What we learned from Week 6 of local football
As one of just two coaches in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference with more than 100 career wins, Freedom’s Jason Roeder is recognized as one of the area’s best on the sidelines.
But in his previous 15 seasons in charge of the Patriots, Roeder has encountered his share of adversity.
There was a 2-8 mark in 2005, his first season. Then after going a combined 19-6 in 2007-08, the program hit a dip with three losing seasons in four years from 2010-13 with another 2-8 representing a low point in 2013.
Since then, Freedom has not won fewer than seven games in any season.
Roeder has dealt with adversity before and has it again after being forced to change quarterbacks after two games. Brian Taylor, who led Freedom to wins over Northampton and Easton, is out due to a residency issue. Sophomore Ethan Neidig played Friday night against Nazareth and, considering he didn’t practice as the No. 1 QB until Wednesday, he played admirably in a 21-7 loss with 155 yards passing and a touchdown.
“We’re going to plan as though Ethan will be the quarterback the rest of the season,” Roeder said. “This never gets easier for anybody over here, taking a loss, but the sun will come up tomorrow and we’ll get back to work.”
Freedom, which will have all five regular-season games at home, will be in action the next two Saturday afternoons with Bethlehem Catholic next and Liberty on Oct. 31.
“If our remaining schedule doesn’t get us right, then it’s on me,” Roeder said.
2. It’s been a while: Notre Dame-GP’s 27-0 win Friday night at Palisades was impressive in many ways, but perhaps nothing highlights more than this: It was the Crusaders’ first shutout win over a team with a winning record since Week 6 in 2016 against Palmerton.
“It’s one of the best defensive performances I’ve seen since I’ve been coaching,” Notre Dame-GP coach Phil Stambaugh said. “I’m very happy with our effort. They’re playing with a good fire, good energy. We changed the mentality of our defense to be attacking.
“To put a goose egg up against a team that has a rushing attack like that is impressive.”
3.Awin for Quinn, Zephs: After winning just two games over the previous two seasons, Whitehall is 2-2 after a 37-0 win over Allen on Thursday night. It was an interesting night for Zephyrs junior quarterback Quinn Wentling, who threw three interceptions, but also ran for 193 yards on nine carries and scored two touchdowns.
“The benefit in having him is that if it’s not working one way, he can make it work another way,” Whitehall coach Matt Senneca said. “He gave us an added bonus in the run game, which helped, and it was able to be enough for us.”
Allen has yet to score a point in three games, but Senneca gave the Canaries credit. It was only 2-0 after one quarter.
“They played us tough,” he said. “They were flying around, hitting people, and they were physical. Coach [George] Clay had them ready to play and we didn’t play the way we could. It took us until midway through the second quarter to get some points on the board and start to get rolling in the right direction. Plus, it was our first shutout since we’ve been there and I challenged the kids and wanted to see if we could do that for 48 minutes and keep someone off the board.”
While Whitehall racked up 407 yards on offense, including 323 on the ground, Senneca is looking forward to the challenges ahead with games against Emmaus and Northampton left in the regular season and next month’s District 11 5A tournament, which will also feature defending champ Southern Lehigh and state-ranked East Stroudsburg South.
“That’s the next step for us,” Senneca said. “We have to pull out a big win at some point.
That would be a huge stepping-stone for us. Hopefully, it will come sooner rather than later, but we’re going to have to work for it.”
4.Take meHolmes: Northwestern first-year quarterback Justin Holmes is racking up the yardage. A week after totaling more than 400 yards between rushing and passing, the junior ran for 257 yards and a touchdown and added another 52 passing in a win at Salisbury.
Holmes is closing in on a 1,000-yard rushing and 1,000yard passing season. He leads the Tigers in both categories.
5. Cavalier attitude: Perhaps no team was more disappointed with the coronavirus-related altering of the schedule than East Stroudsburg South. Coming off a district title in
2018 and an appearance in the district finals last year, the senior-laden Cavaliers wanted to show what they could do outside Monroe County and beyond.
Instead, they’re making the most of the limited situation and are delivering statements in any way they can. So far, they are being heard.
They have now scored 69 points in both of their games, the latest a 69-7 rout of Stroudsburg on Friday night in the 76th battle of the Little Brown Jug.
The 69 points was the most scored by either team in the series and 62 points is the largest margin of victory, topping the 64-7 South win in 1996 when James Mungro led the way.
Will Fish completed 20 of 25 passes for 406 yards and six scores. Christian Sapp had eight catches for 176 yards and two TDs. Evan Roche had six receptions for 98 yards and both Duquesne LIndor and Chris Cacase had two TD receptions. Christian Arrington led the ground game with 147 yards on 17 carries and three TDs.
Sapp broke school records for career catches (103) and receiving yards (1,880) and Fish joined Jake Cirillo as the only Cavs to throw for six TDs and 400 yards in a game. In two contests, Fish is 35-for-45 for 721 yards and 11 TDs.
6. Better late than never ... again: For the second week in a row, Saucon Valley rallied late in the fourth quarter to pull out a one-point win. For the second Friday night in a row, it was quarterback Dante Mahaffey finding receiver Alex Magnotta for the game-winning score — this time from 24 yards out with 5 minutes, 54 seconds left.
Jake Christopher’s PAT completed a 42-41 victory over visiting Palmerton.
The Blue Bombers led three times, including 28-14 at halftime, but the Panthers rallied each time.
Mahaffey threw for four touchdowns and ran for two more for Saucon Valley. Palmerton’s Cole Serfass ran for two scores and threw two more.
In the previous week’s 34-33 win at Southern Lehigh, Mahaffey and Magnotta connected on a 13-yard scoring play with 81 seconds left.