Cardinals prevail in ‘dogfight’
Pocono Mt. East slips past Canaries in OT
It was only two weeks earlier that Pocono Mountain East football team left J. Birney Crum Stadium on a Saturday after an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference North Division game against an Allentown program.
But on this Saturday, the Cardinals were much more upbeat for the ride home.
East lost to Dieruff 41-18 on Sept. 30, but in the rain in West Allentown 14 days later the Cardinals were winners, getting a 10-yard touchdown from Xander Gonzalez in overtime to beat Allen 14-8.
It was just East’s second win of the season in eight games while the Canaries remained winless.
“lt was a real dogfight and I was just pleased with how our kids overcame adversity,” Cardinals coach Dan Burns said. “They were backed up against the wall, but they worked hard to get themselves out.”
Pocono Mountain East didn’t allow any points in the second half after Allen took the lead with 34 seconds left in the first half on an 8-yard TD run by quarterback Jamier Thomas. Kemahni Wimberly ran in the 2-point conversion.
The Cardinals tied it midway through the third period on a 16-yard TD run by Rasu Wearing-Poindexter, who got the 2-point conversion as well.
It stayed knotted through the end of regulation.
Allen got the ball first in OT but failed to score. East got the game-winning run on its first play.
“We got a good surge up front and Xander kept his head down and ran hard,” Burns said. “To come back here for the second time and to get the win this time, I’m really happy for our kids. We want to keep improving. We want to keep developing these guys, first and foremost, as people and we want them to excel as students and on the field. We want to see progress each time they come out there.
We’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs. We still have a lot of things to improve.”
Pocono Mountain East closes its schedule with games against Pleasant Valley and Pocono Mountain West.
The Canaries still have Stroudsburg and Dieruff to play and first-year Allen coach Joel Rupp was still proud of his kids despite the defeat.
“Everybody in this community is trying and we need that ‘W’ just to keep the faith alive, but I am so proud of my guys and never once this season have we taken a step back,” Rupp said. “We want to keep growing. We
are trying to work through the season and figure out what’s best for the team.”
The loss was Allen’s second one by single digits this season. The Canaries fell to East Stroudsburg North 18-14 on Sept. 8.
“We are taking steps forward,” Rupp said. “Today we stopped them in the red zone a bunch of times. They were down at our 4 at the end of the game and we created a turnover. We’re growing. We really are.”
The team started out with 57 kids and now has 30, but Rupp said it’s the 30 kids he is most pleased with.
“They have a no-quit attitude and they’re learning to do the right things,” he said. “When we put in the discipline the guys start realizing what playing football is really all about. The future is bright for the program. We have 59 kids who will be varsity or JV players next season. You know we got beat against Northampton and we got back up and took a step forward and we got beat by Parkland and took another step forward. Nobody’s quitting. Usually when you don’t get a ‘W’ things fall apart. But we’re not. Not at all.”