Valley View Football Cruises Past West Scranton Invaders

Jeffery Wasilchak took the first handoff of the game 30 yards for a touchdown, and Valley View never really let up from there. The Cougars rolled to a 45-6 win over West Scranton on Friday night at Scranton Veterans Memorial Stadium, scoring on all six of their first-half possessions before a running clock took over in the second half.

Valley View came in at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Lackawanna Football Conference Division I play, fourth in the division standings, while West Scranton entered at 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the division, seventh in the standings. The Cougars improved to 5-2 (3-1 Division I) with the win.

Wasilchak's early score and a 24-yard Braden Loff field goal made it 10-0 after one quarter. Loff also had a 44-yard field goal attempt wiped out by a holding penalty, and he finished a perfect 6 for 6 on extra points.

The second quarter is where the game got away from West Scranton. Valley View's Cash Roe, who entered the night third in District 2 in receiving yards according to SportzWire's District 2 stats, fielded a punt near midfield and got tackled a yard short of the goal line, setting up a short Seamus Sprague touchdown run. West Scranton answered right back, putting together a nine-play, 80-yard drive that leaned on two catches from Kazual Colbert, including a 21-yard grab on third down. Austin Sostre capped it with an 8-yard touchdown run, though the extra point was blocked, making it 17-6 West Scranton Valley View with 8:25 left in the half.

That was the last good stretch West Scranton would get. Valley View answered with 28 unanswered points before halftime. Brady Cunningham scored from 6 yards out, Brady Bachman added a short touchdown run, and sophomore quarterback Colin Dempsey, who entered the game ranked second in District 2 in touchdown-to-interception ratio, hit Ben Evans for a 32-yard touchdown pass. Dempsey finished 6 of 7 passing for 117 yards and the one score. Colin Witkowski also factored into the passing game with a 41 yard reception for the Cougars. Roe got loose again on special teams, this time taking a punt 48 yards to the house for the score that made it 45-6 at the break and triggered the mercy rule running clock for the second half.

Valley View left even more points on the board than it scored. Beyond Loff's negated 44 yard field goal, Maddox Carey picked off a pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the play was called back for a block in the back.

West Scranton's offense never found another gear after its one scoring drive. Valley View's defense held the Invaders to 24 rushing yards over the second-half stretch and 142 rushing yards for the game overall. Valley View finished with 239 rushing yards on 34 attempts and 117 passing yards for 17 first downs, well ahead of West Scranton's 8.

Four different Valley View ballcarriers scored rushing touchdowns, a sign of how much the Cougars spread the workload on the ground. West Scranton, which came into the game ranked 32nd in District 2 in rushing yards as a team, struggled to find room most of the night outside of its one sustained drive.

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