The Whitehall Zephyrs opened the 2025 football season with a bang and dominated the Wilkes-Barre Wolfpack in the Zephs’ 38-14 victory on Aug. 23 at Whitehall.

“The complementary football was awesome,” said Whitehall head coach Andy Marino. “The turnovers that we had, we converted them into points. I would’ve liked to have sustained some drives. There were a couple 3rd and mediums I thought we could convert that we didn’t, but we did in the fourth quarter.”

Whitehall shut out Wilkes-Barre in the first quarter, 14-0, on a 38-yard touchdown from quarterback Tanner Dogmanits to wide receiver and brother Talon Dogmanits and an 11-yard touchdown by running back Jeziah Gregory.

“It’s very special being on the field with him,” said Tanner Dogmanits of his brother Talon. “He’s a good player, I love throwing the ball to him, and we already had that chemistry there because we did it growing up in the backyard. We were always throwing to each other, and it felt really special on his last first start of the season in his senior year, and I got the ball to him for a touchdown.”

Whitehall had two interceptions in the first quarter, one by Henry Shultz that led to the first touchdown, and one by Justin Hussett that led to the second.

Jacob Hannis kept the shutout alive early in the second quarter with an interception in the end zone.

Khalil Smith blocked a Whitehall punt and scored on the next play from the 2-yard line to put the Wolfpack on the board.

Whitehall kicker Cole Richards put up a 37-yard field goal before Wilkes-Barre’s second touchdown on a 9-yard pass from Jake Howe to Geno Dalessandro.

The Zephyrs scored back-to-back touchdowns late in the third quarter on a quarterback sneak and on a 33-yard run by Gregory.

“My lineman (Messiah Lugo) told me to look at him,” said Gregory. “I looked at him, and he just told me to come his way, so as soon as I saw the gap was open, I bounced it outside, and he was blocking for me, and I took it to the house.”

Gregory, a transfer from Bethlehem Catholic, rushed for his third touchdown of the night in the final minutes of the game.

“As soon as I got here, we connected very fast,” said Gregory of his quarterback. “We watch film together, stuff like that, and it all stood out on the field tonight.”

Richards was perfect on PATs.

“We were like, if they’re gonna play off the short gain, then we’ve got to take what they’re giving us. If we keep running the ball hard, we’ll end up on top,” said Tanner Dogmanits. “Our defense played amazing tonight, four interceptions, a fumble, it was really fun to watch them play. The first stop really set the tone for our offense to go out and do what we had to do to win the game. We just had to put the points on the board and trust that they were gonna stop them for us.”