With Parkland looming on the horizon, Whitehall’s coaching staff did all they could to keep their team focused on the task at hand, beating the Liberty Hurricanes. After a shaky start the Zephyrs got on the right track behind their outstanding back Saquon Barkley for a convincing 56-20 win over the Hurricanes in front of packed house at Zephyr Stadium last night.
Barkley set the school record for touchdowns by finding the end zone four times and rushing for 213 yards in the victory. He has 45 td’s in his career breaking the record of 42 held by Eric Fiore. Barkley had runs of 61, 5 and 43 yards and a scoring reception of 21 yards on the evening.
“It was just me being patient and trusting my line that they were going to open up the holes for me to run through,” Barkley said. “I know I can’t score on every play. I just keep positive and when the chance comes, I just run hard,” he finished saying.
Jake Buskirk also added three tallies and QB Gianni Sinatore ran one in himself as part of 563 yards of offense on the night. The Zephyrs went on a 42 point run to open up a close 28-20 lead for Whitehall at intermission. The Zephyrs’ defense came up big when Liberty had two untimed downs from inside the Whitehall five, and they came away with no points.
“The stop we got right at half was a huge momentum changer for us,” Coach Brian Gilbert stated. “The third quarter was ours. They are an explosive team we just needed to get some stops and get our offense rolling the rest of the way,” he concluded.
Liberty got on board first with a 79 yard pass from QB Doug Erney to Eli Hall on the second play of the game. Whitehall answered with Sinatore hitting Barkley with a 21 yard pass. After a sensational one-handed interception by Barkley, Jake Buskirk took it from five yards out giving the Zephs a 14-7 lead with 4:08 left in the quarter. Erney then hit Darius Jones with a 23 yard strike to tie the game at 14. Harvey Hous gave the Hurricanes their final score of the night from three yards out with 11:30 left before half.
“Our guys did not make some tackles on Barkley,” Liberty coach John Truby stated. “So many times we had the guys there and we just didn’t finish,” he concluded.
Whitehall regained the lead for good with 7:44 left as Sinatore connected with Buskirk for a 21 yard score. Sinatore called his own number on a four-yard scamper giving his team a 28-20 lead.
As the third quarter started, Barkley took the snap out of wildcat and sprinted 61 yards for a score. Then he took it in for two more scores from five yards and then from 43 on a fourth and four situation. Jake Buskirk completed the scoring from five yards out at 8:48 mark of the final quarter.
Next Friday night, Whitehall (4-0) hosts rival Parkland who is also unbeaten, as they get into the heart of the EPC South.
