Dunmore, PA — Nathan Reuther raised his arms toward the night sky, celebrating as teammates placed the chain around his neck. Upon closer inspection of the gaudy pendant that dangled at the No. 59 on his Dunmore uniform, it depicted a stack of pancakes. It didn’t take much imagination to decipher why teammates were so eager to bestow it upon the senior left tackle. “It’s the pancake chain,” Reuther smiled. “It’s for an O-lineman who gets the job done for our boys.” On Friday night against West Scranton, there were a lot of guys for whom to get the job done, and plenty of pride in doing it on a night where the Bucks finally got back to where they wanted to be, the way it always seemed to do it in the old days. No. 5 Dunmore rushed for 310 yards behind Reuther and a gritty offensive line, overcoming a stiff challenge from inspired rival West Scranton in a 42-19 win that clinched the program’s first Lackawanna Football Conference Division II championship since 2017. Thirteen players had at least one rushing attempt for the Bucks (8-2, 5-0) and four seniors — Nick Donvito, Domenick DeSando, Thomas Bowen and Jacob Hickey — found the end zone in the first half. “We take a lot of pride in that,” Reuther said. Another senior, Danny Pigga Jr., broke the 1,000-yard plateau for the season on his first carry of the second half, too; But that came only after he returned the opening kickoff of the second half 78 yards to give the Bucks a 35-12 advantage. For a while, it seemed like Dunmore might need all the points it could get against the Invaders (2-8, 1-4), who never went away. West Scranton started the game strong, finishing off a 10-play drive with Hunter Baumgardner’s 3-yard touchdown run, and it was only the start of a strong finale for the senior. He threw a perfectly placed deep ball to receiver Taron Knight-Guerrier for a 51-yard score that got the Invaders within 21-12 in the second quarter. In the fourth quarter, Baumgardner caught a 51-yard touchdown, taking a throw from quarterback Caiden Berardi, making defenders miss and sprinting up the West Scranton sideline to close the scoring. In all, Baumgardner ran for a score, threw for one and caught another, piling up 200 yards of total offense and recording eight tackles on defense. “He has been our heart and soul all year,” West Scranton coach Jake Manetti said. “He’s a tough kid, a weight room kid. He committed to the team, committed to the program. He has been our leader all season long. Offense, defense, leadership-wise, he’s a football player. He makes us go, both sides of the ball.” West simply couldn’t keep up with the Dunmore rushing attack, though. Just six plays after Baumgardner gave the Invaders the early lead, Donvito ripped off a 19-yard run over the left side, behind Reuther, to take the lead. A three-and-out and a short punt led to DeSando’s bruising 16-yard run that made the score 14-6, and a Bowen quarterback sneak pushed the lead to 15. But Hickey provided the run game’s physicality early. Punishing the middle of the West defense, the 215-pounder rumbled to 64 of his 81 yards in the first half, including a 5-yard touchdown run that sent the Bucks into the half with a commanding lead. “We’re a physical team. That’s Dunmore football,” Hickey said. “Dunmore and West Scranton is a big game and always has been. We knew West Scranton was going to come in here and play us, but we knew the more physical team was going to come out on top.” That started up front, and for Reuther, the way the Bucks finished the regular season is evidence the pancake chain is going to be around a while. Long after they’re done celebrating a division title years in the making. “It was great, because there have been many great players who have come through here and not won that,” Reuther said. “For us to win this, it shows how good we can be, and how far we can go.” (SOURCE: Donnie Collins, The Scranton Times-Tribune)