Dan Harding leads Nazareth Area High School football rally over Easton before packed house at Andrew Leh Stadium

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Dan Harding and his Nazareth Area High School teammates, down two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, did not lose hope against Easton Friday night.

Harding engineered three Blue Eagle touchdowns in the last 11½ minutes, rallying Nazareth to a stunning 35-28 win over the Red Rovers in a Lehigh Valley Conference football opener before a capacity crowd of 6,000 at Andrew Leh Field.

It was the Eagles' first win over Easton since 1998 with the Red Rovers holding a 21-2 advantage.

Harding's 1-yard keeper off right tackle with 1:33 to go provided the winning points. The decisive march was set up by Dan Shepherd's 57-yard interception return to the Easton 19.

"The old Nazareth teams would have folded their tent after being down two scores there late in the second half," Blue Eagle coach Rob Melosky said. "But this one didn't."

Down 28-14 going into the fourth quarter, Harding scored on an 8-yard keeper, capping off an eight-play, 78-yard drive, to bring Nazareth within 28-21 with 11:36 remaining.

Harding was phenomenal in the game, completing 19 of 29 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns. Looking off receivers, standing tall in the pocket and consistently hitting No. 3 and 4 receivers, Harding had a brilliant game against the Red Rovers.

"It's just a lot of hard work and dedication by all our guys and this feels really sweet," Harding said. "(Quarterbacks coach) Dan Kendra worked with me a lot on little things during camp and it's paid off. Our offensive line was tremendous."

Easton coach Steve Shiffert pointed to a goal line stand by Nazareth on Easton's first drive of the second half that gave the hosts hope.

"They stopped us down thee on the 1 and that turned the game around in my mind," Shiffert said. "Where do go from here? Back to practice on Monday afternoon, that's where we go."

Nazareth tied the game on its second drive of the fourth quarter, Harding hitting Dan Shepherd in the left corner of the end zone with 6:21 to go to finish off a 76-yard drive highlighted by a pair of 12-yard runs by freshman tailback Jordan Gray, a 12-yard completion to Andrew Bridgeforth and another 10-yarder to Shepherd to keep the march alive.

Easton took a 28-14 lead late in the third quarter on Kevin Griffin's 12-yard run off right tackle. James Middleton, who gained 145 yards on 15 carries, scored on an 84-yard run around the left side in the second quarter, Griffin scored on a 2-yard run late in the first half and Ian Hayden found tight end Zach Herres for a 17-yard TD late in the first quarter for Easton's first points.

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