Scranton Prep put together an eight-game winning streak, claiming its third straight District 2 Class 3A football championship and reaching the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state quarterfinals with a first-round win before its 12-2 season came to an end.
Along the way, Quenten Palermo and Louis Paris surpassed the 1,000-yard marks in rushing and passing.
A recap of the team’s November playoff games:
Northwestern Lehigh 27, Scranton Prep 6
David Clymer ran for the game’s final three touchdowns Nov. 24 when host Northwestern Lehigh advanced to the state semifinals with the victory.
Clymer ran for more than 100 yards in the win, but the Cavaliers made him work, holding him to fewer than four yards per carry on a busy night.
Paris broke a 59-yard run up the middle with 4:33 left in the first quarter to give Scranton Prep a 6-0 lead.
Northwestern Lehigh took a 13-6 lead at halftime and Clymer added his last two scores during the third quarter.
Scranton Prep 23, Neumann-Goretti 16
Scranton Prep rallied in the fourth quarter to avenge last year’s season-ending loss with the Nov. 18 victory in a state tournament opener at Northern Lehigh.
The Cavaliers opened the fourth quarter with a 67-yard touchdown by Liam Barrett on Paris’ second touchdown pass of the game to cut into a 16-14 deficit.
Scranton Prep tied the game on a safety, then won it on Palermo’s 38-yard run.
Scranton Prep 45, Western Wayne 14
Treyvon Dickey broke an 88-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter and Scranton Prep added three second-quarter touchdowns on the way to a 28-0 halftime lead in the Nov. 11 District 2 championship game at Dunmore.
Paris threw two touchdown passes to Barrett and also ran for a score.
Scranton Prep 54, Hanover Area 0
Scranton Prep overwhelmed Hanover Area Nov. 4 in the district semifinal at Dunmore.
The Cavaliers did all their scoring in the first half and held the Hawkeyes to minus-85 yards rushing and minus-57 yards total offense in the game, which was shortened to a pair of eight-minute quarters with the Mercy Rule running clock after halftime.
Scranton Prep scored on seven of its first 10 plays to exceed the 42.5 points it averaged in the regular season while leading all District 2 teams.
The Cavaliers scored on their second play from scrimmage on a 40-yard run by Barrett. Scranton Prep then scored on the first play of possessions four times and on the second play twice. Toss in a safety on a bad Hanover Area punt snap and a 23-yard field goal by Jack Hartshorn and the Cavaliers had their 54-point lead.
The score could have been worse. Scranton Prep had the ball at the Hanover Area 17-yard line with 1:23 left in the first half, but took three knees to run out the clock. Many of the starters were done by midway through the second quarter.
“We have good kids and great coaches, so we’re going to try to push kids every week,” Cavaliers coach Terry Gallagher told the Times Leader. “I give (Hanover Area) a lot of credit. Some teams would have said we’re not going to play it.”
