Week 9 football roundup: Little Brown Jug going nowhere after a shutout

EAST STROUDSBURG — The Little Brown Jug is staying in East Stroudsburg.

East Stroudsburg South held on to the coveted trophy after defeating Stroudsburg 20-0 at home on Friday. Don't let the score fool you, though. The Cavaliers' offense was far from its usual high-octane self against the Mounties. It was a game in which the offense turned the ball over three times, and drives didn't lead to points.

Instead, the South defense kept the game close until the offense came around, and coach Matt Walters was quick to give them the credit.

"Hats off to our defense, number one," Walters said. "To stop that offense the way that we did, it set up the football game. We knew it would come down to toughness, and we believe our culture had a little edge tonight. We trusted it for 48 minutes.

"We put in a different defensive front to give Stroudsburg some problems with blocking. The stop we had before halftime was huge in this game. If they scored there, they probably would've been up 7-6 and getting the ball back to start the second half. The game could've completely changed, but hats off to our defensive front - Karson Kunsman, John Adjin-Tettey, Yael Fernandez, and Nasir Blount had the hard task of trying to QB spy all game. We stopped a high-powered offense."

South's offense was able to move the ball on its opening drive, but a fumble by Charles Capers prevented the Cavaliers from scoring points. The Mounties were able to move the ball as well on their opening drive, but defensive plays by Fernandez and Capers forced a turnover on downs.

The next drive saw Capers redeem himself, first with a 44-yard run to get South into a first-and-goal situation, then finishing the job with a direct snap to run it in for the score with 38.9 seconds left in the first quarter.

In the second half, the Cavalier defense recorded two tackles for loss on Stroudsburg's first three plays, upping its performance with each defensive possession. Later, South's John Adjin-Tettey was able to sack the quarterback, but a facemask call nullified the play and was met with negative reactions from the sideline and the fans in the stands.

But Kaden Zerfoss managed to get a sack on the very next play, followed by another from Adjin-Tettey, and this one counted.

That set up Capers' rushing touchdown and a two-point conversion from Laubach to give South a 14-0 lead with under 2 minutes to go in the third quarter. It didn't matter that the defense planned for the senior running back; he continued to show why he was one of the best rushers in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

"I had to prepare mentally," Capers said. "We had a great week of practice. I know I had to fill some shoes this year, but I was ready."

South's final score came on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Laubach to Harrison Alliet with 9:30 left in the fourth quarter.

The sack party continued as sophomore Alex Perez recorded one, then Adjin-Tettey got back-to-back sacks to finish the game with three. He wasn't the only person producing on defense, but he was the defensive star of the show.

"I was just really happy," Adjin-Tettey said. "Stroudsburg is a well-coached team. It was great competition, and I felt like I rose to the occasion."

With the win, East Stroudsburg South improves to 7-2, and Capers continues to make his case for EPC Player of the Year. Despite what defenses throw at him, he continues to produce, something not every player can do. He'll already be in the history books as a 1,000-yard rusher, but Walters believes Capers has established himself as a program great.

"He became a legacy Cavalier tonight," Walters said. "He has what you can't coach. He just sees things differently compared to a lot of running backs I see on tape.

"People are gonna talk about this game for a long time - it just won us a share of the EPC North title. And to beat the team across the bridge in the way that we did it, the grind it out, 'We're gonna run the ball, we know you know it, we don't care, you need to stop it.' What a great job by our offensive line and by Charles to use his vision to take advantage of it."

South will face East Stroudsburg North in the regular-season finale, then prepare to host a district semifinal game on Halloween night.

For Stroudsburg, a loss puts the Mounties at 5-4 with a season finale against Pleasant Valley. But according to the power rankings, Stroudsburg moved up from the 8-seed to the 7-seed, and Northampton is now the 8-seed with 9-seeded Dieruff on the outside looking in. The margin that separates Stroudsburg and Northampton is small, and with the Konkrete Kids ending the season against Bethlehem Catholic, the bottom of the power rankings could look several different ways after next weekend.

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East Stroudsburg North 42, Pocono Mountain East 14

This was a game that would determine if this year's North squad was legitimate, and the Timberwolves proved it as they soundly defeated East on the road. The win puts them at 4-5 and, with Lehighton getting blown out, it puts North more firmly in the 6-seed in the 4A power rankings.

East will have one more chance to get a win against the other program in the school district - Pocono Mountain West.

Pocono Mountain West 17, Pleasant Valley 12

The Bears suffered their third consecutive loss in a game where they had the lead. Pleasant was up 12-7 at halftime, but Jim McCarroll's squad managed to take the lead for their second win of the season and first EPC win. Although there will be no playoffs for the Panthers, their Week 10 contest with the Cardinals should be competitive as both teams want to end the regular season with a win, and it'll be a contest of student-vs-teacher between McCarroll and East head coach, and former West assistant, Dustin Thomas.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Week 9 football roundup: Little Brown Jug going nowhere after a shutout