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Easton survives Hurricanes to remain Undefeated

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| October 11, 2025

Easton-

The normally high flying Red Rover offense was brought back to earth by Liberty, but still finds a way to gut out a victory in this long standing rivalry game thanks in large part to Ordway’s legs and the Easton defense.

This crisp evening at Cottingham stadium started with the Red Rover offense taking the field first.  The Rovers kept the ball on the ground the majority of the opening possession outside of a quick slant on which Ordway found senior wideout Andrew Biddle for a big gain down inside the Liberty 10 yard-line.  On the next play, Ordway called his own number and found a hole up the middle of the Liberty defense to put Easton up 7-0 with 9:30 remaining in the opening quarter.

Liberty got off to a shaky start with Fontanez fumbling the first Hurricanes offensive snap.  Luckily he was able to recover to fight another day.  The Easton defense however made that day quite short as they forced the Hurricanes to punt away their first possession of the game.  Easton’s second possession was more of the same, pounding the rock with Ordway and running back Chris Martinez.  The Liberty defense tightened up this drive however and forced a field goal attempt by the Rovers.  The kick by Noah Borluca sailed through the uprights and gave Easton a 10-0 lead still in the 1st quarter.

The ensuing possession for Liberty saw Fontanez picking on the Rovers secondary.  After some quick strikes from Fontanez to Jackson Barlock, William Reese and Gabe Green,  the Rover secondary also getting called for back to back defensive holding and pass interference penalties, the Hurricanes looked to be in business moving down the field.  Easton’s Sean Mcpeek had other ideas, he stepped right in front of an attempted quick pass to Green, and housed it, 70 yards for the pick 6 to extend the Red Rover lead to 17 with only seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Following the long pick 6, Easton punched the ball out on the ensuing kickoff and looked to be in business once again looking to extend their lead.  Liberty’s defense came through in a big way forcing the Easton offense off the field after stopping the Rovers on 4th down.  A few punts later and the Liberty offense was once again back on the field with time starting to dwindle in the first half.  The Hurricane’s Fontanez lead his offense back out on the field looking to close the gap.  Early in the drive, Fontanez found Jaxon Barlok for a long gain over the top of the Easton defense.   A few plays later Fontanez kept it himself for a long gain for himself down to the Easton 11.

A few plays later, Fontanez somehow sneaks the ball over the goal line to finally get some points on the board for the visiting Hurricanes with only 3:37 remaining in the opening half.

After forcing Easton’s offense to punt once again, Liberty was  looking to score once again before the end of the first half.  They pushed the ball quickly downfield but ran out of time after this shoelace catch ended this first half. At the end of the opening half, Rovers 17, Liberty 7.

Starting off the 2nd half with the ball Fontanez and the Liberty offense wasted very little time to cut in to the Rovers lead.  After a long run by Gabe Green brought Liberty to the Rovers’ 40, Fontanez found Jake Pukszyn streaking down the near sideline for a 40 yard score.  Liberty was back in the ball game.  With 10:34 remaining in the 3rd, Easton 17, Liberty 14.

Looking to spark his offense, Ordway took to the air early in the ensuing drive, but an errant pass was picked off by Liberty’s Zyaire Davis who returned the ball to midfield for the Hurricanes.

Fontanez and Liberty offense looked to seize this opportunity and that they did, keeping the ball mainly on the ground and then 2 defensive pass interference penalties on Easton brought Liberty to Easton’s 23 yard-line.  Here, Fontanez found Christian Contakes open over the middle for the 23 yard score! The point after attempt was blocked, but this finally gave Liberty a lead, 20-17, heading in to the 4th quarter.

The ensuing kickoff return gave Easton great field position looking to retake the lead.  On the back of Ordway and Martinez, Easton pounded the rock down the field, however on 4th down the Hurricane defense stood tall and turned away the Easton offense to keep the lead for Liberty.  Easton’s defense on the next Liberty possession really locked down the Hurricanes and forced a quick  3 and out.  With time, and opportunities starting to run out for a comeback, Easton was able to drive down the field and from 5 yards out with 9:27 remaining in the game Ordway found a small hole up the middle of the Liberty defense and stretched the ball across the goal-line to put Easton up 23-20.

The remainder of the contest was a defensive slugfest by the the Rovers who kept turning away this high powered Liberty offense.  On the next Hurricane possession, the Rovers forced Liberty in to a turnover on downs after Fontanez was under heavy pressure and wasn’t able to get the ball to one of his receivers. The Eason offense quickly went 3 and out which got Liberty the ball back with plenty of time to retake the lead.  This would not be the case as the Red Rover defense once again stood tall and on fourth down senior lineman Kurtis Crossman sacked Fontanez, effectively ending the game as Liberty was out of timeouts.

Final score from Cottingham Stadium in Easton,  Red Rovers 23, Hurricanes 20.  After the game I was able to track down defensive lineman Kurtis Crossman and head coach Matt Senneca for some post game comments.

With the victory this evening, Easton moves to 8-0 on the year and looks to welcome Bethlehem Freedom (5-3) to Cottingham next week. With the loss, Liberty falls to 5-3 on the year and will host Bethlehem Catholic next week who are fresh off a loss to Nazareth this week.

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