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.
The football bowl season is in full swing and several area products will be participating in the college version of the postseason. Robbie Frey, a former all-state running back from Lehighton, is a redshirt freshman running back at Connecticut, who played in a bowl game last…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ARMY 4-6 (Independent) Beat VMI 2-17 Mike McDermott (Bethlehem Catholic) So. OT, 6-6, 255. Game: Played. BOSTON COLLEGE 7-3, 4-2 (ACC) Beat Virginia 14-10 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) Sr. PK, 5-10, 193. Game: 2-for-2 on PATs. Season: 34-for-34 on PATs; 7-for-7 on FGs. BROWN 6-3,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →ARMY 3-6(Independent) Lost to Air Force 35-7 Mike McDermott (Bethlehem Catholic) So. OT, 6-6, 255. Game: Played. BROWN 5-3, 3-2 (Ivy League) Beat Yale 35-21 Brendan Gallagher (Parkland) Sr. LB, 6-1, 225. Game: 1 assisted tackle. Season: 8 solo tackles,10 assisted, 2 INTs, 43…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →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 →BOSTON COLLEGE 6-3(ACC) Beat Central Michigan 31-10 Steve Aponavicius (Easton) Sr. PK, 5-10,. 193. Game: 3-for-3 on PATs, 18-yard FG. Season: 32-for-32 on PATs; 7-for-7 on FGs. BROWN 4-3, 2-2 (Ivy League) Lost to Penn 14-7 Brendan Gallagher (Parkland) Sr. LB, 6-1, 225. Game: 1…
· 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 →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 →Take your pick, dual meets, tri-meets or relay carnivals. Dual meets involve athletes of all abilities, while relay carnivals, generally, are for the more talented athletes, athletes who have usually received an invitation to compete. Dual meets can be more draining, especially…
· 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 →Surprise, surprise, that’s what Northampton (4-0, 3-0 LVC) has been in posting a perfect record out of the gate to remain tied with Emmaus (4-0, 3-0) for first-place in the Lehigh Valley Conference entering their showdown Friday at Al Erdosy Field. Elsewhere in the conference,…
· 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 →It’s a Week 2 matchup that would have even more hype had it been scheduled for later in the season with the Lehigh Valley Conference title and possibly the No. 1 seed in the district playoffs on the line. But after not playing the last two seasons, Liberty and Parkland are…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Fair or not, Nazareth football coach Rob Melosky knows that he can’t prevent people from judging his every move because that’s expected when you are a high-profile coach. Melosky’s public perception soared, perhaps more so in the negative than positive last month, when he was on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The wait is over for Freedom. Tonight, the defending Eastern Conference Class 4A champion will try to extend its winning streak in season openers under coach Jason Roeder to four games. “There is not a whole lot of room for error,” said Roeder, whose Patriots open at Central…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Emmaus can forget about being overlooked by high-powered Liberty in their Lehigh Valley Conference matchup tonight at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium. That’s because one loss could be detrimental to the Hurricanes’ chances of earning the No. 1 seed and homefield advantage…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →What happened in Emmaus last Friday night is not being be dwelled on. That’s because of the request Green Hornets coach Joe Bottiglieri made to his players. Bottiglieri, who’s in his sixth season at Emmaus, tells his players to only concentrate on the current challenge and not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There’s no such thing as meaningless games for District 11 Class 4A teams anymore, considering the complicated points system used to determine qualifiers for the PIAA subregional playoffs. But some Lehigh Valley Conference teams aren’t worried about matters they can not control…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bethlehem Catholic senior Joe Kovcs relaxed himself, then blew past the Class 2A discus field to win his second gold medal of the PIAA Track and Field Championships Saturday at Shippensburg University. His winning throw traveled 179 feet, 11 inches, which was five inches shorter…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Every down of every game, one thought will be running through the minds of Nazareth players. “Nobody will give up on the guy next to him,” said senior Shawn Sylvainus. “We’ll never give up.” It was not that way last season, which opened with the Blue Eagles losing 9-0 to Blue…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was raining and windy, but Bethlehem Catholic junior Joe Kovacs was not bothered. He was pumped and anxious to blow out the competition early in the Class 2A discus throw at the District 11 Track and Field Championships Wednesday at Blue Mountain High School. “I practice in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Emmaus stopped making mistakes and excuses, and stopped losing after its embarrassing Week 4 loss to Nazareth. Maybe it was hard to walk the school hallways after losing 28-7 to Nazareth, a team that had not won a game entering that Lehigh Valley Conference matchup on Sept. 23.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jonathan Mill, the Liberty kicker whose 37-yard field-goal with 4.9 seconds left in regulation glanced off the goal post and through the crossbar to force overtime, stood motionless on the sidelines. “I’m still shaking,” he said. But at least he was standing to see the finish.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty hopes to blow out Parkland in the same fashion it has its first three opponents. But it might not satisfy at least one Liberty High teacher. “One of my teachers said, “Can you make the games more interesting,’ but I said interesting games are usually the bad ones. The…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Central Catholic seeks validation. Beating defending Lehigh Valley Conference champion Easton at 7 p.m. Saturday at J. Birney Crum Stadium would help validate the Vikings as a conference contender. “I don’t have to get them pumped up,” said Central Catholic coach Donnie Roberts.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Brothers Oscar and Justin Rivera were so excited the first day they put on pads as 95-pound players for the Bethlehem Steelers’ football team that they went home and continued tackling. But not outside. Oscar and Justin, who now play for Liberty High School, plowed each other…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bob Stem returns to coaching tonight against a man who admires him, but who’s also yet to beat him. That doesn’t mean that Northampton coach Teko Johnson has already conceded. It’s quite the opposite because Johnson’s Konkrete Kids, led by the multi-talented and dangerous Josh…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He did not sleep with his helmet Thursday night and will not walk around school today with a football. But chances are Bethlehem Catholic quarterback Alex Atiyeh won’t take too long to get dressed in his brown and gold uniform for a Lehigh Valley Conference season-opener against…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Bob Goffredo was on the sidelines waiting to be transported to the hospital in his last high school football game, an all-star classic at Catasauqua in 1982. But he was cognizant enough to know the outcome. “Yeah, we won,” said Goffredo, now the Pius X football coach. “The boys…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →With Easton sporting a 9-0 record and Liberty, Emmaus and District 2’s Wyoming Valley West each 9-1, the PIAA Class 4A sub-regional playoffs would appear to be up for grabs. “Anything can happen,” said Easton coach Steve Shiffert. But Easton losing at Cottingham Stadium may not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →North Penn, the defending PIAA Class 4A champion, and Mount Carmel, a Class 2A powerhouse with five PIAA titles since 1994, will both be playing in the Lehigh Valley Saturday night. Whether that’s good news or bad for the Lehigh Valley Conference teams they are playing remains…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Please, not another inning. Nobody from Birches yelled that out, but shortstop Brendon O’Connor sure thought it a few times against Boyertown in the American Legion Region 2 Tournament semifinals Friday night at Hackett’s Park in Easton. He probably wasn’t alone. After all,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was the type of game meant for playmakers to show off, either on offense or defense Thursday night in Nazareth. Then, maybe enjoy a Big Mac and french fries for a postgame meal with a milkshake or apple pie for dessert. It was, after all, the McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →His speed picked up and his head bobbed as the lead to the finish line narrowed. The previous two years, Allen High senior Eugene Clay had been denied victory in the Class 3A 110-meter high hurdles in the District 11 Track and Field Championships, placing second as a junior and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →No more 800-meter runs for Bethlehem Catholic senior Jules Eggleston. Once was enough, so he hoped. “After I run one lap, my body shuts down,” Eggleston joked. “I’m not ready for two laps.” But it may be hard for Bethlehem Catholic coach Gary Mohylsky to grant Eggleston his…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →American University advanced to its third straight Patriot League Tournament championship game with a victory 65-55 over Colgate on Sunday. But the Eagles would have felt cheated had Lehigh not also won. That’s because the Eagles’ two regular-season losses to Lehigh remain sore…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Danny Hinds was one of the many Drexel players disappointed with Saturday’s 76-64 loss at Delaware, which prevented the Dragons from clinching first place in the Colonial Athletic Conference. But Hinds, a 6-6 junior forward from Central Catholic, also knows how to look past the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Temple assistant coach Mark Macon and college basketball analyst Digger Phelps, a former coach at Notre Dame, both need to get up to speed with what Saint Joseph’s has done this season. That would help keep both from putting their feet in their mouths as the No. 2-ranked Hawks…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh University now has a fun-and-gun offense, led by guards Austen Rowland and Jose Olivero, that is entertaining and producing winning results. Maybe it’s a taste of what’s to come in future years under Billy Taylor, the second-year coach who now sports a 25-18 record after…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He takes at least two insulin shots a day to help control his diabetes. Sometimes he’s woozy and so fatigued that he could just skip a practice or a game without anybody complaining. But the fire within Lafayette College senior forward Mike Farrell burns too much. He scores,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Liberty High survived last week, beating Pleasant Valley 35-28 in double overtime. Now comes a bigger team, a bigger task. Parkland’s visit to Bethlehem Area School District Stadium to play Liberty at 7 p.m. Saturday will be the Hurricanes’ biggest home game in years. Parkland…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The stadium lights will be turned on and the blocking, tackling, passing, punishing and juking between the lines will commence throughout the Lehigh Valley this weekend as the high school football season kicks off. Lehigh Valley Conference powers Parkland, Bethlehem Catholic and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →One game in 2001, another in 2002. Both were District 11 Class 3A boys soccer championship thrillers that just didn’t go Pleasant Valley’s way. The Bears were upstaged by Emmaus, 1-0 in 2001 and 3-2 by Parkland in 2002. “Both of them were real tough games,” said Pleasant Valley…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →That 25-0 record the Parkland Trojans posted in the regular season has been playing on the mind of Emmaus center Aaron Gray. Now more than ever, following Gray’s dominating performance in Emmaus’ 56-47 victory over Freedom in the District 11 Class 4A boys basketball preliminary…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s the game of the week in the Mountain Valley Conference, Nazareth at Easton in a crossover matchup at Cottingham Stadium, a game featuring two teams that play defense exceptionally well and rely on their rushing attacks to lead their offenses. Nazareth has pummeled its first…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Tim Massaquoi made Michigan his college choice before the high school football season kicked off, ending speculation over which Big Ten program he’d choose and allowing him to concentrate on scoring touchdowns for Parkland this season. But in nonleague games against Emmaus and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Matt Loebsack has been looking for The Look all week, and the Easton High quarterback said it’s almost the same look of desire and eagerness his teammates had the last time they played Parkland. ‘It’s not quite as much, but it’s starting to come around,’ Loebsack said Wednesday…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Control the hype. That’s what Freedom coach Rob Melosky has tried to do all week, but too much is on the line to be cool. Too much can be gained, and possibly too much lost when Freedom (6-1) travels to Orefield to play Parkland (6-1) in a Mountain Valley Conference matchup for…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →His movement in the pocket is swifter, his throws crisper, his ability to read defensive coverages even better, but the thing that has East Stroudsburg quarterback Jim Terwilliger gloating most is in the Cavaliers’ 4-2 record. Six weeks into last season East Stroudsburg was 0-6…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →His team was nursing an eight-point lead over rival Whitehall with just 2:51 remaining last Oct. 9. Parkland kicker Greg Knauss was summoned by coach Rich Sniscak to attempt a 47-yard field goal. Make it and victory in the Mountain Valley Conference football game that had…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He pulled on an off-tackle running play and kept raging through the hole, boiling with anticipation as he neared a seemingly helpless defender. Smack! Just like that, Parkland High senior John Gray “pancaked a linebacker,” Trojans coach Rich Sniscak said, remembering the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Whitey Williams, the first-year Nazareth football coach, believed junior Mike Cangelosi had the talent to play quarterback just by looking at him. ‘He has that sparkle in his eye,” Williams said. A look that says ‘He is a competitor,” Williams said, ‘And he has great character.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Have you heard the rumbling sound around Liberty High School? It’s the football team stampeding. Have you noticed the two wins and zero losses? That’s the result of playing up to potential. Do you believe Liberty is really that good? It will be time to find out when the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →A season thought to be lost for Easton High running back YaYah McGurn may not be lost after all. It all depends on whether McGurn can stay drug- and alcohol-free, something the star running back, who gained 1,002 yards last season, has admitted he’s had trouble doing in the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Johnny Santiago has run the ball one way since he began playing competitive football for the Bethlehem Saints at age 6. ‘When I get the ball I look for the hole,” said Santiago, a senior tailback at Freedom. ‘I just want to run through (the defender ), right through his back.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →