The Missouri Tigers are currently ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll and began their season with a 51-0 shutout of Murray State on Thursday night.
Their potential quarterback of the future, Spring-Ford’s Matt Zollers, didn’t enjoy nearly the same level of success 24 hours later as Easton applied pressure early and often on its way to a 49-7 blowout victory over Zollers and the Rams on Friday night at Cottingham Stadium.
Zollers, a five-star recruit who committed to the Tigers in April, completed less than half of his passes, tallied just 88 yards through the air and threw three interceptions in a night to forget in the Lehigh Valley.
The Red Rovers dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball and racked up over 300 rushing yards because of it on their way to a dominant win over the Rams.
Senior running backs Dorian Thomas and William Day combined for 234 of Easton’s yards on the ground and five touchdowns to lead the way. While sharing the duties in the backfield might create a competitive rivalry for some, it only creates a stronger bond for these two.
“I think a lot of people think that we have a competition, but no we hang out all the time – I’ll probably see him tonight,” Day said. “The only thing we compete over is the first drive of the game with rock-paper-scissors.
“We’re just two kids that love what we do and want the same thing.”
Thomas, who clearly won the pregame battle of rock-paper-scissors, busted through a big hole up the middle and raced for a 31-yard touchdown on the game’s opening drive to put Easton on top 7-0.
Day did all of the damage on the following drive, carrying the ball each play for 59 total yards and a 16-yard touchdown to extend the Red Rovers’ lead.
That’s when Easton’s pressure really started to get home and forced the first of three costly mistakes from Zollers. Faced with a 2nd-and-10 near midfield, Zollers released a dart over the middle of the field where only Easton defender Cael DiSora was standing to set his offense up with excellent field position.
Thomas found more space up the middle several plays later, converting on a 3rd-and-21 with a 26-yard score to make it 21-0 on the first play of the second quarter.
While intercepting a five-star quarterback is a cool enough story to share with the grandkids one day, DiSora wasn’t done quite yet.
The senior, who is also a standout lacrosse player, found daylight on a screen pass on 4th-and-8 and took it in for a 29-yard touchdown to push the Easton lead to 28-0.
He still wasn’t done.
Three plays later, he picked off Zollers for the second time and trucked him near the goal line with a bruising hit that the quarterback is sure to feel tomorrow.
“I saw that it was him and knew I had to hit him a little harder,” DiSora said.
Up next
Easton (1-1) will host the Northeast Vikings (1-0), in its final regular season game before EPC play begins September 13 against Bethlehem Catholic.
Derek Bast is a freelance writer who can be found on Twitter/X at @derek_bast. He can be reached by email at derekbast11@gmail.com.
SPRING FORD 7, EASTON 49
Spring Ford: 0; 0; 0; 7 — 7Easton: 14; 21; 7; 7 — 49
First quarterE: Dorian Thomas 31-yard run (Noah Borluca kick), 8:29E: William Day 16-yard run (Borluca kick); 3:42Second quarterE: Thomas 26-yard run (Borluca kick); 11:52E: Cael DiSora 29-yard pass from Cole Ordway (Borluca kick); 6:49E: Day 1-yard run (Borluca kick); 5:05Third quarterE: Day 1-yard run (Borluca kick); 2:47Fourth quarterE: Chris Martinez 17-yard run (Alexander Snyder kick); 6:05SF: Ian Peticca 19-yard pass from Trent Yoder (Ryan Fields kick); 0:28
Source: Berkshire mont