Kevin Lockett caught three touchdown passes from Drew DeLucca Friday night and Pittston Area overcame a huge offensive performance by Crestwood’s Noah Schultz to post a 28-21, Wyoming Valley Conference Class 4A Division victory at home in Charley Trippi Stadium.
Lockett reached over and around Crestwood defenders in the corners for two of his touchdown catches.
First, Lockett went high in the back left corner of the end zone to pull in a 22-yard pass for the game’s first score midway through the first quarter.
Then, Lockett reached around to grab the ball at the top, back of his defender’s helmet at the right flag on a 34-yard touchdown pass for a 21-7 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Lockett also caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from DeLucca on the first play of the fourth quarter for a three-touchdown lead before the Patriots held off a comeback by the Comets.
Pittston Area improved to 3-6 and Crestwood dropped to 2-7 in the game, which could end up being the difference on each team’s hopes of making the eight-team District 2 Class 3A playoff field.
DeLucca was 12-for-19 passing for 176 yards for the Patriots, who were limited to 94 yards on the ground.
Robby Barbieri led the effort for a defense that held Crestwood to seven points until the final 8½ minutes.
Barbieri returned an interception 42 yards for a touchdown with seven seconds left in the second quarter for a 14-0 halftime lead. He also came up from the secondary to make or assist in several stops at or behind the line of scrimmage while finishing with six tackles and five assists.
Schultz was involved in all three Crestwood touchdowns while carrying 27 times for 219 yards and hitting all 7 of his pass attempts for 62 yards.
Crestwood got within 14-7 when Schultz ran 61 yards for a touchdown 30 seconds into the second half.
Schultz ran 8 yards for a score with 8:24 left, then hit Brendan Dennis with a short touchdown pass with 3:27 remaining.
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Scoreboard: https://nepasportsnation.com/fridays-football-scoreboard-5/.
