Whitehall rallies from 14-0 deficit to dump Easton

FROM THE MORNING CALL

About 10 minutes after the game had ended Friday night and Whitehall had earned a remarkable 17-14 come-from-behind victory over Easton at Cottingham Stadium, the Zephyrs had one more charge to make.

A large group of them stormed down the field — large, orange water bucket in tow— and swarmed around Zephyrs coach Tony Trisciani.

Trisciani got doused, but also got a good idea how Easton quarterback Justin Pacchioli felt during much of the second half.


Whitehall won this Lehigh Valley Conference battle of Lehigh Valley Conference unbeatens with 17 unanswered points, including a startling hook-and-ladder play for a touchdown that had everyone in the stadium asking "Did that really happen?"

But make no mistake, the Zephyrs improved to 5-0 and set up another "battle of the unbeatens" against Central Catholic next Saturday because of its relentless defense.

After Easton scored on two of its first three possessions and seemed unstoppable early, Whitehall held the Rovers to just five first downs and 68 yards of offense in a frenetic second half.

"We're aggressive on defense," Trisciani said. "We're not big, so you've got to play fast and pressure people. That's our scheme, that's what we do. Our linebacker crew can all run really well and get after people. That's Andrew Harris, Tanner Madouse, Glen Klein, Cody Moyer and Eric Fiore. They were bringing it all night long."

They had Pacchioli on the run for much of the game's final 291/2 minutes after Easton took a 14-0 lead on a 1-yard TD run by Zack Rohrbach with 5:39 left in the first half.

To that point, the Rovers had 170 yards of offense and only a fumble at the Whitehall 10 on their second possession seemed to slow them down.

Pacchioli was sacked twice on Easton's next possession and dumped for losses four times after intermission.

"Our turnovers and pass-blocking killed us," said Rovers coach Steve Shiffert. "We've been struggling the last three weeks with the pass-blocking. When we need it, we've had kids up front who are breaking down and getting run over."

Easton's defense didn't exactly get run over, but did get burned by several big plays that tilted the game in the Zephs' favor.

The first was a 42-yard toss from Chris Polony to Tyler Artim that trimmed the Rovers' lead to 14-7 at halftime.

Then after a blunder on a kickoff return pinned Easton at its 2 to start the second half, Polony and Artim struck again for the play of the game. And this time, Eric Fiore was also involved.

Polony hit Artim in the right flat for what looked like a short gain, but with Artim looking like he was down, he scooped the ball to Fiore. It was like a touch pass in basketball and it led to a fastbreak for Fiore who flew down the right sideline for a game-tying score covering 34 yards.

"We've been practicing it all week," Artim said. "The throw was supposed to be a little higher, but I just improvised. I just kind of scooped it to him and Eric made a great move and scored."

Fiore said: "I can't believe we got it off. I thought it was blown up. We tried it on the first play of the game and it got blown up. This time, I can't believe Artim got the ball up."

Neither did Shiffert, who said he wanted to see the play again on film and questioned whether the ball had touched the ground before Artim went into scoop mode.

"I will be curious to watch it on tape," Shiffert said. "But give their kids credit for executing the play and getting it off."

Pacchioli couldn't get off a fourth-down pass on Easton's next possession and Whitehall was on the move again. A 23-yard pass from Polony to Nathan Hoenl set the stage for Joshua Cirocco's 27-yard field goal with 3:58 left in the third period that proved to be the difference.

Later, a 10-yard run by Madouse on a fake punt helped to maintain possession and preserve the lead for Whitehall.

"We just wanted to shoot every bullet we had in the gun tonight," Trisciani said. "Special kids make special plays like Tyler made on that hook-and-ladder.

"This was a real special win for us and it wasn't the perfect game. There was a lot of adversity for us in this game, but our kids overcame the adversity."

And more adversity is on the way next weekend against powerful Central Catholic, the No. 1 ranked 3A team in the state.

"A lot of people weren't expecting this," Fiore said. "No one gives Whitehall a shot, but look at us now. We've got Central next and we'll be ready."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-easton-football-1001-20101001,0,5691210.story