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Wyoming Area had the best Class 3A football team in the state this year. Now it has the top player and coach as well.
Quarterback/safety Dominic DeLuca was selected Player of the Year on the Pennsylvania Football Writers Class 3A All-State team, while coach Randy Spencer was selected as the Coach of the Year. The team was released Friday morning and selected by writers statewide who cover high school football.
“I’ve always dreamed of it but never expected it to happen,” said DeLuca, who credited his teammates and especially the offensive line that returned just one starter for his success. “It’s crazy that it did.”
Both were joined on the all-state team by Wyoming Area senior two-way lineman Sammy Solomon, who was selected for his play on the defensive side of the ball. The UMass recruit finished with 97 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks, while recording 43 pancake blocks on offense.
No other Wyoming Valley Conference players were selected. Scranton Prep linebacker Tucker Johnson was the lone representative from the Lackawanna Conference.
DeLuca capped his third year as the Warriors starting quarterback and his fourth year on the varsity by throwing for two touchdowns and running for another — all in the fourth quarter — as Wyoming Area rallied to defeat Central Valley 21-14 for the PIAA Class 3A state championship. His 1-yard TD run with 41 seconds left snapped a 14-14 tie. He also led all defensive players with 10 solo tackles and intercepted a pass in the end zone.
The heroics came after he injured both knees in the second quarter on a running play. DeLuca admitted Friday that he played through extreme pain the rest of the game.
DeLuca finished his senior season passing for 1,687 yards and 21 touchdowns and running for 981 yards and 13 touchdowns. On defense, he was third on the team with 87 tackles and returned one of his four interceptions for a touchdown. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and averaged 32.3 yards per return and averaged 33.5 yards as the team’s punter.
DeLuca was thrust in the starting quarterback role the first game of his sophomore year against Wallenpaupack when then-starter PJ Angeli suffered a season-ending knee injury.
“It was a real eye opener because Wallenpaupack was a really good team,” DeLuca said. “They were very big up front and we were very inexperienced and young. It was really hard at first, but we started getting everything together in the second half.”
After throwing just four touchdown passes through five games as a sophomore, DeLuca established himself over the final five games of the regular season with 14 more TD throws including four-touchdown performances against Hanover Area and Williamsport.
DeLuca has an offer to play at Villanova as well as preferred walk-on offers from Penn State, Pittsburgh and UMass. He said he will make his decision in February.
Spencer’s journey to Coach of the Year honors didn’t start the way he wanted. He required major heart surgery in the offseason and had to coach from the press box initially. The Warriors went on to finish 14-1, breaking the mark of most wins in the season set by the 1980 team which finished 12-0. The only loss was to Class 2A state champion Southern Columbia.
Throughout the season, Wyoming Area had to deal with several injuries including a season-ending loss early on of running back/linebacker Corey Mruk, one of the top two-way players in the Wyoming Valley Conference.
“It was an incredible effort from the beginning starting with my health condition,” Spencer said. “(It was) everybody right from the beginning of our summer program kind of stepping up, each and every one on our coaching staff to all of our players in terms of the way they worked and what they needed to do to prepare.
“Once we got into the season — unfortunately as a program we’re familiar with injuries — we had some significant injuries we had to work through. The past several years we had young guys needing to grow and develop and be ready in those situations.”
Spencer is the longest-tenured coach at the same school in the Wyoming Valley Conference, having completed his 14th season at his alma mater. The 1988 graduate, who played safety in high school, spent 16 years as an assistant at Wyoming Area before replacing Paul Marranca.
CLASS A AND 5A TEAMS
The Pennsylvania Football Writers also released their Class A and 5A teams Friday. The Class 2A, 4A and 6A teams will be announced Saturday.
Lackawanna Trail had three players chosen to the Class A team: running back Ray Melnikoff; offensive lineman RJ Schirg; and defensive lineman Mark Dunckle.
No players from the WVC or Lackawanna Conference made the Class 5A team.
West Greene running back Ben Jackson was named Player of the Year in Class A. Farrell’s Anthony Pregues was selected Coach of the Year.
In Class 5A, Cocalico quarterback/defensive back Noah Palm was selected Player of the Year. Cheltenham’s Ryan Nase was picked as Coach of the Year.
