For the first time in a Northeast Pennsylvania Football Conference game, Lakeland found itself trailing.

Riverside answered two Chiefs touchdowns in the first half and held a 14-12 lead heading into the locker room.

Evan Kraky was at it again late in the second quarter.

The Lakeland senior faced a fourth-and-20 from the Riverside 46 with 16 seconds to play. As he did over and over again last season, Kraky rolled to his right. When the Riverside defense hemmed him in he burst through a small crease in the defensive line and cut across the field.

He made a stutter step and ran through a Vikings' defensive back for a 24-yard gain. He alertly called timeout giving the Chiefs an opportunity to take the lead on a 39-yard field goal attempt by Justin Roberts.

The kick had plenty of height, but fell just short preserving the Vikings' lead.
The only time Lakeland trailed at halftime last season was in its 12-0 loss to Mount Carmel in the PIAA Class AA quarterfinals.

"We did not hang our heads," junior running back Brian Hilling said. "We came out ready in the second half."

Hilling provided a potent running attack that enabled the Chiefs to overcome the deficit.
He followed the blocking of a rebuilt offensive line for 99 yards in the second half. Led by Mark Mushel, who is the only returning starter from the offensive line, the Chiefs averaged 4.2 yards per carry.

"The running game really opened up," Lakeland coach John Whitelavich said. "The line played great. Tonight Poncho (Hilling's nickname) was the man. He created."

Not to be overshadowed 

The Lakeland-Riverside game also featured three of the NEPFC's top players.
Kraky, who closed to within 1,745 yards of Ron Powlus' state passing yardage record, struggled with his timing just a bit off after missing most of preseason with an injured shoulder.

He completed his first three passes of the game for 44 yards and a touchdown.

While all eyes were focused on Kraky, Riverside's duo of Matt Smith and Ron Pavalonis turned in big games of their own.

Smith completed 14 of his 28 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns.
Pavalonis was on the receiving end of five of those passes for 103 yards.
They connected on an 81-yard score that displayed Pavalonis' outstanding speed for a 6-foot-5 receiver.

"Ron is all over the field for us," Riverside coach Jack Ott said. "We expect him to do well on offense. He also makes the plays on defense. Ronnie is a great player and he did a very good job for us tonight."

Deja vu 

Lakeland was in this position before.

The Chiefs faced two fourth-and-one situations against the Vikings just as they did last season against Mount Carmel.

Kraky converted the first on a quarterback sneak on a play reminiscent of last year. While he was stopped short against Mount Carmel, Saturday night he powered to a 3-yard gain.

The second fourth-down situation, Hilling darted for a 3-yard gain.

Shining Knight 

Despite its 23-point season-opening loss to West Scranton, Scranton had a bright star emerging.

Dan Dolphin could be found on almost every defensive play. Dolphin finished with five unassisted tackles and an interception.

"We did see some good things today," Scranton coach John Marichak said. "I thought defensively we ran to the ball. We were able to stop them on a couple of drives. This is a young football team and we're coming along."

Another bright spot 

Senior Sean Richards stood out for Western Wayne in its loss to Lackawanna Trail.
Offensively, Richards ran hard and totaled 74 yards on 17 carries. Most of that yardage (49) came during a scoring drive early in the third quarter that he capped with a 1-yard run on fourth-and-goal.

Defensively, he was around the football from his linebacker position and was in on a team-high six tackles (5 solo-1 assist).

Lackawanna Trail coach Jeff Wasilchak was impressed with Richards' effort.

"He was very tough," Wasilchak said. "Defensively, he was all over the field making hits. At fullback, a couple of times we hit him and he kept on going."

Western Wayne coach Joe Romanowski hopes Richards can set an example for his young squad.

"He's our leader, he's a tough kid," Romanowski said. "When you have a player like that, you hope that he'll bring up the level of the other kids. Whether or not they feed off him depends on the coaching. Hopefully, we can get that accomplished."

Defensive stands 

Several NEPFC teams turned in outstanding defensive performances on opening week.
Five winners posted shutouts with Dunmore winning by the largest margin in a 27-0 win over Bishop O'Hara.

West Scranton defeated intra-city rival Scranton, 23-0.

The Invaders turned in the league's top defensive performance. Led by Angelo DeSarno, West Scranton limited the Knights to just 65 total yards and four first downs.
DeSarno had three sacks. Marc DeAntona also had a sack for that unit.

"DeSarno and (Ryan) Kahanic just pushed us into our own backfield," Marichak said. "Coach (Joe) Repshis had a real good scheme with blitzes that took away our roll out passing game."

Valley View beat Old Forge, 21-0; Dallas beat Wyoming Valley West, 14-0; and Bishop Hafey stopped GAR, 6-0.

Two of a kind 

Abington Heights coach Greg Justave has a problem that most coaches in the NEPFC probably would love to deal with. Justave can peddle out two quality quarterbacks -- senior Bill Pasqualichio and junior Dan Hewlett. He did just that in the Comets' 35-7 whipping of Tunkhannock on Saturday.

Pasqualichio, the incumbent, completed five of six passes for 58 yards. Hewlett hit three of four for 62 yards, including a pair of touchdown. Each added an interception on defense as well.

"The two of them played great," Justave said. "I realize it's probably not an ideal situation for a quarterback to be in, in terms of not getting the full complement of snaps that the regular starting quarterback would.

"But, both kids bring something pretty good to the table."
"They both made big plays and did things on both sides of the ball for us." We'll live with the situation especially if we get the results we got (Saturday)."

Flying start 

North Pocono senior A.J. Sabatelle wasted little time getting into mid-season form.
The Trojans tailback rushed for an NEPFC-high 249 yards on 33 carries against Delaware Valley.

He was the lone back to surpass the 200-yard mark on opening weekend.

First win 

First-year Nanticoke coach Len Butczynski picked up his first career victory Saturday night against Northwest.

He was the only rookie coach to pick up a win.

Ray Boynton's Bishop O'Hara team lost, 27-0, to Dunmore and former NFL tackle Greg Skrepenak and his Bishop Hoban team suffered a 63-7 loss to Meyers.

CHRIS IMPERIALE and SCOTT WALSH, Tribune staff writers, also contributed to this report.

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