Last Time They Met: Seventh seeded Parkland upset 12-0 Easton to win the D11 championship, 13-10 in OT. Parkland used superior special teams, with a blocked punt leading to their only TD, a bad snap on a punt setting up a field goal, and a field goal in OT to win. It was the third straight playoff victory for Parkland over Easton after losing the regular season meeting.
Parkland Leaders
Passing: Devante Cross: 83-133, 1,200 yards, 10 TDs, 4 INTs
Rushing: Devante Cross: 74 carries, 450 yards, 11 TDs
Receiving: Kenny Yeboah: 26 catches, 356 yards, 4 TDs; Nolan Ridgway: 18 catches, 351 yards, 3 TDs
Easton Leaders:
Passing: Trey Durrah: 30-58, 466 yards, 4 TDs, 5 INTs
Rushing: Nysir Minney-Gratz: 88 carries, 756 yard, 16Tds
Receiving: Trevon Mills: 11 catches, 209 yards
Parkland’s Offense: The Trojans run a high tempo, air raid type offense with an exceptional quarterback in senior Devante Cross. Like most spread teams, they throw tons of short screens, slants, and hitch routes. Easton showed some vulnerability to a similar type of offense against ACC, so expect Parkland to take what the defensive gives them and take yardage in small chunks down the field. But Easton has been susceptible to the big play, so look for shots down field to Ridgway and slot man Rick Panella, particularly off play action. Parkland has big, physical receivers, and particularly in the red zone, they’ll try to put them in jump ball situations. Yeboah is obviously deadly there, but Zack Bross and Ridgway both can really can go ge the ball in the air. Parkland’s running game is largely limited to designed QB runs, but Cross is dynamic in the open field. Parkland’s smallest offensive lineman is 35 pounds heavier than Easton’s biggest defensive lineman, so the Trojans may try to push the Rovers around in the run game if they can get off the ball with the smaller, quicker Rover defensive line.
Easton’s Defense: Easton flashed their potential last week by shutting Whitehall out, and allowing just 67 yards of total offense (despite being 2-4, the Zephyrs averaged 366 yards and 28 points per game coming into last week). On the year, the Rovers are allowing just 163.4 yards per game and only ACC has broken the 200 yard barrier. Still, Parkland will test Easton’s defense like no team it’s seen all year. For the first time I can remember, Easton is playing a ton of nickel, which is simply a response to the evolution of high school offenses. The Rovers are not big, but everybody from the defensive tackles to the cornerbacks can run. The Trojans have excelled in is pass protection, and the battle between Parkland’s huge offensive tackles Steven Feher (6’5 265) and Noel Brouse (6’6 270) against Daloni Caldwell and David Simmons coming off the edge will be a good one. Caldwell has 6.5 sacks on the year, mostly speed rushing by bigger, slower offensive linemen. But they’ll have to remain disciplined and set an edge against Cross, otherwise he’ll kill them with scrambles. They did a great job last week containing Gianni Sinatore, but Cross presents and even greater challenge.
Easton’s Offense: As usual, the Red Rovers are going to pound the rock until you make them do otherwise. Tailback Nysir Minney-Gratz is possibly the smallest running back in Pennsylvania (5’5 155), but runs tough and is going to get a bulk of the carries. Easton loves to use him on toss plays and sprint-draws, which give him some space to operate. He has exceptional balance and teams seem to really struggle in hitting him squarely and despite his size, he has the lower body strength to break some tackles. Easton’s offensive line will be at a size disadvantage, but one thing they’ll do is force the bigger Parkland defensive line to run around and chase them. I’d expect lots of sweeps and spring-out passes to move the pocket, mostly in an effort to tire out Parkland’s big bodies up front to exploit a conditioning advantage. And of course, they’ll trap you to death if you let them. But Easton will need Trey Durrah to be at his absolute best, because Easton isn’t going to be able to line up and run play after play against nine and ten guys in the box. Last week, they were more successful with a midrange passing game, and it’s those exact throws in the 7-15 yard range that they’ll need, and will have to avoid falling in love with the deep ball.
Parkland’s Defense: The Trojans struggled the last two weeks against multifaceted attacks with dual threat quarterbacks. That isn’t really the case here. Parkland has a large defensive front who tries to swallow up linemen and allow their physical but undersized linebackers to fill gaps and make plays. Eric DiGiralomo is having a fantastic year, and reads and reacts as well as any backer in the EPC. He’s a really good athlete and while Easton wants to go side to side and make Parkland chase them, that can be a recipe for disaster against a Tim Moncman defense. Parkland’s team speed secondary is the one identifiable weakness in the defense as they really don’t have burners back there. But unlike Whitehall and Liberty, Easton doesn’t have the passing game to really attack that part of the defense. If the Trojans can really get some push up front, they’ll take control of the game.
Special Teams: This is where Easton has been excellent this year. The Rovers have returned four kicks for TDs and both Greg Albertson and Katrell Thompson are dangerous return men. They’ve blocked three punts and had an excellent kick coverage unit. Easton’s place kicking has also improved dramatically from a year ago. Parkland graduated all state caliber kicker Jake Bissel, and is decidedly more average in the kicking game this season. They also don’t have the electricity in the return game that Easton possesses.
Parkland Wins If: They stop the Easton running game. They take advantage of their size advantage everywhere.
Easton Wins If: They don’t give up the big play. They pass enough to open running lanes for Minney-Gratz.
The Pick: The regular season match up doesn’t seem to mean a lot between these two teams. Easton and Parkland have re-matched in the playoffs seven times, with the winner of the regular season game going 2-5. Easton has at times looked very good this season, but they haven’t seen an opponent as good as Parkland. Parkland is not as strong as preseason polls would indicate, but they’re a very good football team with a dynamic quarterback and the ability to stop the run. It may be more of a low scoring affair than we’ve become accustomed to in D11 this year, I’m picking the Trojans to go into Cottingham and get their fifth win in the West Ward in their last six tries.Parkland: 28-10.
Parkland Leaders
Passing: Devante Cross: 83-133, 1,200 yards, 10 TDs, 4 INTs
Rushing: Devante Cross: 74 carries, 450 yards, 11 TDs
Receiving: Kenny Yeboah: 26 catches, 356 yards, 4 TDs; Nolan Ridgway: 18 catches, 351 yards, 3 TDs
Easton Leaders:
Passing: Trey Durrah: 30-58, 466 yards, 4 TDs, 5 INTs
Rushing: Nysir Minney-Gratz: 88 carries, 756 yard, 16Tds
Receiving: Trevon Mills: 11 catches, 209 yards
Parkland’s Offense: The Trojans run a high tempo, air raid type offense with an exceptional quarterback in senior Devante Cross. Like most spread teams, they throw tons of short screens, slants, and hitch routes. Easton showed some vulnerability to a similar type of offense against ACC, so expect Parkland to take what the defensive gives them and take yardage in small chunks down the field. But Easton has been susceptible to the big play, so look for shots down field to Ridgway and slot man Rick Panella, particularly off play action. Parkland has big, physical receivers, and particularly in the red zone, they’ll try to put them in jump ball situations. Yeboah is obviously deadly there, but Zack Bross and Ridgway both can really can go ge the ball in the air. Parkland’s running game is largely limited to designed QB runs, but Cross is dynamic in the open field. Parkland’s smallest offensive lineman is 35 pounds heavier than Easton’s biggest defensive lineman, so the Trojans may try to push the Rovers around in the run game if they can get off the ball with the smaller, quicker Rover defensive line.
Easton’s Defense: Easton flashed their potential last week by shutting Whitehall out, and allowing just 67 yards of total offense (despite being 2-4, the Zephyrs averaged 366 yards and 28 points per game coming into last week). On the year, the Rovers are allowing just 163.4 yards per game and only ACC has broken the 200 yard barrier. Still, Parkland will test Easton’s defense like no team it’s seen all year. For the first time I can remember, Easton is playing a ton of nickel, which is simply a response to the evolution of high school offenses. The Rovers are not big, but everybody from the defensive tackles to the cornerbacks can run. The Trojans have excelled in is pass protection, and the battle between Parkland’s huge offensive tackles Steven Feher (6’5 265) and Noel Brouse (6’6 270) against Daloni Caldwell and David Simmons coming off the edge will be a good one. Caldwell has 6.5 sacks on the year, mostly speed rushing by bigger, slower offensive linemen. But they’ll have to remain disciplined and set an edge against Cross, otherwise he’ll kill them with scrambles. They did a great job last week containing Gianni Sinatore, but Cross presents and even greater challenge.
Easton’s Offense: As usual, the Red Rovers are going to pound the rock until you make them do otherwise. Tailback Nysir Minney-Gratz is possibly the smallest running back in Pennsylvania (5’5 155), but runs tough and is going to get a bulk of the carries. Easton loves to use him on toss plays and sprint-draws, which give him some space to operate. He has exceptional balance and teams seem to really struggle in hitting him squarely and despite his size, he has the lower body strength to break some tackles. Easton’s offensive line will be at a size disadvantage, but one thing they’ll do is force the bigger Parkland defensive line to run around and chase them. I’d expect lots of sweeps and spring-out passes to move the pocket, mostly in an effort to tire out Parkland’s big bodies up front to exploit a conditioning advantage. And of course, they’ll trap you to death if you let them. But Easton will need Trey Durrah to be at his absolute best, because Easton isn’t going to be able to line up and run play after play against nine and ten guys in the box. Last week, they were more successful with a midrange passing game, and it’s those exact throws in the 7-15 yard range that they’ll need, and will have to avoid falling in love with the deep ball.
Parkland’s Defense: The Trojans struggled the last two weeks against multifaceted attacks with dual threat quarterbacks. That isn’t really the case here. Parkland has a large defensive front who tries to swallow up linemen and allow their physical but undersized linebackers to fill gaps and make plays. Eric DiGiralomo is having a fantastic year, and reads and reacts as well as any backer in the EPC. He’s a really good athlete and while Easton wants to go side to side and make Parkland chase them, that can be a recipe for disaster against a Tim Moncman defense. Parkland’s team speed secondary is the one identifiable weakness in the defense as they really don’t have burners back there. But unlike Whitehall and Liberty, Easton doesn’t have the passing game to really attack that part of the defense. If the Trojans can really get some push up front, they’ll take control of the game.
Special Teams: This is where Easton has been excellent this year. The Rovers have returned four kicks for TDs and both Greg Albertson and Katrell Thompson are dangerous return men. They’ve blocked three punts and had an excellent kick coverage unit. Easton’s place kicking has also improved dramatically from a year ago. Parkland graduated all state caliber kicker Jake Bissel, and is decidedly more average in the kicking game this season. They also don’t have the electricity in the return game that Easton possesses.
Parkland Wins If: They stop the Easton running game. They take advantage of their size advantage everywhere.
Easton Wins If: They don’t give up the big play. They pass enough to open running lanes for Minney-Gratz.
The Pick: The regular season match up doesn’t seem to mean a lot between these two teams. Easton and Parkland have re-matched in the playoffs seven times, with the winner of the regular season game going 2-5. Easton has at times looked very good this season, but they haven’t seen an opponent as good as Parkland. Parkland is not as strong as preseason polls would indicate, but they’re a very good football team with a dynamic quarterback and the ability to stop the run. It may be more of a low scoring affair than we’ve become accustomed to in D11 this year, I’m picking the Trojans to go into Cottingham and get their fifth win in the West Ward in their last six tries.Parkland: 28-10.
