Easton rebounds to repeat as District 11 Class 4A champion

FROM THE MORNING CALL

As he chased wide receiver Tyler Artim from behind, Easton senior Justin Pacchioli thought back to the late third-quarter interception he threw that had turned the momentum in Whitehall's favor.

Pacchioli's relentless pursuit of Artim atoned for his one major miscue and set up the Red Rovers to repeat as District 11 Class 4A champions.

When Pacchioli caught up with Artim, he ripped the football out, allowing teammate Ian Hayden to fall on it and give Easton possession with 10 minutes, 17 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. Pacchioli then led the Red Rovers on a 12-play, 72-yard drive he punctuated by running 2 yards into the end zone for a go-ahead score.

Two more stops by Easton's defense allowed Pacchioli to hold the ball one final time in his Cottingham Stadium career. He took a snap and retreated 7 yards before kneeling down to seal the top-seeded Red Rovers' 13-10 win over No. 3 Whitehall in the District 11 Class 4A final Saturday night.

Just two days after a heartbreaking 3-0 overtime loss to rival Phillipsburg, Easton (12-2 overall) rebounded to beat a Whitehall team that handed it its only other loss. The Red Rovers advanced to the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals for a second straight year and again will face District 12 champion La Salle, which ended their season last year en route to a state title.

As he has throughout this season, Pacchioli came up clutch when Easton needed him. The senior quarterback/safety ran for 83 yards and threw for another 81 and a touchdown.

His defensive hustle stood above everything else. Whitehall had a 10-6 lead with Artim racing toward the end zone early in the fourth quarter when Pacchioli ran him down and pried the ball loose.

"I knew he was either going to take it to the house or I was going to catch him," Pacchioli said. "I kind of put my whole mindset into catching him and stripping that football.

"I was saying, 'If I'm going to make up for it [the interception], now is the time,' " he added. "I just kind of had my eyes set on the ball and came through with a hard rip. I listened to coach [Steve] Shiffert, who's been teaching me all these good things over the years, and it finally paid off."

Pacchioli's play was no accident. Easton practices stripping the ball in its "Wake Forest" drill every day.

The strip came in the middle of a stunning turn of events that left Whitehall (10-3) stung. One play before Pacchioli's strip, Zephyrs senior quarterback Chris Polony left the game with a leg injury. He never returned.

That left sophomore Nicholas Shafnisky to run the offense. His first play was a beauty, as he hit Artim for what wound up as a 41-yard completion.

It ended in disaster when Pacchioli forced the fumble. Zack Bambary (game-high 89 rushing yards) and Pacchioli did most of the work on the ensuing touchdown drive, with Pacchioli's 33-yard run on a 1st-and-10 from Whitehall's 39-yard line the biggest play. All 72 yards on the drive came on the ground.

Easton finished with 204 rushing yards, while Whitehall had just 63.

"They trusted me in the second half, and I trusted my team," said Bambary, who had 72 of his 89 yards in the second half. "That's something that gets us a drive like that, it's trust. To come out two days after the biggest loss in the world, it's something spectacular."

Whitehall, which beat Easton 17-14 during the regular season, fought till the end but was undone by injuries and mistakes. The Zephyrs played much of the second half without defensive starters Christopher Fiore, Glen Klein and Matt Bonshak, all of whom suffered first-half injuries.

"We had a lot of adversity in this football game," Whitehall coach Tony Trisciani said. "The next kid just has to go in. 'Shaf' went out there and he played. We made a few plays. Things fell apart on us there at the end in crunch time – some penalties, some bad snaps, turnovers and all that. But I'm real proud of this football team for getting to where we did this year and being three points away, one play away, from winning the football game."

Whitehall took a 10-6 lead in the third quarter after getting the one turnover it generated, with Michael Williams returning an interception to the Easton 26-yard line. Eric Fiore (58 rushing yards) scored seven plays later from 2 yards out.

The Zephyrs managed just one first down the rest of the way. Their final drive ended when Shafnisky spun out of trouble and hit David Frana for a 23-yard completion, but it left them 2 yards shy of a first down.

Pacchioli took a knee on the next play, starting the celebration on the Easton sideline.

"You're never going to forget that loss in your senior year to Phillipsburg, especially a 3-0 loss at that," Pacchioli said. "But this is definitely going to clear the memory for a little bit.

"I'm going to be thinking about this one for a little while."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-whitehall-easton-1127-20101127,0,5592361.story