Whitehall overpowers Liberty to continue impressive start

FROM STEPHEN MILLER

Liberty brought the Lehigh Valley Conference's most potent rushing attack to Bethlehem Area School District Stadium on Friday night.

A team that may have the league's most complete roster overmatched the Hurricanes at every turn.

Playing in its first marquee game this season, Whitehall thrilled its small group of fans who braved the rain. The Zephyrs' defense contained Liberty's speed, and their offense relied on the physical running of Andrew Harris, Nick Shafnisky, Tanner Madouse and James Wah to power to a 35-12 win.

Whitehall (4-0 overall, 3-0 LVC) scored on four straight possessions between the second and third quarters to continue its early-season excellence. Through four weeks, no one in the league has played better on both sides of the ball than the Zephyrs.

"It was a great job by our defensive staff," Whitehall coach Tony Trisciani said. "These guys started preparing for this game back in January, coming up with a scheme and what we wanted to run. Hats off to our defensive staff – Mike Yadush, George Makhoul, Jeremy Hines, Jeff Nelson. Those guys did a heck of a job with the kids this week.

"The kids bought into it, and then the kids came out here and executed it. It was a good scheme, but also we had good football players. We got off blocks and we tackled and we flew around to the ball, and our DBs didn't give up the big play when they tried to throw it over our head. That was a big part of our plan. We wanted to make them earn the field."

Madouse, Tyler Carter, Zachary Delp, Mike Williams, Harris and Wah were among the defensive stalwarts for the Zephyrs. Carter had a team-high 10 tackles, eight of which were unassisted. Wah picked off two passes, while Delp, William, Madouse and Harris each had at least five tackles.

Hurricanes quarterback Jimmy McCarthy (31 carries, 146 yards) and fullback Stephon Font-Toomer (seven carries, 51 yards) did damage at times against Whitehall. The Zephyrs, however, took slot backs Devon Jones and Michael Harris out of the game. They combined for just 17 yards on four carries, with Harris getting 10 of those on a touchdown run with 13 seconds left.

Harris and Jones entered Friday having combined for 513 rushing yards while averaging 11.7 yards per carry.

"We trusted the scheme," Whitehall's Andrew Harris said. "We all read our keys, and we all did our job."

Whitehall's work on offense was just as impressive. The Zephyrs pounded away for three touchdown drives in the second quarter, the last one covering 80 yards and ending on a 6-yard run by Harris (21 carries, 115 yards).

They put the game away on the opening drive of the third quarter, going 70 yards in 15 plays for a touchdown that gave them a 28-6 lead. Shafnisky (102 yards of total offense) and Madouse connected for 17 yards on a third-and-10 from Liberty's 24-yard line to keep the drive alive. The Zephyrs then converted a fourth third down on the drive, with Shafnisky hitting tight end Nate Hoenl for a 5-yard touchdown pass.

Whitehall finished with 235 rushing yards, many of which came after Harris, Wah, Madouse and Shafnisky felt their first contact from Liberty defenders.

"Especially their offense, they were leaning on us from the beginning of the game," Liberty coach Dave Brown said. "Offensively we got some movement. They jumped in a double eagle defense, and we still got some movement on them. Our offensive line was pretty physical.

"But their offensive line just took it to us. I was a little bit concerned about that coming in."

As well as Whitehall played Friday, it has designs on bigger wins down the road. The Zephyrs have another tough game next week when they welcome Easton, which beat them for the District 11 Class 4A title last season.

They believe they can play with and beat anyone in the area this season. No one should doubt them after Friday's effort.

"We're probably not going to have a Division I scholarship athlete on this team," Trisciani said. "We're probably not going to have an all-state player. But we have a really good football team. "The season's still early," he added. "No one's giving us a championship, and we haven't won any medals. We're just trying to play our best football every Friday night. We did it tonight."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-football-liberty-0923-20110923,0,1070386.story