Rovers weather early storm, tame Hurricanes 14-7

FROM THE MORNING CALL

The last time Easton played Liberty at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium the Rovers lost 42-0.

Friday night's game at BASD began like a continuation of that Oct. 24, 2008 shellacking.

The Hurricanes went 76 yards in two plays and 32 seconds. Quarterback James McCarthy exploded for 63 yards on the first play and 13 yards into the end zone on the second.

But Liberty wouldn't score again over the game's last 59 minutes and 38 seconds and Easton would capitalize on two Liberty fumbles for a gritty 14-7 Lehigh Valley Conference win that placed the Rovers (8-1, 7-1 LVC) in position to grab the No. 1 seed for the upcoming District 2-4-11 Class 4A tournament.



"The last thing we said to the team before they went out on the field was 'keep your composure if something bad happens early' and they sure followed that to a T," Easton coach Steve Shiffert said.

"We knew we'd have a little trouble early with their triple-option, but the defense adjusted. We had some opportunities on offense that we blew, but we had some seniors step up and make some plays."

None was bigger than Justin Pacchioli's 21-yard pass completion to Jonathan Bisci as Easton ran out the clock in the final minutes.

Pacchioli eluded the pass rush of speedy Liberty defensive end Dante Holmes and found Bisci with a perfectly thrown ball down the sideline. Bisci planted his feet inbounds and leaned over the line for the catch.

Not only did it give Easton a first down at the 'Canes 35, and, basically, the victory, but it also gave Pacchioli Easton's all-time passing yardage record.

Pacchioli, who also set the school's completion mark, now has 3,194 passing yards — one more than previous record holder Matt Loebsack.

"I wasn't thinking about the records," Pacchioli said. "People were telling me and telling my parents that I was close to breaking records, but I really don't follow numbers. I'm more of a team player and not about individual stats. This win is 10 times more important than any school record."

Pacchioli figured this would be a tough game. He was right.

Easton never could sustain a long scoring drive.

The Rovers had incompletions on two fourth-and-short plays in the first half (although TV replays indicated that one of those passes was actually caught by Tyler Holjes and should have been a touchdown).

Bisci also was wide left on a 26-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter.

Easton, however, was able to cash in on two Liberty fumbles with scoring drives of 33 yards and 18 yards in the middle quarters.

Pacchioli hit Justin Souders for a 29-yard touchdown pass after the first fumble and James Middleton scored on a 3-yard TD for what proved to be the game-winning score with 3:59 left in the third quarter.

"We've talked about turnovers and we know that other teams capitalize on us and we have to start doing the same thing to them," Pacchioli said. "That's definitely what we did tonight."

Liberty's defense played well enough to keep the hosts within striking distance, but after the two big plays to start the game the 'Canes triple-option was contained.

Liberty (5-4, 4-4) had just one first down and 53 yards of offense in the second half.

"We've never played against a triple-option team before and they run it perfect," Pacchioli said. "They caught us with it in the beginning, but coach [Doug] Powell made some adjustments and we stuck with them the rest of the game."

Hurricanes coach Dave Brown said his team needs to learn from its mistakes.

"Their speed up front defensively hurt us and we got frustrated," he said. "Heck, we haven't punted in four games and I think we punted five or six times tonight. We could have played better on offense, but a lot of credit goes to them. Other than those two first two plays, they had us under control. It was the first time we ended up looking at each other because we were trying to figure out what they were doing."

Now, Liberty has to figure out whether or not it can qualify for the district playoffs. The Hurricanes close the regular season against Freedom a week from Saturday. A win might be enough to get them in once the numbers are crunched.

"I'm not smart enough to figure out that out," Brown said. "I listen to what everybody else says. I just know that we're a good football team and we've had a great season and I hope we can keep going."

Easton, meanwhile, knows it will be playing playoff games after next week's regular season finale against Bethlehem Catholic.

But the defending district champion Rovers are hoping the road to another 4A title runs through Cottingham Stadium.

"The kids want to play at Cottingham," Shiffert said. "We've never won a district title on the road. We want stay home just like last year."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-easton-liberty-football-1029-20101029,0,7656100.story