On the eve of Wallenpaupack Area’s District Two battle with Parkland, Dr. Mark Watson put things in perspective for his players.
“I told them this was going to be a great experience,” Paupack’s veteran coach said. “Win, lose or draw, we’ll use this as a stepping stone. We are always looking to take this program to the next level.”
Sadly for three busloads of fans who made the journey to Allentown, the Buckhorns’ magical season came to an abrupt end. Parkland scored early and often en route to an eventual 49-6 victory.
With this win, the Trojans advance to the Class AAAA semi finals. Parkland will face East Stroudsburg South this Friday for a berth in the title tilt.
The Cavaliers, who play in the Mountain Valley Conference, rolled to a 49-21 decision over Easton in another quarterfinal blow-out. South went 9-1 in regular season action and captured the MVC championship.
Paupack closed out its campaign with a 7-4 overall record.
“We had kind of a Jekyll & Hyde season,” Dr. Watson said. “When we played well, we were really, really good...but, when we played badly we were awful.”
Such was the case on Friday night in Allentown.
Rough Start
Coming into this contest, Paupack’s coaching staff knew that one of the keys to victory would be containing Parkland’s much-ballyhooed ground assault.
The Trojans’ offense is built around Andre Williams, a 210-pound tailback who’s headed to Boston College to continue his football career.
Williams had already rushed for 1,418 yards and 18 touchdowns heading into Friday’s contest. The Trojans’ star wasted no time in adding to those numbers against a gallant, but overmatched Paupack defense.
Andre ran over, through and around the Bucks for 151 yards and four TDs. He needed just nine carries to give Parkland a lead it never relinquished.
“We made some really bad mistakes early in the game and never recovered,” said Dr. Watson. “The atmosphere was electric and the kids were excited, but we kept self-destructing.”
Williams scored on TD runs of 37, 14, 46 and 17 yards before leaving the game for good at intermission.
Paupack did its level best to keep pace, but even Joey DeFebo couldn’t offset Parkland’s high-octane offense. The Buckhorns’ All-State tailback turned in another stellar performance in his final high school game.
DeFebo carried 34 times for 135 yards. Joey also tallied Pau-pack’s lone touchdown, a 7-yard scamper late in the third. That scoring run capped an 11-play, 80-yard drive. A try for the PAT failed.
