regan Decker came on and hit a 39-yard field goal. With 8:50 left in the half, the Warriors again took the lead 10-7.

The 2 teams both traded quick 3-and-outs, and the Cavaliers then took over on their own 46. Paris again went to the air, throwing it on 6 straight plays and went 5 of 6 for 40 yards down to the Warrior 16. McPartland and Paris alternated carries on ground for the next 3 plays, but 2 holding penalties proved costly as they pushed Prep back to the Warrior 28. 2 plays later, on a 3rd-and-22 from the 28, Paris hit McPartland for 21 yards. Facing a 4th-and-1, McPartland pushed the pile forward for 2 yards to make it 1st-and-goal at the 5 and then ran it in from 5 yards out on the very next play for his 2nd TD of the game. With only 12 seconds left in the half, Prep had a 14-10 lead and the Warriors kneeled it out to go to halftime.

Starting the 3rd quarter, the Warriors began their next drive at their own 33. Iuzzulino had a quick 3-yard gain and after a tipped pass forced a 3rd-and-7, Olsommer hit McGarvey again for 29 yards to the Prep 35. Iuzzulino then ran it for 3 more yards but 2 plays later a holding penalty cost the Warriors a nice gain and instead pushed them back to the 38. On the very next play, Olsommer’s pass was intercepted by Cavalier Senior LB Jack Doughton who returned it to the Prep 22. The Cavaliers then took to the ground again as McPartland ran for 8 yards out of the wildcat formation and Paris hit on a big run 2 plays later for 26 yards to the Delaware Valley 44. Dickey then broke free and outran the defense for a huge 44-yard TD that extended the lead for the Cavaliers at 21-10 with 8:03 left in the 3rd quarter.

Needing to get back on track, the Warriors then began an inspired and lengthy drive at their own 46. Olsommer hit Newton for 8 yards and then it was Iuzzulino as the workhorse for the majority of the drive. He had 7 carries in all on the drive for a total of 28 yards. An offsides penalty on Prep also aided the cause, but on 4th-and-5 from the Cavalier 9 Olsommer threw it to Sophomore TE James Dabney who only gained 4 yards and it was a turnover on downs for the Warriors. Taking over at their own 5, the ground trio of Paris, McPartland and Dickey went to work again. Dickey gained 5 yards, then Paris hit for 11 and a 1st down at the 21. McPartland ran for 2 yards, Paris ran for 2 yards and then Dickey hit the big one again on a 75-yard scamper to paydirt that extended the Prep lead to 28-10 with only 44 seconds left in the 3rd quarter.

Sensing that time was running short, the Warriors got to work immediately at their own 36. Olsommer hit McGarvey for a 35-yard gain to the Prep 29. He then hit Newton for 19 to make it 1st-and-goal at the 10, then hit Newton again for 5 more as the 3rd quarter ended. As the final quarter began, Delaware Valley faced a 2nd-and-goal at the 5. Olsommer was stopped on the keeper for no gain, and on 3rd down Junior RB Justin Estevez gained 2 yards to for a 4th-and-goal from the 3. Olsommer then hit Dabney in the end zone for the score, and when the Warriors made the 2-point conversion it was 28-18 with 11:07 still to play in the game.

The Warriors dodged a huge bullet on the kickoff when Prep Senior WR Brady Holmes appeared to have run a kickoff back 97 yards for a TD only to be called out-of-bounds at the Cavalier 38. Scranton Prep could not get anything going however, and it was a quick 3-and-out for the Cavaliers. The Warriors got a great punt return from Newton out to the Prep 47, and Olsommer immediately hit Newton again for 32 yards to the Prep 15. Olsommer then scrambled for 7 yards and Estevez ran it for 2 yards. Facing a 4th-and-1 at the 6, Olsommer gained 2 hard-fought yards to make it 1st-and-goal at the 4. On the next play Estevez carried the whole pile and scored the TD to make it 28-25 Prep with 6:44 left in the game.

The Cavaliers were aware that they needed to drain clock on their next drive, and they did just that. A mix of short passes and runs enabled the Cavaliers to move into Warrior territory as the clock kept running. On 4th-and-1 from the Warrior 46, Paris had a big 15-yard run to the 31; however, a dead-ball personal foul penalty moved it right back to the 46 but kept the 1st down. McPartland then ran it for 3 yards followed by a critical 9-yard run for a 1st down that ensured Prep could kneel it out and escape with the win.

After the game, Scranton Prep Head Coach Terry Gallagher was pleased with the win, but very displeased with the large comeback by the Warriors: “When your talent has the ability to do something special, then your heads have to match that talent.” I also spoke with Prep WR Treyvon Dickey after game, and asked him about the 2 big scoring runs he had: “It was the same play, we saw it there, the line was blocking that play extra good so we went back to it the 2nd time….the 1st touchdown, we were confident it was gonna bust for another one so I just followed my blockers and hit it.”

Scranton Prep improved to 3-1 and will face Scranton on Friday night. Delaware Valley fell to 0-4 and will be home Friday night to face the Wallenpaupack Buckhorns.

Check out the photo gallery from today’s game, courtesy of Sherryl Samuel:  PHOTO GALLERY

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