GAME DAY IS HERE
Allentown Central and Whitehall will be the 1st EPC teams to kick off in 2020
Coaches often encourage their players to “play like it’s your last game.”
Usually that kind of inspiration comes during the playoffs when, for seniors, a loss means not only the end of the season, but in many cases, the end of their careers.
But Allentown Central Catholic seniors are approaching Friday night’s season opener at Whitehall with a “play like it’s your last game” attitude.
Why? Because it might be, considering that the coronavirus pandemic continues to put a cloud of uncertainty over all scheduled games; a few positive cases have already prompted some cancelations.
Assuming there are no late-breaking developments, the Vikings and Zephyrs will kick off their seasons at 7 p.m. at Whitehall’s renovated football stadium, which includes a new turf field.
Central Catholic and Whitehall are the first two Eastern Pennsylvania Conference teams to begin their seasons, with two more, Bethlehem Catholic and Nazareth, set to open Sept. 25. The rest of the EPCteams are scheduled to start Oct. 1-3.
“It feels like we’ve been practicing forever,” Vikings coach Tim McGorry said. “It has been a long offseason and we’re ready to play someone else.”
Christian Spugnardi, one of several key seniors for CCHS, echoed the sentiments of his coach.
“We’re very excited,” he said. “With all the uncertainty going around, we’ve had no idea. But this week we actually have a sense that this is real. We’re actually going to play a game.”
While it’s not considered an EPC game, it’s still a contest that will receive lots of media coverage and attention. It’s a matchup of two traditional Lehigh Valley rivals going head-to-head. It’s also the debut of a turf field at the same site that hosted numerous memorable games and legendary players such as past Zephyrs Matt Millen, Dan Koppen and Saquon Barkley, to mention a few.
Both teams have something to prove. Whitehall would like to show it’s
better than the team that went winless in 2019, and has won just two games in two years.
Central Catholic would like to legitimize its status as one of the area’s top contenders and build off an 8-5 season a year ago that ended with a loss in the District 11 4A championship game.
“Whitehall kids are tough,” McGorry said. “They were much better than their record last year. They were in a ton of games late. They’re going to compete and won’t back down from anybody. I wouldn’t expect anything different Friday night.”
Whitehall coach Matt Senneca said it’s going to be tough facing a quality team like CCHSinthe first game of the year without having had the chance to scrimmage an opponent.
Still, he thinks his team is ready for the challenge. “We’re looking to put on a good show and show we’ve improved,” Senneca said. “Wewant to show that opponents can’t just mark us as a ’W’ every week. Hopefully, we can give opponents competitive games every week. That’s what I am really looking for on Friday night. Can webe competitive with a team like this coming into our stadium?”
Senneca says his team matches up well with CCHS in the skill positions, but the key will be up front where the Zephyrs have little experience.
“Wehave no returning starters on the defensive front, and to go against a team with so many weapons is going to be tough,” he said. “But we’re going to play as hard as we can and see where the chips fall at the end.”
Hewas encouraged by what he saw at a practice under the lights on Wednesday night.
“We had a really good practice, very energetic,” he said. “The kids were really into it. If we play like we practiced, we’ll give them some kind of a game.”
CCHS also has had a lot of energy as opening night draws closer and will have to make the adjustment to having no fans in the stands.
“We’re going to have to make the energy for ourselves,” said senior Leroy Johnson. “It’s going to be very different, the first time I’ve ever played without fans. All of the returning starters we have will bring the energy. It’s going to be a tense, physical game. We know they’re going to bring it.”
Did you know?
The head coaches in this game, McGorry and Senneca, are former teammates at Central Catholic, even though they both lived in Whitehall Township at the time.
Senneca was the CCHS starter at quarterback for three years from 1995 to 1997, and McGorry, a year younger, was his backup who would get to start in 1998 and lead the Vikings to a state title.
Senneca would pick up McGorry on weekday mornings and drive to school together.
“We’ve kind of leaned on each other for a lot of different things through the years and we’ve remained good friends,” Senneca said. “I went over with him to coach at Moravian College for a year. When he was the offensive coordinator, I was his receivers coach.”
“Weprobably never envisioned we’d be coaching against each other,” McGorry said. “I have always had a lot of respect for Matt and know he’s going to have this team ready to play Friday night.”