Good memories
Pokrivsak proud of what’s been accomplished at Easton during his 2-decade tenure as the school’s AD
Jim Pokrivsak grew up on Easton’s South Side and played football for Easton Area High School’s legendary football program under Hall of Fame coach Bob Shriver. He graduated from Easton in 1984.
He attended Lebanon Valley College, dropped out, went to work on about 10 different construction jobs and discovered he wanted to go back to school. Pokrivsak attended East
Stroudsburg University with a bunch of Easton products such as Greg Hess, Carm LaDuca and Chuck Dailey. He didn’t play football but got a degree in education and became a health and physical education teacher.
After being a substitute teacher at a variety of places, in 1990 he got his first teaching job at Pleasant Valley High School, where he joined the Bears football staff.
“That was a whole new world for me because until college I didn’t go farther north than
Wind Gap,” Pokrivsak said. “I didn’t even known where Pleasant Valley was.
“A lot of them were past farmers. I remember going over to East Stroudsburg, and when they beat us they would sing ‘E-I-EI-O.’ I didn’t know what this was all about because, trust me, we didn’t have any farmland on the South Side of Easton.”
Pokrivsak got married, had two daughters and a son, pursued a master’s degree, and joined the football staff at Nazareth. Finally, in 1997, he had a chance to come home to Easton and got a teaching job. He joined the athletic department as an assistant to Shriver, served as a site and game manager, and handled schedules and other odd jobs.
In the winter of 2003 Pokrivsak took over for Shriver as athletic director.
Over the last 20 years there have been a lot of success, a lot of changes for the Easton program and a few coaching controversies involving football and wrestling.
“This was a horrible effort; we weren’t ready to play,” Parkland coach Andy Stephens said. “We’re kind of at a crucial point of the season with some tough games coming up. They can respond and this can become a little blip on the radar looking back, or it can be a turning point where we just kind of unravel. We just have to be better.”
Parkland could have made excuses. They had a tough fourth quarter Friday night at rival Emmaus where the Trojans were outscored 25-12 and lost 63-52.
They met at 9:30 Saturday morning and went on a long trip to meet a Pocono Mountain West team coming off a 77-38 pummeling of its rival, Pocono Mountain East.
“These kids play all the time,” Stephens said. “They play in the summer, they play in AAU tournaments where they play five games in one day. I know it’s a little different situation. Certainly, the schedule could have been a factor, but we’re not looking at that. [Pocono Mountain West] wanted it more, they played harder, they played smarter.”
Williams acknowledged Parkland had a little more difficult circumstance than his team, but he was still proud of his squad’s effort as the Panthers clinched a District 11 tournament berth by improving to 11-2. Since opening its doors in 2002, Pocono West has never missed the district playoffs.
Senior Juju Pagan, a Kutztown University commit, led the way with 29 points. Kyon Coles Jr., a freshman, added 13 points and sophomore Adrian Brito added 11 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks.
The Panthers led 32-26 at halftime and then pulled away with the first 11 points of the third quarter. It was 48-24 after three quarters and never competitive in the final frame.
“I am proud of my kids and how they played,” Williams said. “Juju said it was marked on his calendar because of what happened in the district championship game and they embarrassed us in that game. Juju took it to heart as good players should and he was locked in today. He was really excited to play today and he brought his ‘A’ game.”
Meanwhile, Parkland junior Nick Coval, who scored 26 points against Emmaus, was limited to 10 on 4-for-13 shooting. The only other play in double figures for
the Trojans, who fell to 8-5, was senior Gio Escalona, who scored a team-high 14.
“Nick is a fabulous player,” Williams said. “It’s actually fun to watch him on tape. Usually, you don’t enjoy watching tape of an opponent, but with him you actually enjoy watching it because his footwork is so phenomenal and his pre-catch prep is phenomenal. We tried to frustrate him and keep the ball out of his hands.”
De’von Smith and Jonathan Mateo took turns guarding him.
“We knew how good a team Parkland was and how great Coval is,” Pagan said. “So we had to take care of business. This game was personal for me after the district championship game. I still think of that game often. So this was a big one for me.”
Pagan said the key was to slow down Coval and stop Parkland’s dribble-drive approach on offense.
“They like to drive and then kick out for 3s,” Pagan said. “The main thing was to stop that.”
Pagan, who was 12-for-19 from the field, said the win felt good.
“It shows we can hang with any team and shows how we can do in the playoffs,” Pagan said. “We can make a long run.”
Parkland, meanwhile, feels like it is stuck in the starting block. The Trojans lost to Emmaus and Pocono Mountain West in backto-back games in early February last season and responded by winning their next seven games including the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and district titles.
At the moment, a repeat performance seems unlikely.
“We have two options: we can unravel or we can respond,” Stephens said. “I’m sure Monday morning we’ll come to practice at 9 and respond. I know the character of these kids and I’m pretty sure we’ll respond. But we’ve got to start playing better and it starts at practice Monday morning.”