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Scranton climbs over Pocono Mountain East

Tagged under: District 11, District 2, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| September 5, 2024

Many writers are saying a multitude of things about some early success stories in this young high school football season. We’ve certainly heard them all: “It’s still early” or “Wait until they have some injuries”, and then there’s the famous “They haven’t played anybody good yet.” The Scranton Knights have probably heard a lot of these already, and yet a nice 2-0 start to the season had them buzzing with anticipation as Pocono Mountain East came to visit for a rare Thursday night game at PenFed Field.

I wonder what they’ll say about the 3-0 Knights now.

Scranton got great play on both sides of the ball and on special teams, and QB Brody Coyle along with WR Memphis Shotto combined for a powerful 1-2 punch as the Knights hammered the Cardinals 34-6.

Pocono Mountain East won the toss and elected to receive, but it was a quick 3-and-out for the Cardinals. When the Knights took over at midfield, QB Brody Coyle went to work right away. He hit WR Memphis Shotto for a quick 6 yards and then RB Reece Whitman got in on the action with a nice 8-yard run. Later in the drive Coyle hit Whitman on a nice center screen down to the Cardinal 20, and then Whitman had a nice 11-yard run down to the 9. After an incomplete pass, Shotto hit paydirt on the stretch play to the left for a nice 9-yard TD run that gave the Knights an early 7-0 lead with 6:47 left in the 1st quarter.

The Cardinals took over at their own 20 and gained only 3 yards on 3 plays and lined up to punt. Scranton LB Connor Thomas had a great jump off the snap, blocked the ensuing punt and recovered the ball in the endzone for a special teams TD for the Knights that made it 14-0 with 5:38 still left in the 1st quarter.

The Scranton defensive unit played a great game, especially the front 7, and they put pressure on Cardinal QB Rocco Delgiudice all night. Another 3-and-out meant a punt coming to the Knights, but disaster struck as the punt was muffed and fumbled and then recovered by the Cardinals at their own 39. The Knight defense played inspired ball though, and the Cardinals gained only 7 yards and then lost 2 yards on a 4th down attempt and turned the ball right back over to Scranton at the Cardinal 44.

The Knight offense gained yardage down to the 24 as the 1st quarter ended. 3 plays into the 2nd quarter it was Shotto on another stretch play down the right sideline for an 18-yard TD run. The 2-point attempt failed but the score was 20-0 Knights with 10:26 left in the 1st half.

The Cardinals started their next drive on their own 15 and seemed to find some momentum. RB Stephen Bethea had a nice 15-yard run to the 30 and then Delgiudice hit WR Connor Triano for another 15-yard gain out to the 45. The Knights responded strongly on defense when DL Reece Spindler sacked Delgiudice for a huge 11-yard loss that made it 3rd-and-19 from the 36. Delgiudice then hit Bethea for a nice 14-yard gain, but on 4th down it was Knight DB/WR Shamyrr Moore who timed it perfectly and tipped the pass from Delgiudice to force a turnover on downs.

Taking over at midfield, Scranton got a nice Coyle to Shotto 12-yard connection and a strong 13-yard run by Whitman. The drive stalled however, as a bad snap followed by a holding penalty and 2 straight incomplete passes forced the Knights to punt it away. On the punt attempt, another bad snap allowed the Cardinals to block the punt and they recovered the ball at their own 48.

The Scranton defense showed up strong yet again though. Bethea gained 2 yards to midfield, but it was all backwards from there as Delgiudice had a strip sack fumble that the Cardinals recovered for a loss of 4 yards, followed by another sack courtesy of Knight DL Dyjeere Weekes for a loss of 7 to force another punt.

The Knight offense then took over at their own 20 and had an extended 10-play drive. Coyle ran for 10 yards on the drive and threw for 42 yards, including a 7-yard scoring strike to WR Jhavin Sims as the half was ending to give Scranton a commanding 27-0 lead at halftime.

The Knights received the 2nd half kickoff at their own 20, and WR Shamyrr Moore got in on the action with 2 runs for 24 yards on the drive. Coyle also had 2 nice throws to WR Michael McCann for a total of 21 yards. On 1st-and-goal from the 5, Coyle called his own number and drove ahead for the score to make it 34-0 Scranton with 6:30 left in the 3rd quarter.

Even though the mercy rule wasn’t technically involved, Scranton took the opportunity to substitute backups into the game as Pocono Mountain East started their next drive on their own 30. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Knight defense produced the same results as they forced another 3-and-out. On offense, the Knights then took the opportunity to play some backup players as well starting with their next drive. This drive continued as the 3rd quarter gave way to the 4th quarter, but stalled near midfield and the Knights punted the ball away.

The Cardinals took over on their own 8 and seemed to find some new life. Bethea had a nice 11-yard run, followed by a nice scramble from QB Ian Stiles for 8 yards. On a 4th-and-3 from their own 26, Stiles broke free on a nice 20-yard run for the 1st down. Unfortunately, the momentum stopped suddenly on the next play as a Stiles pass was intercepted by Scranton DB Ben Campbell at the Knight 25.

QB Connor Thomas then took over for the Knights and had a nice run aided by a Cardinal personal foul penalty that gained yardage out to the 46. But a bad snap on the next play resulted in a 15-yard loss, and on the very next play it was another bad snap that was recovered by Pocono Mountain East at the Knight 5 yard line. On a 4th-and-goal from the 8, Stiles hit Triano for the 8-yard score to get the Cardinals on the board at 34-6 with 4:09 to go in the game.

The Knights took over at their own 35 and used 4 runs to drain the clock down to where they were able to kneel it out to seal the win.

After the game, Head Coach Steve Shumbres was emphatic that his team had earned their 3-0 start and that they were getting better every week. I had a chance to speak with QB Brody Coyle after the game, and I asked him about his Offensive Line: “They did an unbelievable job up front blocking, no matter if it was the run game or the passing game. Double-teams were amazing and pulling was amazing and they went out there and made my job easier.”

I also spoke spoke with RB Memphis Shotto and I asked him about playing alongside his QB: “It’s great playing with him. He’s really talented kid definitely, and he can really get the ball there to you when you need it.”

The Knights improved to 3-0 and will face West Scranton next week in the “Bell Game” while the Cardinals will look to get on track as they face Allentown Central Catholic.

Be sure to check out the photo gallery from the game here:  Photo Gallery

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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