Indexed locally for search — headlines, people, teams, and short excerpts from reporting originally published in The Morning Call (1998–2010). Full article text on mcall.com; DRE'S TAKE links out and does not republish Morning Call copy.
Easton no longer has a chip on its shoulder. Instead, the Red Rovers have a bulls-eye on their chest. That’s because a year after having a 10-year district playoff run ended, Easton bullied to a 9-1 regular season record and finished as Lehigh Valley Conference co-champs with…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton boiled with emotion and played with unstoppable force on both sides of the ball to thwart Lehigh Valley Conference rival Liberty 28-7 on Senior Night Friday at Cottingham Stadium. Statistically, Liberty outgained Easton, 293-135. But Easton worked on a short field most of…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty played with punch on both sides of the ball to knock Nazareth out of a much-hyped Lehigh Valley Conference game early in the first quarter Friday night. Ahead 21-0 after the first, Liberty added 14 more points in the second quarter and breezed through the rain and chill…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton deflated Freedom’s defense with a 19-play, 66-yard scoring drive that took up most of the fourth quarter Friday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. Then the Red Rovers clinched a 14-10 Lehigh Valley Conference victory because of their own rugged defense.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The top two playmakers, Liberty seniors Anthony Gonzalez and Jarrod West, had already made their share of standout plays in their final homecoming game Friday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. Senior kicker Jordan Roman then joined in the fun when he booted a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was 48 minutes of grueling, smashmouth, hard-hitting football for Emmaus. And it was at Cottingham Stadium, where the ghosts of storied years past are not supposed to turn against Easton. Not when the Red Rovers are first-and-goal inside the 5-yard line. Actually, Easton…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Easton has a chip on its shoulder. Blame it on Parkland, Emmaus and Liberty. All three Lehigh Valley Conference opponents beat the then-inexperienced, mistake-prone Red Rovers by a combined 89-0 margin last season. The chip is still there, despite Easton holding Parkland to 98…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In the previous two seasons, Easton was not a serious contender for the Lehigh Valley Conference title. Last season, without four-year starter and four-year Morning Call all-area defensive back Jarred Holley — now a redshirt freshman at Pittsburgh — Easton didn’t even post a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Parkland backup defensive back Dan Castillo has been called nicknames that no football player wants to be called. “I get it all,” he said. “Tiny, midget, munchkin.” Well, he is only 5 feet, 5 inches tall. But he probably felt taller than the PPL building in Allentown after…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Nothing’s popping in track and field just yet. Many coaches prefer to keep it that way this early by not having any of their league- and district-title hopefuls pull muscles that could linger the entire season. The more serious meets are the Penn Relays April 23-25 and Allentown…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Senior running backs Brandon Brader of Liberty and Eddie Mateo of Freedom have been rivals since middle school. They’ve also been good friends and admired each other’s feats. But it wasn’t until last week when one of them decided to nickname the other. “He’s Superman,” Mateo…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty enters its first-ever district playoff game against Parkland tonight with two senior linebackers who are determined to have fun. Never mind that fun for Daryl Klotz and Horvin Latimer is administering punishment. “We like to tackle and hit people,” Latimer said. “Yeah,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Two regular season games remain and Easton and Parkland are both trying to avoid something that has not happened since 1994. And that’s the District 11 playoffs being held without either of them being involved. But the traditionally strong Lehigh Valley Conference teams still…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Something disturbingly different happened to Easton last week against Parkland. It wasn’t the lopsided score of Parkland 26, Easton 0. Every team gets crushed once in a while, but Easton coach Steve Shiffert wasn’t as concerned about the final score as he was about the way his…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Something new in Week 3 of the Lehigh Valley Conference: Neither Liberty, Parkland nor Easton is involved in the top game. Easton (2-0, 1-0) opens its home schedule against Parkland (0-2, 0-1) at 7 tonight at Cottingham Stadium, and it promises to be a festive atmosphere as the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Palmerton senior Justin Peterson bowled over opposing Colonial League players with his hard running style. He punished them even more as a standout linebacker, which is where he really changed the course of games in leading Palmerton to a 9-3 record and a District 11 Class 2A…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A player from Freedom High apparently said something that offended players from Liberty. “This is the first time that we’re the underdogs in a game, which is pretty surprising, but let the best team win,” said Liberty senior linebacker Brendan Beal, who verbally committed to the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Wilson quarterback D.J. Lenehan came alive in the second half of the PSFCA East West All-Star Game, rifling passes all over the field that led to touchdowns and stirred memories of his many feats last season. But the ending Saturday night wasn’t as rewarding as last December,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For the second straight week, a record-breaking quarterback from the Lehigh Valley will showcase his talents in an all-star game. Wilson’s D.J. Lenehan, who’s headed to Toledo on a scholarship, will play his final high school game in the seventh annual Pennsylvania Football…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Central Catholic senior David Horton probably has Vikings coach Donnie Roberts high on his Christmas list. Roberts’ decision to move Horton from running back to wide receiver as a junior has panned out wonderfully. Horton’s 51-catch, 617-yard season with five touchdowns was…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Emmaus and Whitehall are no longer being overlooked by other Lehigh Valley Conference teams. “That’s too bad,” said Emmaus coach Bottiglieri. “We need them to overlook us a little bit.” Neither Emmaus (3-1, 1-1 LVC) nor Whitehall (3-1, 2-0) will get breaks tonight, next week or…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Diehard Lehigh Valley sports fans might have had discussions over coffee or tea Saturday morning about many of the high school football teams that played Friday night. Like Parkland, which blew a 21-point fourth-quarter lead in losing to Cumberland Valley 41-38 in overtime. Like…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Patriot League standings has a sole occupant of first place. It’s not two-time defending league champion Holy Cross, which has the league’s tallest and best frontcourt; it’s Lehigh. But the Crusaders can move back into a tie for the top spot on Friday by beating the Mountain…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Coaching on the big-time level has brought big-time thrills to former Lafayette College assistant coach Pat Brogan, who is in his first season as an assistant coach at Penn State. But Brogan has not forgotten the eight seasons he spent coaching at Lafayette, a period that ended…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Big East Conference has been a headache to Patriot League teams this season, though not as big as you might think. Not even to improved Lehigh, which had a chance to drown the fans in Coral Gables, Fla. on Dec. 30 with disappointment before Ohio State’s football team did the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Remember all the carelessness of Lehigh men’s basketball in the past when the opponent turned up the heat with pressure defense? And what about all the defensive breakdowns? And the seeming loss of passion for the game at times? Well those things may stay memories because you…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Those who wondered whether 28-year-old Billy Taylor could rescue the Lehigh men’s basketball team from the cloud it has been under for so long have their answer. Ten games into Taylor’s rookie season as a coach, Lehigh has confidence, better chemistry, and — best of all — a 6-4…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Something about Lehigh is starting to impress me. No, it’s not the campus. Too hilly. Certainly, it’s not one of the university’s nicknames. It’s the men’s basketball program, yes, that 5-22 team that closed out the regular season by losing 11 of its final 12 games. Until…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →