Penn-Trafford rebounds with dominant performance vs. Kiski Area

By: Ted Sarneso
Friday, September 19, 2025 | 10:34 PM

Coming off a tough loss to Woodland Hills last week, the expectation was for Penn-­Trafford to rebound at home against a struggling Kiski Area team.

The Warriors (4-1, 1-1) wasted no time putting up 35 points in the first half en route to a 42-0 drubbing of the Cavaliers (1-4, 0-2) in each team’s second Class 5A Big East Conference game of the season at Warrior Stadium.

“We talked about being a complete team,” Penn-­Trafford coach John Ruane said. “We’ve played well in all three phases of the game but haven’t been able to put it together in a single game, and we did that tonight. Getting a shutout was important. I thought our defense was tremendous. I was pleased with all three phases tonight.”

Leading the way for Penn-Trafford was receiver Nick Ponko and quarterbacks Nate Desmond and Cody Yacamelli.

Desmond and Ponko connected five times for 135 yards, and Yacamelli ran the ball four times for a modest 39 yards but scored two touchdowns.

“The last couple of years Nate’s been in the shadows of some great quarterbacks,” Ponko said. “He was still putting in the work, we were building a chemistry and we knew at some point it would be our time and we’ve made it work.”

Added Desmond: “I have a lot of trust in him. If I throw him the ball, he’s going to get yards after the catch and get us some big gains.”

Desmond finished his night 8 for 11 with 154 yards passing.

“We planned to throw the ball a lot more tonight, and the protection was outstanding and it worked out,” Ruane said.

The game got off to a rocky start for both teams, with Penn-Trafford fumbling the ball on its second play of the game.

After an 11-yard pass from Desmond to Ponko, the duo combined again on a 32-yard gain. As Ponko fought for more yards, he coughed up the ball at the Kiski Area 17-yard line and the Cavaliers recovered.

On the next play, Kiski Area quarterback Landyn Artman fumbled the snap and the Warriors pounced on the loose ball.

It the Warriors two plays to score as running back Ben Grabowski went off tackle for a 4-yard touchdown.

On its next five possessions, Penn-Trafford scored four touchdowns. The only time it didn’t score in the first half, they turned the ball over on downs after coming up a yard short on fourth-and-14.

The most electrifying play came as Desmond handed the ball to Ponko on an end-around, and Ponko pulled up and found fellow receiver Tyler Boss wide open down the left sideline for a 74-yard touchdown on the Warriors’ fifth possession of the first half.

“That pass felt great,” Ponko said. “I saw an opening, and Tyler made one last cut and I let it fly.”

Penn-Trafford’s trick play worked. Unfortunately for Kiski Area, its attempts to surprise or get the Warriors defense off-balance failed.

After getting the ball back for their second possession of the half, Cavaliers coach Colyn Haugh called for a gadget play.

Receiver Aven Shirley came in motion and took a swing pass from Artman. He gained 2 yards and then pulled up to throw, looking for Lucas Vacanti. The Cavaliers were flagged for an illegal forward pass.

Then on their next possession, the Cavaliers attempted another trick play, but this time it took too long to develop.

Artman took the snap and handed the ball to a receiver in motion.

The receiver handed the ball to Shirley, who tossed it back to Artman, who looked to throw down the field.

“We were just trying to get something generated,” Haugh said. “A big splash play can provide a spark and some confidence. We gave it an attempt, and we just didn’t execute them the right way.”

By that time, the Warriors had plenty of hats in the backfield, forcing Artman to pull the ball and run. He fought back to lose a yard.

The two best plays for Kiski Area happened on the next drive when Penn-Trafford was flagged for a pass interference penalty as Artman attempted a deep pass to Shirley.

On fourth down, Artman just got a punt away and it traveled 20 yards, but the Cavaliers benefited from a roughing the kicker penalty, giving them new life.

Two plays later, Artman rolled to his right and was leveled along the boundary and taken out of the game. Shirley took over at quarterback the rest of the way.

Artman finished 5 of 6 for 23 yards through the air and ran four times for 12 yards.

Shirley was 2 for 6 for 8 yards and two interceptions, one each by Ben Lenhart and Trent Brown. He also ran six times for 23 yards.

Under a running clock in the second half, Penn-Trafford sought work for its backups while Kiski Area tried to find anything positive.

Ashton Tayor did most of the work for the Cavaliers in the second half, running nine times for 36 yards. He finished the evening with 18 carries for 59 yards.

Alex Nicolette tacked on a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter for the Warriors.

The Warriors defense had the most to gain from last week’s loss, and Coach Ruane was pleased with how they answered the call, holding Kiski to 128 total yards.

“Defense had a chip on their shoulder, and they were determined to make tackles,” Ruane said. “That was important because we did not tackle well last week and going forward that is going to be our thing: Make tackles and put the opposition in third and long.”

For Kiski, it was a disappointment after a promising showing last week in a three-point defeat against Gateway.

“Penn-Trafford is a very good team, and when we make the mistakes we did, putting the ball on the turf, throwing those interceptions, good teams are going to capitalize,” Haugh said.

“We’re a young team, and we have to continue to battle through adversity. We had a good game last week, but it wasn’t great. There were things we did last week that showed up today, and that’s why the score was what it was.”

Tags: Kiski Area, Penn-Trafford