Friday night’s matchup between Whitehall and Easton at historic Cottingham Stadium featured two of the best running backs in the area, if not the state, Whitehall’s Saquon Barkley and Easton’s Shane Simpson. Neither one disappointed the capacity crowd who was there to see these undefeated teams go head to head. In a game that resembled the song, Anything you can do I can do better, Easton outlasted the Zephyrs 63-49 in a key EPC South battle. The Red Rovers stay atop of the division in a 6-0 tie with Freedom. Whitehall, at 5-1 is tied for third along with Parkland who will face Easton in Orefield next Friday night. Whitehall will host Freedom as its’ homecoming game Friday night
Easton amassed over 700 yards of offense, 525 coming via the ground attack. Shane Simpson found the end zone seven times in the contest. “We got a few completions early on and our line did a good job in pass protection,” stated Easton Coach Steve Shiffert. Simpson finished the night with 22 carries for 279 and six tallies. He also caught a scoring pass of 43 yards. “We knew this was going to be a test for us coming in. We had not beaten them in few years so to get this win here at home means a lot,” Simpson mentioned.
Whitehall did all they could to keep up with Easton as they got three scores via the kicking game. Bryce Crum took the opening kickoff back 75 yards for a score. Mustafa Mitchell and Barkley both had returns of 87 yards for scores. Barkley finished with 113 yards and four scores. He is now the school’s all-time leading rusher. “They dominated us up front. They had great blocking by their line, backs and the receivers man-handled us tonight,” Coach Brian Gilbert stated.
Easton kept Whitehall at bay with a brutal running attack led by Simpson but also QB Trey Durrah ran for 130 yards and Dalvyn Reynolds rushed for 83 in keeping Whitehall off balance through the contest. The final scoring drive was a brutal ten-play, 80 yards capped off with a five yard run by Simpson. Durrah also threw for 171 yards and three scores. Easton averaged nearly ten yards per carry on the night.
“We will enjoy this win in the next few days, but we have another tough one coming up in Parkland,” Shiffert stated. Parkland ended Easton’s season in last year’s District playoffs 42-0.
