Liberty scored the win of the weekend over Parkland.
A look around the high school football scene as District 11 power ratings begin to take shape ...
Liberty scores win of the weekend. After the Hurricanes beat Bethlehem Catholic in Week 1, it looked like they could be in for a special season. But a Week 3 loss to Nazareth appeared to derail that hope. That is, until Friday night.
Liberty knocked Parkland from the unbeaten ranks with an impressive all-around performance — save for some play late in the third quarter and early fourth. But its defense did enough early on — and on its final stand — to help the Hurricanes come away with the biggest win of John Truby’s tenure.
“I would put it up there with my first one,” Truby said after the game. “It’s bittersweet cause now we gotta get ourselves ready for a tough one at Northampton and we gotta keep this momentum going.”
As for the difference since the Week 3 loss?
“Nazareth was definitely a tough loss,” senior quarterback Doug Erney said. “Special teams hurt us and offense wasn’t clicking as good, maybe because it was an away game. But we wanted to improve from that and that’s what we’ve done so far.”
Hidden in the big win was Erney breaking Dan Persa’s school record for career touchdowns — he now has 61 and counting.
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Easton takes big step. Steve Shiffert wants his team to take one step forward every week, but after the Red Rovers lost to Central Catholic, he told them they had to take two steps forward one of these weeks to make up for it.
It appears Friday was the night to do that. Easton hung 45 points on Whitehall, a team that had given Parkland a run for its money just a week before. What’s most impressive about the win isn’t the 45 points, though, it’s the zero that the defense allowed and how they were able to shut down Zephyrs quarterback Gianni Sinatore — he finished with seven carries for six yards and 5 of 19 passing for 29 yards and an interception. That’s the same Sinatore who threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 100 yards and a score against the Trojans.
Next up, the Red Rovers will get their shot against Parkland. Both teams will likely come in angry — the Trojans from Friday’s loss and Easton from last year’s district championship.
Warren Hills plays again. In what was an emotional return to the gridiron, the Blue Streaks got the win in their first game back after Evan Murray’s death. It had to be a tough thing for Murray’s teammates to take the field without him, but it looks like they would have made him proud — Shane Deemer ran for 188 yards and two touchdowns while sophomore quarterback Cooper Gabrich threw for two touchdowns.
"I practiced with Evan every day, I trained with him every day," Gabrich said. "He taught me things I didn't know how to do. He taught me how to be a better person. It was a great relationship. I miss him."
Central Catholic bounces back in big way. The Vikings had a tough outing in Week 5 as they lost to Freedom 35-14. Not much went right in that one, but they showed they’re not down and out as they came back to beat Nazareth Saturday afternoon.
Going up 28-0 tells you there was plenty of fuel in Central Catholic’s tank coming into the game, even after a stretch of playing Parkland, Easton and Freedom. The Vikings now face a pair of sub-.500 teams in Emmaus and Northampton before ramping it up for the end of the year against Liberty and Bethlehem Catholic. The Vikings are playing for a spot in the tightly-contest Class AAA district playoff field, too, which puts some added emphasis on each game. They hold the No. 1 spot right now while Southern Lehigh (5-1) is all the way down at No. 7.
Freedom avoids trap game. While the other unbeaten team in the EPC entering Week 6 was on its way to losing its first game, the Patriots had to grind it out against Dieruff to come away with a win. They led 10-0 at the half before creating some breathing room in the second half to win 39-0.
It was a potential trap game for Freedom (with Whitehall, Parkland, Easton and Liberty waiting in the final four weeks) though the Huskies nearly pulled it off last year — tied 14-14 through three quarters before the Patriots pulled away.
New Jersey winners left standing. There are now just two teams left in lehighvalleylive’s New Jersey coverage area that are 5-0: North Warren and Delaware Valley.
The Patriots avenged losing to Boonton last year (their first loss at the time) with a 20-14 win over the Bombers. They’ll have another good test this week against Lenape Valley (4-1).
The Terriers continued to roll and have now outscored their opponents 180-65. It looks like their biggest threat left is an Oct. 23 date with Cranford, which just handed Voorhees its first loss.
Tough weekend for Slate Belt football. There have been better weekends of football for Pen Argyl and Bangor and there will be better weekends to come. But this past one was one they’ll likely try to forget.
Granted they were playing the two top teams in the Colonial League — Saucon Valley and Notre Dame — the two teams lost by a combined score of 116-0. Neither team has won a game yet this year.
The bad news for the Green Knights is they get Notre Dame next weekend. And the Slaters get Saucon Valley the week after that.
Greg Joyce may be reached at gjoyce@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @GJoyce9. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.