Pen Argyl Area High School football team wins PIAA Class AA first-round game

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

It was relatively easy being green Friday night.

That's the color of Pen Argyl football and the Green Knights had an easy time of it while dismantling Wilkes-Barre GAR 50-20 in the opening round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs at Spartans Stadium.

With Dylan Evans leading the way, unbeaten Pen Argyl (13-0) rushed for 334 yards, put GAR in the mercy rule on the opening kickoff of the second half and earned a ticket into the quarterfinals next weekend against District 12 power Philadelphia West Catholic (9-3).

Evans, who finished with 200 yards on 22 carries, scored four touchdowns including three on the ground. His fourth TD came when, playing strong safety, he jumped an out route and went 55 yards with the interception for Pen Argyl, ranked No. 7 in the state among Class AA schools by the Patriot-News.

District 2 champion GAR, ranked No. 9 in the state, finished its season at 11-2.

"I figured there wasn't much time left in the first half, so I thought they might try to run a route to the sideline," said Evans, on the synthetic turf field used by Wyoming Valley West afterwards. "I just cut in front of the receiver and the ball was right there."

The interception return gave Pen Argyl a 36-6 lead with 10 seconds remaining in the first half.

The second half was played under the mercy rule after the Green Knights' Nick Ronalds fielded GAR's opening onside at the Grenadier 48-yard line and returned it all the way to put the Green Knights in front 43-7. The 43rd point came off the toe of JT Krincek, who was 6-for-6 in PATs.

Krincek was also part of a dominating offensive line that physically manhandled GAR up front. Krincek, a tackle, joined center Kirby Mutton, guards Ahren Eichner and Zach Savercool and tackle Jeremy Hempeler to set the terms of the game early.

"I could sense our line taking over late in the first quarter, maybe early in the second," Pen Argyl coach Paul Reduzzi said. "I thought that was our best matchup, our offensive line against their defensive line."

Reduzzi said he thought Pen Argyl's worst matchup was the Grenadiers' overall team speed against the Pen Argyl's front seven. But the Green Knights did a masterful job of containing quarterback Darrell Crawford, who had rushed for nearly 1,800 yards coming in, operating out of the wildcat formation.

"We worked on this a lot at practice," Reduzzi said. "You want your kids to be aggressive in tackling but we told them if you're the first guy in space, just square your pads, square your feet and let the pursuit catch up to the play."

Crawford finished with 55 yards on 10 carries along with two TDs but the 5-foot-9, 165-pounder had minus yards midway through the third quarter when Pen Argyl took out its first unit after leading 50-6. The District 11 champs' tackling, particularly in the open field, was exemplary.

Evans, who upped his school record to 1,958 yards rushing, had Pen Argyl on the move right from its opening series, a possession set up by Conor Gum's interception -- one of three picks by the Green Knights secondary. Evans was on his way into the end zone from 12 yards out but lost possession of the ball and safety Dwayne Wright recovered for GAR.

But Evans scored from 2 yards out on Pen Argyl's next series and added a 1-yard plunge later in the second quarter as the Knights offensive line was beginning to lay the wood to GAR's defensive line, which featured 6-9, 340-pound Greg Skrepenak.

Gum, the quarterback out of Pen Argyl's single wing, threw just four passes but one of them was a 50-yard touchdown strike to a wide open Kyle Muller down the seam with 1:04 remaining in the first half. Mike Racciato also joined the fun, scoring on a 3-yard run with 2:13 to go in the half on a series set up by his interception.

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