THE LONGEST WAIT
Parkland is the last Lehigh Valley team to play a game
A large crowd gathered around the practice field Saturday morning near the entrance of Parkland High School.
Cars were parked on the field’s perimeter and many more were in across the street in the parking lot. Rimming the facility were socially distanced families, many sitting in their lawn chairs.
What created such a spectacle? It was a scrimmage between the Central Catholic and Parkland freshman teams.
While a freshman scrimmage normally is held in relative obscurity, this one was an attention-getter because the football community, particularly at Parkland, is starving for any competition, even a scrimmage among ninth-graders.
Barring more unforeseen developments, the Trojans varsity will get finally take the field Friday night when rival Whitehall visits Orefield.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Parkland is the last Lehigh Valley team not to play a varsity football game this season.
After having its entire league scheduled pushed back more than a month, like the rest of Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, the Trojans had its season opener with Central Catholic canceled.
First, Parkland’s program was on hold due to a Covid-19 case, and then Central Catholic’s program went on a 14-day quarantine due to a positive case.
Everyone associated with the Trojans is keeping fingers crossed that the game will go on as scheduled Friday night.
“It does get monotonous with them going against each other every day with no games,” Trojans coach Tim Moncman said.
It’s also the cloud of uncertainty that wears on the players and coaches who are by nature creatures of habit. They’re used to structure and routine, but during the pandemic, teams have to adjust to something new almost every day.
“Every morning when I wake up I check to see what’s the latest bad news,” Moncman said.
Moncman, who took teams to three state finals and won one PIAA crown while at Liberty, said he has never dealt with anything like this in 28 years of
coaching.
Barry Search is the freshman football coach and a part of the football program at Parkland for 47 years. He said he hasn’t encountered this situation before either.
Search is also the school’s girls softball coach and has been dealing with the cloud of uncertainty for nearly seven months.
“The uncertainty is the biggest problem,” Search said. “The shoe could drop at any moment. It’s just like during the softball season when they came to the field and told us we had to go home that day in March and we didn’t see the kids again until the summer. I feel for the kids. They’ll say ‘What are we going to do Monday?’ and you say, ‘We’ll figure out Monday when Monday comes.’”
Search said just having a scrimmage was uplifting for his players.
“We started doing stuff in the summer and have been together now for about a month and we hadn’t seen anybody else,” Search said. “It is tough. But we have a good group of kids. We just don’t know if tomorrow’s coming in terms of continuing the season.”
Moncman’s job is to keep his kids on task even with postponements, cancellations and rumors swirling around them. It’s also tough for kids to watch other teams in the area play. While Parkland has yet to take the field, some schools such as Notre Dame-Green Pond and Palisades have played four times.
“The psyche of a high school kid is that you’ve worked so hard to get out there to play and then you can’t,” Moncman said. “You try to stay as positive as you can. We try to compete as much as we can at practice. Even if it’s just a pass skeleton. We find different drills to get them more excited. But even as a coach, you run out of things to say.”
Moncman said he feels especially bad for the seniors who put in years of work to get ready for their last time on the local football stage and have seen their seasons delayed and curtailed.
“It’s not easy,” he said. “I went through it with my own daughter [Taylor] who lost her senior lacrosse season at Southern Lehigh in the spring. I don’t blame schools for holding their senior nights on the first night they’re playing because you don’t know what other chances you’re going to get.
“Problem is, you don’t know what the guidance will be in terms of allowing parents at the games. It’s just a messed up situation right now.”
Once they get on the field, Parkland will be formidable. The Trojans won six straight District 11 titles between 201217 and have reached at least the semifinals the last two years. In 2019, they fell in an overtime thriller to Nazareth in the championship game.
“We have a great group of skilled kids and our offensive line is coming along,” Moncman said. “Defensively, kids are aggressive and buying into the system. We’re replacing a ton, but right now, we just want them to get out there and show what they can do.”
Talking turkey
While teams are coming to terms with the idea of playing for a district title only and skipping states this year, Easton athletic director and EPC football chairman Jim Pokrivsak said recently that the Red Rovers’ annual Thanksgiving game against Phillipsburg will be more than a suitable substitute for a potential PIAA run.
Since New Jersey recently granted an exception for the Stateliners to play Easton as long as it’s the last game of the season, one of the Lehigh Valley oldest and grandest traditions is still on. The question is, will the game be moved?
“Wehave spoken with Lafayette College to see what their status is and if they’re willing to host the game,” Pokrivsak said. “If they say yes, the next step is how can we do it safely. Can we bring fans, cheerleaders and bands in, and all of the other stuff that is part of that day? But obviously, the most important thing is the game. If Lafayette says no, we’d have to look at another venue somewhere. There’s a lot of time between now and Nov. 26. We’ll take it day-by-day.”
Dating game
After some uncertainty caused by a potential problem with the field at J. Birney Crum Stadium, Allen and Central Catholic is now set for JBC Stadium at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The Pleasant Valley-Pocono Mountain East game, postponed by cases of Covid-19 at PV this past weekend, has been rescheduled for Nov. 13 at Pocono Mountain East. It’s the 60th edition of the battle for the Old Oaken Bucket, a tradition that began on Thanksgiving in 1961. The only way that game might be impacted is if either the Bears or Cardinals are still alive in the District 11 tournament.
Fish fries PM West
In the league’s best passing performance of the weekend, East Stroudsburg South senior Will Fish went 15-for-20 for 314 yards and five touchdowns in a 69-0 win over Pocono Mountain West. The state-ranked Cavaliers totaled 456 yards of offense. Evan Roche and Christian Sapp, two of the top receivers in District 11, combined for 11 receptions, 223 yards and four TDs.