Scranton Prep and Delaware Valley fought through the wind and the rain on the road Friday night to come home with Lackawanna Football Conference championships.
London Montgomery carried 42 times for 262 yards and 2 touchdowns as Scranton Prep won a battle of unbeatens at Valley View, 17-10, for the LFC Division 2 title.
Joe Sciascia’s two short touchdown runs lifted Delaware Valley over North Pocono, 12-6, for the LFC Division 1 championship.
Hazleton Area wrapped up sole possession of the Wyoming Valley Conference Class 6A/5A Division title with a 14-11, road win over second-place Williamsport.
Scranton Prep overcame a 10-7 deficit after escaping the first half in a 7-7 tie when officials ruled Valley View inches short of the goal line on three consecutive plays.
The first was a pass play in which Sean Mackinder started in the end zone but was coming back toward the goal line. He caught the ball and was knocked out of bounds between the goal line and 1. Officials ruled that he had already left the end zone when he made the catch.
Consecutive runs to each side then were ruled to have stopped the Cougars short of getting into the end zone. With Valley View out of timeouts, the clock ran out seconds after the last stop.
Valley View opened the second half with a drive that produced Matt Cole’s 39-yard field goal, but Montgomery dominated in Scranton Prep’s first drive of each half.
“It’s not just me,” said Montgomery, who also came up by his cornerback position to make two tackles for losses. “My whole offensive line did an outstanding job.”
Montgomery carried all but one play for one yard in the two nine-play, 80-yard scoring drives. He finished them with an 11-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and a 4-yarder in the third.
Ray Rinaldi added a 25-yard field goal with 5:12 left.
“I think it’s great for our program,” Scranton Prep coach Terry Gallagher said. “It’s good for the kids. We just beat a really good football team.”
Valley View tied the game in the second quarter on a 9-yard touchdown run by Colin Skeen after Connor Hilling had started the 65-yard drive with a 48-yard run.
Delaware Valley won its seventh straight since an 0-3 start and finished 4-0 in the division.
The Warriors broke a seven-game winning streak by North Pocono, which finished 3-1 in the division and fell to 8-2 overall.
Sciascia scored on a 4-yard run with 5:09 left in the first quarter.
Jordan Carr kicked field goals for North Pocono midway through the second and late in the third quarter.
Sciascia broke the 6-6 tie on a 1-yard run with 6:33 left.
The game came on the night that North Pocono celebrated the 30th anniversary of its unbeaten 1991 season, led by current Delaware Valley coach Keith Olsommer.
MORE TO COME
Return to this website for extended reports on all three championship-deciding games and Friday night’s other games.
