Proving to Belong

The first week of the playoffs is in the books. Some seasons are still going on, some had their season have a disappointing end and some ended their season with a championship.  Some do ask however the serious question: are there too many teams in the playoffs? Some of the scores were expected and can argue that really shouldn't have been there but there's quite a few games that argue against that this is ok. Last year was an interesting case where the seven and eight seed in 4A was 2-8 and people would say "why are these teams in the postseason?" This year, the eight seed was a bit more respectable at 4-6. Now do those teams deserve to be in there. You could go about in two ways. One would be "no, they couldn't win enough in the regular season" and second would be "yeah one of the two teams won their postseason game, so they belong." It's really about your perspective really. I don't think this goes away anytime soon. With all this being said, here are what happened during the first week of the playoffs.
 
High School Football Playoffs
District 2 Single-A Championship
Old Forge 29 Lackawanna Trail 22
Blue Devils QB Dante Lucarelli threw for 187 yards and three touchdowns and Tyler Carey returned a kickoff 90 yards and caught a 47 yard touchdown pass as Old Forge took the District 2 Single-A Title. The Lions' Jeffrey Resto had two rushing touchdowns in the loss.

District 2 2A Semifinals
Dunmore 34 Mid Valley 13
The Bucks' Cristian Buckley rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown and Frank Damiano added a rushing touchdown as the Bucks advanced to the District Final as they beat Mid Valley. The Spartans' Colin Hazelton rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown.

Carbondale 30 Lakeland 20
The Chargers' Nick Vadella rushed for 143 yards and a touchdown and Frank Burke had two rushing touchdowns as Carbondale knocked off Lakeland to get to the District Final. Chiefs RB Giovanni Spataro rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.

District 2 3A Semifinals
Scranton Prep 42 Meyers 0
Cavaliers QB Leo O'Boyle threw for 103 yards and four touchdowns and Matt Gilmartin rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown as Scranton Prep stayed undefeated as they advanced to the District Final by beating Meyers. Mohawks QB Janssen Wilborn threw for 54 yards.

Lake-Lehman 27 Western Wayne 26 (OT)
Black Knights QB Nate O'Donnell rushed for two touchdowns and Matt Kurtz added a rushing touchdown as Lake-Lehman advanced to the District Final by taking down Western Wayne in overtime. Western Wayne QB Dylan Walck had two rushing touchdowns.

District 2 4A Quarterfinals
Berwick 42 Wyoming Area 0
Bulldogs QB Jared Marshman threw for 86 yards and two touchdowns and Owen Shoemaker rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns as Berwick took down Wyoming Area to advance to the District Semifinals. Warriors QB Dominic DeLuca threw for 55 yards.

North Pocono 48 Pittston Area 15
Trojans RB JC Gaughan rushed for 186 yards and four touchdowns and QB Donny Blaine threw for 104 yards and a touchdown as North Pocono took down Pittston Area. Patriots QB Walter Coles threw for 225 yards and two touchdowns and Keemar Woodruff would have three catches for 52 yards.

Valley View 51 Crestwood 0
Cougars RB Seth Vernon rushed for 164 yards and three touchdowns and QB Chandler Fuller threw for 52 yards and a touchdown as Valley View took down Crestwood to advance to the semifinals. The Comets Jimmy Hawley rushed for 14 yards in the loss.

Coughlin 28 Dallas 0
The Crusaders' Vincent Todd rushed for 249 yards and two touchdowns and Jake Cole rushed for 152 yards and a touchdown as Coughlin upset Dallas on the road. Mountaineers QB Michael Starbuck threw for 129 yards in the loss.

District 2 5A Semifinal
Valley West 63 Abington Heights 14
Spartans RB Sean Mikovitch rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns and Rob Dwyer added 53 yards on the ground and caught two passes for 70 yards and a touchdown and threw for a touchdown as Valley West took down Abington Heights to advance to the District Finals. Comets RB Kaleb Sherman rushed for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

District 2 6A Semifinal
Delaware Valley 49 Scranton 28
Warriors RB Ryan Obiso rushed for 364 yards and five touchdowns as Delaware Valley stayed undefeated and advanced to the District final and knocked off Scranton. QB Nick Reilly threw for 109 yards and two touchdowns. The Knights' Jerrod Brown rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown.

Hazleton Area 28 Williamsport 27
Cougars QB Sparky Wolk threw for 225 yards and three touchdowns and Adrian Otero had three catches for 124 yards and a touchdown as Hazleton Area took down Williamsport on the road to advance to the District final. Millionaires RB Latrelle Jackson rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown.

Eastern Conference Championships
Nanticoke 58 Holy Redeemer 12
Trojans RB Joe Ammons rushed for 231 yards and three touchdowns and Dawson Hughes added 118 yards and three touchdowns as Nanticoke took the Eastern Conference Division 3 Championship. Royals QB JD Turosky threw for 46 yards and a touchdown and Colin Conway returned an interception for a touchdown.

Northwest 31 Bloomsburg 30 (3OT)
Rangers QB David Piestrak threw for 106 yards and two touchdown and rushed for another and RB Jake Anderson rushed for 81 yards and a touchdown as Northwest took the Eastern Conference Division Single-A Championship in triple overtime. Bloomburg's Coulter rushed for 67 yards and two touchdowns.

Local College Football
Widener 27 King's 6
Widener QB Sean McGaughey threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns as they took down King's. Wideout Montrell Hicks-Taylo had six catches for six catches for 103 yards and a touchdown. King's QB Zach Whitehead threw for 216 yards and the Monarchs only managed two field goals in the first half.

Stevenson 44 Wilkes 12
Stevenson QB Dan Williams threw for 446 yards and five touchdowns as they took down winless Wilkes. Wideout Preston Addo had 10 catches for 230 yards and three touchdowns. Wilkes QB Nick Geimer threw for 307 yards and a touchdown.

Delaware Valley 51 Misericordia 7
Delaware Valley RB Devauntay Ellis rushed for 236 yards and five touchdowns and Ryan Wharton added 98 yards on the ground and two touchdowns as they knocked off Misericordia. Mark Rainey rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown for Misericordia.

Shippensburg 20 Bloomsburg 6
Shippensburg QB Ryan Zapoticky threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns and wideout Winston Eubanks caught three passes for 174 yards and both touchdowns as Shippensburg improved to 9-1 with a victory over Bloomsburg. Huskies QB Chris Palubinsky threw for 121 yards and Ryan Abbott kicked two field goals for the only Huskies points.

Michigan State 27 Penn State 24
Michigan State's Matt Coghlin kicked a 34 yard field goal as time expired as the Spartans knocked off Penn State. Spartans QB Brian Lewerke threw for 400 yards and two touchdowns. Penn State QB Trace McSorley threw for 381 yards and three touchdowns in the loss.