(EDITOR’S NOTE: Since May of 1999, the Times News Sports Department has featured an On This Date practically every day, highlighting an event that happened in the past. With the coronavirus putting a halt to sports locally and nationally, the On This Dates have been expanded to the stories that actually ran in the next day’s newspaper. Today’s On This Date story is from June 27, 1990).

By Joe Plasko

TIMES NEWS Staff

EASTON - Cottingham Stadium, the home of the Easton Red Rovers, has been the site of some big Centennial League football moments.

Lehighton and Pocono Mountain have each captured District 11 grid titles on the East Penn turf.

The Centennials almost struck again last night. CL standouts teamed up with their counterparts from the Colonial League and some Lehigh Valley independents to knot the East Penn Stars 13-13 in the 20th Annual McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star Classic.

The East Penn Conference had won all three contests under the current format and, with speedsters like Easton’s Jeff Staton and Freedom’s Kyle Moore in the lineup, they were favored to do so again.

The EPC Stars and the 5,200 in attendance found out what those in the Centennial League already knew: that the Palmerton connection of Brian Morgan and Steve Endres is one of the top passing combinations in the Lehigh Valley.

Morgan hooked up with Endres five times for 70 yards, including a 32-yard TD in the fourth quarter that left things deadlocked.

The Centennial/Colonial/Independent contingent dodged some East Penn threats in the opening quarter and held a surprising 7-3 edge before the EPC rallied to take a 13-7 lead into the half.

The CCI defense tightened up in the second half, allowing the East Penn just 17 yards of total offense and keeping the pressure on EPC QBs Marlin Worthy of Easton and Jamie Hudak of Emmaus.

Morgan, who alternated quarters behind center with Catasauqua’s Brad Fickes, came on in the fourth quarter to get the tying score and put CCI on the doorstep in the waning moments.

“We thought we were definitely the better team out there tonight,” said Morgan who, like Endres, is headed to Wilkes to continue his grid career. “We outhit them, we outplayed them and it was just one of those things that it ended in a tie.

“Nobody gave us any kind of a shot tonight, but we showed the East Penn that we could play football,” he added.

CCI coach Ed Ruisz of Palisades was more diplomatic.

“I thought we played to the best of our ability, but I don’t know if anybody outplayed anybody. The fact that we hung in there early in the game gave us confidence to play this game.

“They were only up 3-0, but if they were up 14-0, which they could have been in the first quarter, we would have had our heads down. The fact that we were down six at half and played great defense in the third quarter really pumped us up.”

Whitehall coach John Bendekovits, who guided the East Penn, felt his club never got established in the second half.

“In the first half, we had a bit of order going and were able to move the ball, but every time we got moving, we were hit by penalties. In the second half, no question they had momentum. We weren’t in sync at all.”

The East Penn took advantage of a short punt and marched deep into CCI territory on its first possession only to come up empty after Phillipsburg’s John Troxell missed a 30-yard field goal.

Troxell made up for it on the next EPC series, booting a 35-yarder to give the hosts a 3-0 edge at the 4:44 mark of the first.

Three big plays enabled CCI to assume the lead. Fickes hit Pius X’s Shannon Young for 33 yards to the EP 48. Four plays later CCI was forced to punt, but an East Penn clipping penalty on the punt gave CCI new life on the EP 31.

Fickes found East Stroudsburg’s Demond Howard floating free in the secondary from there, nailing him with a 31-yard TD pass. Todd Shimko of Saucon Valley kicked the PAT for a 7-3 CCI advantage with 1:59 left in the first.

The East Penn got a break in the second quarter when Troxell recovered a fumble on the CCI 44 and advanced it all the way to the 26.

Pocono Mountain’s Andy Altemose intercepted Hudak at the 5, but three plays later Liberty nose tackle Christopher Jones sacked Morgan in the end zone for a safety to cut the CCI margin to 7-5.

Kyle Moore returned Fickes’ free kick 30 yards to the CCI 34, from where Worthy led a nine-play scoring drive, picking up a crucial first down with a nine-yard bootleg scamper and finding Becahi’s Rich Gaugler for 11 yards down to the one.

Emmaus’ Ed Sweigart bulled into the end zone from there, and after Moore deked across the goal for a two-point conversion, the East Penn had regained a 13-7 edge with 5:02 left in the half.

Lehighton’s Dwayne Fisher had a 17-yard run on the next CCI possession, but P’burg’s Joe Shimko swiped a Morgan pass on the EP 17 to thwart the scoring attempt.

Palmerton’s Brian Slivka gave CCI good field position in the second half when he recovered a fumble on the EP 40, but CCI couldn’t cash in until three series later, following an interception of Worthy by Pen Argy’s Tim Hahn.

Morgan took over on the CCI 42 to start the final stanza and engineered an eight-play drive for the tying points.

Endres hauled in a nine-yard reception at midfield, and two plays later Morgan dumped a screen pass to Fisher, who rambled 22 yards down to the EP 24.

Nazareth’s Rob Scobo was caught for an eight-yard loss, but Morgan got it back and more when his aerial to a wide-open Endres resulted in a 32-yard score.

“It was just a go route,” said Endres of the TD. “Brian’s a good QB and we worked real well together at Palmerton.”

A bad snap on the PAT try ended up in Shimko’s attempt being blocked, leaving the score tied at 13-13 with 8:17 remaining.

Wilson’s Dave Gneo picked up three sacks in the fourth quarter to stonewall the East Penn and set up one final CCI scoring shot.

With 3:01 left, CCI took over on its own 47. Morgan passed to Endres for 11 and Wilson’s Ron Clark for 9 to the EP 33. The Blue Bomber QB then hit Endres again for nine yards on fourth and five to keep the march alive at the 30.

A hook-and-lateral play between Morgan, Endres and Scobo took the ball to the 17, but a sack and two incompletions left Shimko to try a 37-yard field goal, which was blocked, in the closing seconds.

“I was thinking of taking another shot into the end zone, but Todd (Shimko) can kick it that deep, and in that vicinity, percentage-wise, I thought he had a better chance of kicking it than we had of catching it in the end zone,” said Ruisz.

Despite the inconclusive outcome, local participants felt CCI demonstrated it could stand up to the best from the big city schools.

“All of these guys are quality football players. They’re all top-notch,” said Lehighton’s Fisher of his teammates. “We beat them, we just didn’t beat them in points.”

“I think the East Penn will look at us differently,” concurred Pleasant Valley’s Dreu Beers. “They know we’re here now and that’s what matters.”

GRID GRIST - Among local players, Morgan completed 10-of-23 passes for 115 yards and a TD; Fisher rushed for 23 yards on six carries; and Slivka added two catches for nine yards and a fumble recovery to Endres’ fine performance ... defensively, Pleasant Valley’s Jim Kozak was in on a sack of Hudak and Northwestern’s Tod Young had several tackles in the secondary, including one that saved a TD ... Beers also got in some tackles at LB ... other area participants included Lehighton lineman Ryan Blose, Northern Lehigh linebacker Randy Roberts and Northwestern tackle Eric Smith ... Palmerton back Chris Hager was also named to the CCI squad ... Fisher’s 17-yard run was the longest from scrimmage in the game. He played the second half in spite of a sprained muscle in his back from the first half ... Northwestern head coach Bob Mitchell assisted Ruisz with the CCI squad ... Morgan and Beers were two of the four co-captains for CCI ... Glenn Rissmiller was the referee for the contest.