Senior quarterback Cole Ordway ran for a pair of touchdowns and threw for another, and fellow senior Trevon Tyler had a 63-yard TD run from scrimmage and a 90-yard kickoff return as Easton ran all over Parkland for a 42-17 win Friday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium for the storied program’s eighth District 11 championship and first since 2010.
The much-anticipated battle of 12-0, and state-ranked teams, was one-sided thanks to an overwhelming offensive performance sparked by Ordway and Tyler.
Easton scored on its first six possessions and didn’t have to punt until just 9:25 was left in the game.
It was a stunning result considering Parkland entered the game as the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s top defense, allowing just 9.4 points and 181 yards per game.
But it was the Easton defense that made the key plays as the Red Rovers improved to 13-0 with a date in the state playoffs coming up next weekend against the District 12 champ, either La Salle College High School or Imhotep Charter. Those teams meet at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Northeast High School Supersite in Philly.
Easton’s Trevon Tyler runs back a kickoff for a touchdown on Friday in the District 11 Class 6A championship game against Parkland at BASD Stadium. (Jonathan Broady/Special to The Morning Call)
While the District 11 champion in the highest classification hasn’t beaten a Philly team in the PIAA tournament since Parkland beat La Salle in 2015, this Easton team will have a chance if it plays as well as it did against the defending district champion Trojans.
“It’s a great feeling; it really is,” said third-year Easton coach Matt Senneca. “It’s bittersweet to coach against coach [Tim] Moncman because I know I wouldn’t be in this spot without him and his guidance. That’s a heck of a football team over there that we were able to beat. I am just happy and excited for our kids that they got to experience this.”
Senneca, who turns the defense over to Bryan Falcone and his staff, had to be ecstatic with the offensive execution that began with a dominating effort up front.
“It’s a credit to our offensive line because we came in here with a game plan of wanting to run the ball,” Senneca said. “We did that pretty well and established the line of scrimmage. We were confident in our kids up front against theirs. It’s a credit to those guys because they come out and play every week.”
The dominant performance was remarkable considering Easton was just 3-8 two years ago.
“It was a lot of hard work, and it’s a lot of hard work from the administration all the way down,” Senneca said. “The support that I have received since I’ve gotten here has been terrific. But the kids are the ones who made the plays … the tackles, the touchdown runs. All we do as coaches is to put them in position and they take care of the rest.”
The defeat marked the second time in three seasons Parkland entered a district title game with a 12-0 record only to lose. Two years ago, they fell to Nazareth in a game that wasn’t decided until the final play.
This one was over much earlier.
“We made too many mistakes early on,” said Moncman. “We had penalties that kept their drives alive, and the kickoff return was a back-breaker because we had the momentum. We just made too many mistakes to win against a great football team. It wasn’t our night tonight, but I am proud of our kids because they battled the whole time. If you told me were going to be here at the start of the season, I kind of would have doubted because we had a lot of new starters. We grew as a team all year. We just ran into a very good football team tonight.”
Did you know?
Some tidbits from around the EPC:
Nazareth’s Marquez Wimberly finished his career with 65 touchdowns, with 57 of them at Nazareth scored when he was at Nazareth. Those 57 TDs ties him for the school record with Chuck Dibilio, who scored 57 TDs from 2008-10. His 65 total career TDs ties him with Juan Gaddy of Easton (1989-92), Wyatt Clements of Lehighton (2012-15), and Trey Tremba of Parkland (2020-23) for 27th place all-time in District 11.
According to District 11 statistician Duke Helm, four players went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season in Week 12. They were TJ Lawrence of Parkland (1,092), Braxton Lakatosh of Northwestern (1,091), Cayden Vassa of Bethlehem Catholic (1,023), and Carter Smith of Blue Mountain (1,005). Cole Ordway of Easton scored a pair of touchdowns in the Red Rovers’ win over Liberty to join the “40 touchdown” club. Amari Green of Pocono Mountain East rushed for 1,536 yards and scored 17 TDs this season. His yardage is the 2nd-best at East behind the 1,633 yards Joe Pawloski gained in 1991.
Antonio Fontanez of Liberty ended the season throwing for school records 2,827 yards and 38 TDs. He ended his career throwing for 6,744 yards and 70 TD passes. His career yardage moves him up three spots into 11th place all-time in the district.
Allentown Central Catholic’s Patrick Cahill finished his junior season with 2,135 yards and 20 TDs. Ceejay Serfass of Pocono Mountain East finished his junior season with a pair of single-season passing records. Serfass threw for 2,146 yards and 22 TDs, breaking the old records of 1,986 yards and 18 TDs set by Dylan Rinker in 2018.
Stroudsburg junior QB Jackson Mitchell also broke the school’s career passing yardage record. Mitchell has thrown for 2,983 yards, topping the old record of 2,932 yards set by Jake Jakobsen from 2013-15.
Title towns
Easton entered the night with seven previous district titles, winning the gold in 1990, ’91, ’93, ’03, ’04, ’09, and 2010. The first two came under Bob Shriver and the last five under Steve Shiffert.
Parkland’s district golds came in 1996, ’98, 2002, ’07, six straight from 2012-17, ’22, and ’24.
Their titles have come under four different coaches — Rich Sniscak, Rob Melosky, Jim Morgans, and Tim Moncman.
Scoring summary
Parkland 0 – 17 – 0 – 0 — 17
Easton 7 – 21 – 14 – 0 — 42
FIRST QUARTER
E: Cole Ordway 28 run (Noah Borluca kick), 4:00
SECOND QUARTER
P: Andrea Giroudon 30 field goal, 8:20
E: Trevon Tyler 63 run (Borluca kick), 6:32
P: Liam Spang 1 run (Giroudon kick), 3:01
E: Tyler 90 kickoff return (Borluca kick), 2:48
P: Jason Brader 25 pass from Finn Coen (Giroudon kick), 0:49
E: Skyler Fowler 45 pass from Ordway (Borluca kick), 0:25
THIRD QUARTER
E: Ordway 9 run (Borluca kick), 7:13
