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PLAINS — Whenever Whitehall threatened, Wilkes-Barre Area stood its ground on the way to a 27-10 victory in the season-opener.
Jake Howe led the pack offensively, falling just short of a 300-yard passing game. Howe’s aerial attack was largely bolstered by Jordan Kieselovsky’s sure hands, as he brought in all 11 targets for a game-high 131 receiving yards.
Wilkes-Barre Area’s dominance in the game would not be so if it weren’t for the impressive defensive effort. The front seven of the Wolfpack made their presence known with impact sacks coming from Khalil Smith and Gio Depalo. The effort continued as Whitehall had seven rushing attempts fail to reach the line of scrimmage.
The Zephyrs battled through the adversity and threatened to take control of the game around the halfway point. A pass from Alsaiah Gross to a streaking Talon Dogmantis would net 58 yards and set Whitehall up at their opponent’s 9-yard line with 41 seconds left in the half.
The Zephyrs would get three offensive plays off before the clock reached zero but ultimately had to settle for a field goal in the waning seconds.
Whitehall looked set to take control again at the start of the second half when Justin Hussett returned the kickoff 54 yards and set his offense up deep in Wolfpack territory. A third-down sack from Smith would push Whitehall back 11 yards and well out of field-goal range.
The Zephyr sideline made a gutsy call to go for it on a fourth-and-19 situation that almost netted a first down, but Tanner Dogmantis’ scramble would come up inches short.
The Wolfpack offense was slow out of the gate, not moving into their opponent’s half of the field until their third drive of the game. Once they got into Zephyr territory mistakes began to appear as they fumbled the ball back to their opponent on the second play in their half of the field.
WBA would soon look to score again on their next possession. Jake Howe would find an open Kieselovsky, after breaking several tackles Kieselovsky had his eyes set for the end zone when a timely Zephyr hit would pop the ball loose within five yards of the end zone.
The Wolfpack defense would hold firm in the contest ensuring a goose egg still laid on the board through the two turnovers. Wilkes-Barre’s defense stifled Whitehall’s offense, holding them to a 17% third-down conversion rate in the first half.
Wilkes-Barre settled in after the offensive mistakes with Howe and Treyvon Gembitski connecting for touchdown passes on the ensuing two possessions.
After the Wolfpack staved off Whitehall’s scoring threats, the offense got into a noticeably better groove. Howe began completing short passes along the sidelines that consistently netted the Pack positive yards and moved the chains down the field.
Once they made it into the end zone Davon Underwood and Geno Ardo would both get a chance to celebrate there as they extended their team’s lead to 27-10.
Underwood popped up everywhere on the field as he finished with 112 all-purpose yards with 74 coming on the ground from 10 carries and 68 coming through the air — including a 53-yard screen pass reception that led to Ardo’s score.
Wilkes-Barre Area 27, Whitehall 10
Whitehall`0`3`0`7 — 10
Wilkes-Barre Area `0`13`7`7 — 27
Second quarter
WBA — Treyvon Gembitski 23 pass from Jake Howe (Jaedyn Sanchez kick), 5:09
WBA — Gembitski 10 pass from Howe (kick blocked), 1:26
WHI — Cole Richards 24 FG, 0:00
Third quarter
WBA — Davon Underwood 4 run (Sanchez kick), 3:22
Fourth quarter
WBA — Geno Ardo 3 run (Miguel Galano kick), 11:17
WHI — Talon Dogmantis 9 pass from Alsaiah Gross (Richards kick), 7:06
Team statistics`WHI`WBA
First downs`6`26
Rushes-yards`27-69`31-162
Passing yards`149`323
Total yards`218`485
Passing`13-28-2`27-32-0
Sacked-yards lost`4-18`NONE
Punts-avg.`5-30`2-22
Fumbles-lost`NONE`4-4
Penalties-yards`7-55`4-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Whitehall, Tanner Dogmantis 7-26, Carter Troxell 8-24, Noah Jones 5-13, Talon Dogmantis 2-8, Elik Warnken 1-3, Alsaiah Gross 4-(-5). Wilkes-Barre Area, Davon Underwood 10-74, Geno Ardo 12-44, Jake Howe 5-34, Logan Sincavage 2-12, Rajon Watson 1-1, Treyvon Gembitski 1-(-3).
PASSING — Whitehall, Tanner Dogmantis 9-19-78-2, Alsaiah Gross 4-9-71-0. Wilkes-Barre Area, Jake Howe 26-31-297-0, Jordan Kieselovsky 1-1-26-0.
RECEIVING — Whitehall, Talon Dogmantis 6-115, Donato Brigidi 2-11, Brandon Bird 1-9, Nolan Schmeckenbecher 1-6, Justin Hussett 1-5, James Hopkins 2-3. Wilkes-Barre Area, Jordan Kieselovsky 11-131, Davon Underwood 3-68, Treyvon Gembetski 5-58, Rajon Watson 3-32, Kevon Creech 4-26, Nick Saracino 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS — Wilkes-Barre Area, Kevon Creech 1-18, Logan Sincavage 1-1.
MISSED FGs — NONE