Liberty High School football team falls to unbeaten Whitehall

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Tanner Madouse's offensive numbers won't jump off the statistics sheet, but the Whitehall High School senior sure made the most of his opportunities.

Madouse scored a pair of touchdowns and made a number of big plays on third down Friday night as the Zephyrs manhandled Liberty 35-12 in a Lehigh Valley Conference football game at Frank Banko Field at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.

"Tanner came up huge for us tonight," Whitehall coach Tony Trisciani said. "He's such a tough runner. He came up with so many great plays for us tonight. He was definitely our offensive MVP."

Madouse rushed for 20 yards on seven carries and caught three passes for 41 yards. He scored on runs of 4 and 3 yards and converted four third-and-long chances to help Whitehall remain unbeaten.

The Zephyrs improved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the conference while Liberty dropped its second straight game after a 2-0 start.

"We didn't play our best defensively," Liberty coach Dave Brown said. "We showed times of slowing their offense down a little. We were very concerned with trenches as far as (Whitehall's) physicality. We knew they had experience up front and we didn't."


Whitehall, the No. 1 team in The Express-Times region, slowed the dangerous Hurricanes rushing attack and proved it could run the ball as well.

Andrew Harris rushed for 128 yards and two scores on 19 carries and quarterback Nick Shafnisky added 80 yards and a touchdown. Shafnisky was also 5 of 9 passing for 61 yards and a touchdown -- a 6-yard strike to tight end Nate Hoenl.

It appeared early on as if fourth-ranked Liberty was poised to control the line of scrimmage the way it did in the first three game the season. But Whitehall bottled up the Hurricanes' triple-option, especially in the second half.

"We threw some different looks at them defensively," Trisciani said. "And that's the thing. You don't know how people are going to respond when you throw something different at them, and our kids just did a great job."


Liberty mustered just 83 yards in the second half.

"They came out and ran a Double Eagle," Brown said. "That's something we hadn't seen, but that's football. You can't prepare for everything."


After forcing a three-and-out on Whitehall's first possession, Liberty found itself backed up near its goal line when Logan Kreglow's punt was downed inside the 1-yard line. Liberty drove 74 yards but turned the ball over on downs when running back Stephon Font-Toomer was stopped shy of the first down on fourth-and-8 at the Zephyrs 25.

Whitehall then put together an 11-play, 75-yard drive with Madouse scoring from the 4 with 10:22 left in the second quarter.

"We didn't think we were going to completely shut these guys down," Trisciani said. "We knew they were going to gain some yards. They're good and they have a good system. The plan was to make them earn the whole field. If they went 18 plays and we found a way to get a stop, then that's a win for us."


Harris made it 14-0 less than four minutes later with a 3-yard TD run.

Trisciani mixed his running backs nicely, utilizing 5-foot-7, 150-pound James Wah, who keyed the 58-yard scoring drive with runs of 10, 15 and 8 yards before turning to the 210-pound Harris to finish it off. Wah contributed 54 yards on seven carries.

Liberty cut the lead to 14-6 on quarterback James McCarthy's 3-yard TD run with 3:44 remaining in the first half. McCarthy finished with 32 carries for 144 yards, but was only 1 for 8 for 4 yards and two interceptions passing.

"There was a lot of pressure on us offensively every single play, every single drive," Brown said. "When you're playing from behind, you know every down is so important and that puts pressure on people, no doubt. We're a ball control offense and keep your defense off the field. When it doesn't work that way, it's rough to come back from."

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