Rovers rebound after Thanksgiving Day loss

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Although his Thanksgiving meal did not taste as good as it could have Thursday after the 3-0 overtime loss to Phillipsburg, Easton lineman David Caldwell Jr. understood that the humble pie had to be digested before the pumpkin pie could.

A loss to ancient rival Phillipsburg is always hard to take. In most years, the Red Rovers would have about nine months -- or for the seniors, the rest of their lives -- to reset themselves emotionally. This week, they only had about 54 hours until Saturday night's kickoff with Whitehall in the District 11 Class 4A championship game at Cottingham Stadium.

"It was very hard," Caldwell said. "After we lost to P'burg, we were all down on each other, saying we don't want to play any more. But the next day, we came back. Everybody swallowed (the loss), because there was nothing else we could do. We had to swallow it."

Easton led the Zephyrs 6-3 at halftime, but trailed 10-6 after three quarters. Justin Pacchioli made two tremendous plays, one on offense and one on defense, to light the team's fire. He chased down Whitehall receiver Tyler Artim and forced a fumble on a play that could have given the Zephyrs, playing without star quarterback Chris Polony, a commanding lead.

But Zack Bambary recovered, and on Easton's next possession, Pacchioli had a 33-yard run, on the end of which he carried some Zephyr defenders, to set up Easton's winning score, his own 2-yard run in a 13-10 win.

While no one wearing Easton's Red and Black likes to lose to Phillipsburg, it did help that the Rovers had another game to play -- a district title game at that, and against Whitehall, a team which beat Easton 17-14 earlier this year.

So Easton coach Steve Shiffert did not have to look far for motivation, even though he had only two practices -- a light one in the gym Friday and a short walkthrough outside Saturday.

"It was hard, but you have to give kids credit," Shiffert said. "Their character really came out. We were overconfident Thursday and paid dearly for it. But thank goodness they had enough character to come back and win this one."

Shiffert said he did not dwell on the loss, so as to not allow Phillipsburg to beat his team twice.

"We talked about it briefly and that was it," he said. "It's over. It's done. We have to move on. Plus, we owed these guys (Whitehall) one. We had a 14-point lead or whatever it was (On Oct. 1) and lost it."

Next up is a date in the PIAA quarterfinals against LaSalle College High School of Philadelphia at 1 p.m. Saturday at Charles Martin Stadium in Northeast Philadelphia. Shiffert will give his team a rare two-day break -- today and Monday -- before getting back to business on Tuesday.

"I don't think we ever lost to P'burg and bounced back and won, but in this little odyssey we go through, it's the first time we did this," Shiffert said. "That's quite an accomplishment -- plus, the way we did it."

Had Pacchioli not made those two great plays, the story would likely have been different and Whitehall might be celebrating its first district title since 1997.

Tyler Thomas, one of four Easton captains with Caldwell, Pacchioli and Bambary, said there's something to be learned from this.

"We're a little beat up. We're happy. That's all that matters," he said. "If you lose on Thanksgiving, you feel like your season is kind of meaningless, but still, we have to move on. We're going to try to win a state championship, something Easton has never done.

"You can move on and do better things, even if you lose on Thanksgiving."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-whitehall-easton-sidebar-1127-20101127,0,2960476.story