Parkland’s Moncman is our pick for 2022
Trojans had off-season adversity, a 2-3 start and injuries, but found their way to win a district title
The losses mounted for Tim Moncman and the Parkland football team long before the start of the 2022 season.
In March, Leo Facchiano, the very young son of assistant coach Mike Facchiano died. A month later Andy Coen, the former Lehigh football coach and a longtime friend of Moncman, lost his battle with Alzheimer’s, leaving the entire team to rally around Nolan Coen, one of Andy’s two sons.
Then in June, popular former Parkland player Bryce Boyer, a 2020 graduate and the brother of 2022 graduate Brock Boyer, died unexpectedly at the age of 20.
Those kind of setbacks were difficult to deal with but put in perspective the struggles that would occur over the first five games of the season.
Parkland beat Easton handily on opening night, but then lost to Nazareth in Week 2, bounced back to beat Freedom in Week 3 and then suffered consecutive losses to Allentown Central Catholic and Whitehall in the next two weeks to reach the midpoint of the regular season at an uncharacteristic 2-3.
Even worse was the team had accumulated its share of key injuries, most notably to quarterback Luke Spang, backup quarterback and wide receiver Nakhi Bullock, and junior wide receiver and cornerback Jendel Sanchez. Star running back Trey Tremba also missed parts of two games with an injury.
Through it all, Moncman didn’t flinch. He stayed calm, maintained his poise and worked with the coaching staff toward a turnaround.
His efforts made Moncman the 2022 Morning Call EPC Football Coach of the Year.
They ended up staging two turnarounds.
The first saw the Trojans win four games in a row and enter the regular-season finale at Emmaus with a 6-3 record.
The second turnaround came at halftime of the Emmaus game when the Trojans were down 30-7. They cut the lead to 33-25 after three quarters before losing 40-25.
“Down 30-7 at halftime of that game, I asked the kids ‘Who are we?’ and ‘What do we have?’ and they responded,” Moncman said. “They played a great second half and even though it didn’t produce a win, I think that’s the first time I’ve lost a game where I was left smiling and feeling good about where we were going. Then we just kept rolling through the playoffs.”
They didn’t just win three games to claim the program’s first District 11 title since 2017, they dominated, beating EPC South champ Nazareth 42-14, unbeaten EPC North champ Northampton 31-13, and defending district champ Freedom 35-10.
With Tremba out again with concussion symptoms, Parkland was overmatched by perennial District 11 nemesis and eventual state champ St. Joe’s Prep in the first round of states, losing 52-21.
Still, the 9-5 record was impressive considering the adversity the team faced.
“It was probably the most gratifying year I’ve had in coaching,” said Moncman, who is 62-21 in seven seasons at Parkland and 150-57 in 17 seasons overall including previous stops at Southern Lehigh and Liberty. “I have a great staff and they just kept coaching hard and putting the time in. At 2-3 with the injuries we had and the stuff that went on off the field, the key was that the kids always believed.”
Moncman said the Trojans met each challenge head-on.
“Every time we turned around, someone else was out,” Moncman said. “And when you lose a guy like Luke Spang and Trey, those guys are hard to replace but other kids stepped up. We had to get everybody back together and we had that four-game win streak that boosted our confidence.”
After the Emmaus loss, the team quickly regrouped.
While Nazareth was without key two-way starter Sonny Sasso, his absence shouldn’t detract from a dominant Parkland performance.
That was followed by the win over Northampton, in which the Trojans overcame turnovers, and then the Freedom win was as good as the Trojans played all year, according to Moncman.
Most impressive to Moncman was how they kept Bryce Boyer’s memory in their hearts.
“That showed their true character when they asked me if they could carry his jersey out to midfield for the coin toss for the district title game,” Moncman said. “That’s maturity. That’s what family is all about. That showed they get this is about much more than football.”
Offensive coordinator Chris Kinane said Moncman’s leadership and steady hand shouldn’t be overlooked.
“He’s one of the best player’s coaches there is,” Kinane said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the last player on the depth chart or one of the top players, he’s always there for every one of them. This team went through its share of tragedies with the death of a former player [Boyer], the death of a coach’s son [Facchiano] and the loss of a player’s father. Tim always found ways to honor them within the team and outside the team.”
Moncman said he hadn’t started the first half of a season under .500 since early in his tenure at Liberty. Parkland hadn’t been under .500 at the midpoint since a 2-3 start in 2010. That season ended 4-7.
“When you’re 2-3, that’s when people come out of the woodwork and you hear some things and say some things, but again, my staff stayed together and kept the kids together and when you have that you turn it around and be successful,” he said. “I’ve had maybe more talented teams that were undefeated or finished with one or two losses, but this group was special because they just kept plugging away.”