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PECKVILLE — The road to a District 2 Class 4A championship now runs right through the rock cut.
Lenny Kelley and a determined team of Dallas Mountaineers made sure of it.
Kelley cut loose for 275 rushing yards, Matt Maransky picked off two passes and Dallas destroyed Valley View’s two-year regular season winning streak by crushing the Cougars, 37-7 at John Henzes Stadium.
“I was not losing again to this team,” Kelley said. “Especially not here.”
It was at the home of Valley View where Dallas’ district title dreams died hard in a 49-14 beating by the Cougars in last year’s District 2 final.
The Mountaineers were on a mission to return the favor, and in the process trampled on Valley View’s 21-game regular season winning streak that reached back to 2017.
Hard-charging Kelly paved the way, navigating through the Valley View defense as easily as traveling up Route 309 that cuts through two sides of rock on its way to Dallas High School.
He scored on touchdown runs of 20 and 3 yards to give the Mountaineers a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, then broke off runs of 25 and 29 yards to set up two 1-yard touchdown sneaks by quarterback Michael Starbuck that provided the final two Dallas touchdowns.
“Last time we were down here, it didn’t come out as planned,” Kelley said.
This one went almost perfectly for Dallas.
The only blemish came when the Mountaineers lost a fumble at midfield on their opening drive, then Kelley made sure it was smooth sailing.
His 36-yard run spearheaded an impressive 95-yard touchdown drive on Dallas’ second possession — which Kelley capped off with a 20-yard scoring burst where he cut away from one tackle and leaped out of another to cover the final eight yards of the dash.
The third time Dallas touched the ball, Kelley needed only three consecutive carries to cover 59 yards. His first carry on the drive went for 18 yards, his second for 38 and his third was a three-yard blast through the heart of Valley View’s defense for a 3-yard scoring surge and a 14-0 Dallas lead.
“Y0u don’t like to single people out,” Dallas coach Rich Mannello said. “But man, I’ll tell you, he’s tough.”
By halftime, Kelley had 141 yards on 11 carries.
He was hardly finished.
After his five straight carries for 27 yards led to Starbuck’s 15-yard touchdown toss to Jack Farrell for a 21-0 Dallas lead in the second quarter, Kelley continued to break through huge holes — and break plenty of tackles.
He gained 27 more yards to set up Ryan Fisher’s 36-yard field goal early in the third quarter and darted around left end for a 25-yard gain to put Starbuck in position for his first scoring sneak, and a 31-0 Mountaineers lead, with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
After Valley View got on the board with Jonaasah Boone’s 33-yard touchdown throw to Jordan Conserette, Kelley answered right back. He took six handoffs and gained 57 yards — breaking away for a 29-yard romp to position Starbuck for his second 1-yard score that set the final score.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for all season,” Kelley said. “Up front (the Dallas offensive line) was amazing. Those guys worked their tails off. I’ve just got to run aggressive.”
Valley View couldn’t stop him, as Kelley carved out his 275-yard rushing night on 29 carries before heading to the sideline with under two minutes remaining and Dallas in a comfortable lead.
The defending District 2 champion Cougars had no answers for Dallas’ smothering defense, either.
The Mountaineers allowed just 78 rushing yards, and outside of Boone’s touchdown throw, surrendered just 83 passing yards.
“This is a heck of a win,” said Mannello, whose Mountaineers improved to 8-0 by dropping Valley View to 7-1. “This is a benchmark program in District 2.”
Maybe that benchmark is changing.
Dallas held its lead at the top of the District 2 Class 4A power ratings with the victory, with Valley View and Berwick both 7-1 and now chasing the Mountaineers for home-field advantage throughout the district postseason.
“You’ve got to go one at a time,” Mannello cautioned. “We’ve got a tremendous Berwick team that’s coming in. We’re in control, but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t continue to take care of things.”
Dallas 37, Valley View 7
Dallas`14`7`10`6 — 37
Valley View`0`0`0`7 — 7
First quarter
D — Lenny Kelley 20 run (Ryan Fisher kick), 4:41
D — Kelley 3 run (Fisher kick), 2:39
Second quarter
D — Jack Farrell 15 pass from Michael Starbuck (Fisher kick), 8:55
Third quarter
D — Fisher 36 FG, 6:33
D — Starbuck 1 run (Fisher kick), 2:00
Fourth quarter
VV — Jordan Conserette 33 pass from Janaasah Boone (Zack Kovalchik kick), 7:23
D — Starbuck 1 run (Kick failed), 2:58
Team statistics`DAL`VV
First downs`23`9
Rushes-yards`50-345`25-78
Passing yards`51`116
Total yards`396`194
Passing`6-11-0`10-22-2
Sacked-yards lost`1-6`1-5
Punts-avg.`2-24`4-30.8
Fumbles-lost`1-1`0-0
Penalties-yards`5-54`6-80
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — DAL, Lenny Kelley 29-275, Danny Meuser 9-37, Ben Fife 4-31, Michael Starbuck 4-6, TEAM 4- (minus 4). VV, Janaasah Boone 9-39, Rylei Kilmer 9-19, Zack Manchak 4-13, T.J. Noto 3-7.
PASSING — DAL, Starbuck 6-11-0-51. VV, Boone 10-22-2-116.
RECEIVING — DAL, Meuser 4-25, Jack Farrell 2-26. VV, Jordan Conserette 4-59, Alex Savkov 3-23, Sean Mackinder 1-15, Jon Clark 1-13, Noto 1-6.
INTERCEPTIONS — DAL, Matt Maransky 2-0.
MISSED FGs — None.
