Easton “D” pitches second straight playoff shutout

EASTON – Bear Bryant is quoted as saying, “Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships.” Well the Red Rovers have both. On defense, Easton won the battle of turnovers and recorded their second straight playoff shutout. Running back Shane Simpson’s 200 rushing yards led the way Friday night at Cottingham Stadium.

The Red Rovers had all phases of their game going last night in a 28-0 shutout win against Bethlehem Freedom in the District 2/4/11 Class 4A subregional semifinals.

Easton’s defense created five turnovers. They ran for over 300 yards and had a kickoff return for a touchdown.

“Two shutouts are big and we won the turnover battle tonight,” said Simpson. “We wanted to win all phases of the game tonight against Freedom and we did.”

Easton (12-0) will face Parkland for the District 11 Class 4A Championship title for the second straight year. Parkland defeated Delaware Valley out of District two Friday night, 31-7.

Easton’s defense set the tone right out of the gates, forcing Freedom to punt the ball on the first drive of the game.

The Red Rovers controlled the line of scrimmage from the start and marched right down the field. The nine-play drive (all rushing) was capped off by a two-yard touchdown run by Shane Simpson. Easton led 7-0 with 5:19 left in the first quarter.

Easton went up 14-0 on a 69-yard run by Simpson.

The first quarter came to an end when Simpson picked off Jonah Gundrum’s pass in the end zone.

After one quarter of play Shane had one interception and rushed for 121 yards on nine carries and two touchdowns.

Easton drove late in the first half, but Freedom’s John Callahan intercepted the Trey Durrah pass with ten seconds remaining.

The Red Rovers went into halftime with a 14-0 lead. They received the kickoff to start the second half.

The one thing Freedom didn’t want to happen coming out of halftime, happened.

The backbreaking play of the night was a 79-yard kick-off return by Simpson to put the Red Rovers up 21-0.

“We wanted to score coming out of halftime,” said Simpson. “That’s what we talked about at halftime. They kicked it right to me and the blockers did a great job freeing me up.”

In the third quarter Easton’s defense dominated the second half. The Patroits’ first play of the second half resulted in a turnover. EJ Roeder picked off the Gundrum pass.

But, the Red Rovers gave the ball right back when Bryant Connor picked off Durrah’s pass. Easton returned the favor when Cory Deemer picked off Gundrum’s pass.

But this time Easton would take advantage of the turnover driving 49 yards on seven plays as Dalvyn Reynolds hammered it in from two yards out to extend Easton lead to 28-0 with 3:33 left in the third quarter.

On Freedom’s next drive, Gundrum threw his third interception of the night. Roeder got his second pick of the night.

“Defense was the name of the game,” said Shiffert. “They did a great job tonight against Freedom.”

Freedom had one late drive in the fourth quarter but a fumble ended their drive and season.

Freedom finished the season with an 9-3 record.

Note: With the win by Easton’s Steve Shiffert won his 200^th career game in front of the home crowd. This is Steve 22^nd year coaching.

“It feels good,” said Shiffert. “But don’t think it’s a singular type thing. We have great kids, a great coaching staff and in particular Doug Powell and Scott Byrd. We have been together for every one of those 200 wins.”

Shane Simpson finished the night rushing for 203 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns. On defense he had one interception and on special teams he had a 79-yard kickoff return.

“Shane is such a competitor,” said Shiffert. “As good as he was offensively tonight, he had a tremendous game on defense and special teams for us tonight.”

The Red Rovers out rushed the Patriots 308 to 58.

“Our line dominated the line of scrimmage tonight and did a good job opening up holes for me and Dalvyn tonight,” said Simpson.

In two playoff games Easton has outscored their opponents 74-0.