Easton Area High School football team advances to district finals for third-straight season

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

One down, two to go.


For the third consecutive season, the Easton Area High School football team is in the midst of a three-games-in-eight-days stretch after beating Scranton 29-20 in the Districts 2-4-11 Class AAAA sub-regional semifinals on Friday night at Cottingham Stadium.

The No. 3 Red Rovers (10-2) travel to top-seeded Nazareth (11-1), which beat Parkland 63-27 in the other semifinal, on Saturday night in the title game.

Before then, though, Easton plays rival Phillipsburg for the 105th time on Thanksgiving morning.

"It means a lot three years in a row," junior two-way lineman Tyler Greene said. "Before the season, everyone was saying it's going to be a rebuilding year and we're going to have to come out strong. Starting out 2-2, it kept going through people's heads and we just picked it up."

"As we said back in August, I don't know if any of us thought we'd be in this position," coach Steve Shiffert said. "(It's) very rewarding. I know I keep saying the same thing but that's what it is. When you stop and think about it you say, 'Holy cow, look at the work these kids did and look at the job the assistant coaches did to get the kids ready to play these games.'"

Easton, the back-to-back district champion, jumped out to a 14-0 lead over the Knights (8-4) early in the second quarter. After forcing Scranton to go three-and-out midway through the first, the Red Rovers marched 54 yards on 12 plays, taking a 7-0 lead on Shane Simpson's 20-yard catch-and-run TD, sprung by Greene's block.

On Scranton's ensuing possession, Easton senior safety Ian Hayden jumped in front of Marlinn Waiters' pass intended for senior running back Joe McCarthy (115 yards on 23 carries) on third down.

The Rovers, which capitalized on four Freedom turnovers in the quarterfinal round, did the same against the Knights as junior tight end Matt Mowad outmuscled Mike Marichak on a 10-yard TD reception with 9:07 left until halftime.

"I think defense was key tonight," senior running back Kevin Griffin said. "Our defense held when we needed them to and that was the difference. You get a pick, momentum shifts and we capitalize on it."

Scranton answered with Eric Pabst's 4-yard touchdown run on its next possession, set up by Pat Robinson's 40-yard reception to the Easton 7. McCarthy's conversion pass to Marichak cut the deficit to 14-8.

On their ensuing drive, the Rovers scored on Austin Brown's 5-yard run on an option pitch from Hayden. They ran the same play on the two-point conversion, extending the lead to 22-8 with 2:13 left until half.

Scranton seemed poised to score right before halftime and did just that as McCarthy connected on a 10-yard pass with Karlon Quiller as the buzzer sounded for a 22-14 score.

"Coach Shiffert got on us a little bit and told us we needed to wake up," Griffin said of the halftime talk. "We were slacking on both sides of the ball a bit and we weren't playing to our potential and he noticed that and got on us."

Easton turned the ball over on downs at the Scranton 32 to open the half as the Knights didn't fare any better as Jake McCarthy's fumble was recovered by Brown two plays later.

The Rovers regained possession on the Knights' 29 and scored on Griffin's 1-yard TD run as he bounced off-tackle untouched on the left side.

"We have to take it one game at a time," Greene said. "P'burg is big to us. We're going to focus on that for a while. Once that's out of the way, we'll focus on Nazareth.

"We're starting to mature as a team, so we'll get by."

Shiffert admitted his team may have overlooked Scranton at times, citing the performance wasn't "our best football game."

"It was a concern tonight knowing the type of team we were facing and I think at times it showed a little bit," Shiffert said. "Let's hope the adrenaline gets going and as we told the kids, we have to eat, sleep and drink football together for the next couple of days."

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