{"id":283986,"date":"2026-09-11T19:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/283986\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T19:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:24:14","slug":"liberty-football-beat-stroudsburg-28-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/283986\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty football beat Stroudsburg 28-14"},"content":{"rendered":"

When official practice began for the Liberty High football team on Aug. 10, the known factors for the Hurricanes were Zyaire Davis and Mekkhi McKenzie, who made their marks last year in an 8-4 season that included a trip to the District 11 6A semifinals.<\/p>\n

Both Davis and McKenzie are making their share of contributions, but on Sept. 10, it was two new, unheralded players who carried Liberty to its first win of the season.<\/p>\n

Treyce Whitlow and Greg Tillman each scored two touchdowns as the Hurricanes brushed aside an early 7-0 deficit and beat Stroudsburg 28-14 at Bethlehem Area School District in the final nonleague game of the season for both Eastern Pennsylvania Conference members.<\/p>\n

Whitlow scored on TD runs of 33 and 35 yards and had 144 yards on the ground overall, while Tillman made a pair of sparkling catches in the end zone off Alsaiah Gross passes covering 35 and 27 yards.<\/p>\n

They took turns with their big plays as Liberty scored seven points in all four quarters, while the Mounties, who came in at 2-0, largely sputtered after a quality opening drive resulted in a Keyen Johnson touchdown run.<\/p>\n

The win was especially satisfying for Liberty, which was overmatched in its first games against District 1 foes, losing 35-0 to Pennridge and 35-26 to Central Bucks East.<\/p>\n

\"Liberty'sLiberty\u2019s quarterback Alsaiah Gross scrambles to pass Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, against Stroudsburg during a football game at BASD Stadium in Bethlehem.(April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

White Stroudsburg ran more plays (58-47) and had the ball for nearly six minutes more (26:59 to 21:01), it was Liberty that made the big plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kids have shown a ton of resilience these last few weeks behind the scenes; stuff that nobody gets to see,\u201d Hurricanes coach Shawn Daignault said. \u201cIt would be really easy with an inexperienced group to fracture when we faced adversity in those first few weeks. I give these kids a lot of credit that it didn\u2019t happen. Even when Stroudsburg scored first today, nobody flinched on the sideline. We just got back to work. I am really proud of their effort. I told them after last week\u2019s game that they are going to be in a weekly battle against good opponents, but the bigger challenge is going to be the battle against themselves and the need to continue to grow through the adversity. Winning that battle against ourselves was bigger than winning the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberty\u2019s defense tightened it up after Stroudsburg\u2019s initial 56-yard drive, all on the ground. Dropped passes, penalties and a fumble all contributed to the Mounties stretch of seven consecutive possessions without scoring before Jack Mitchell hit Victor Cassese for a 13-yard TD pass with 9:07 left to cut the Hurricanes\u2019 lead to 21-14.<\/p>\n

\"Liberty'sLiberty\u2019s Treyce Whitlow makes a catch for a touchdown Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, against Stroudsburg during a football game at BASD Stadium in Bethlehem.(April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

But Liberty answered immediately with a seven-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in Tillman\u2019s second TD grab of the night. He leaped up and wrestled the ball away from a defender to restore the two-touchdown lead with 7:30 remaining. Tillman is a transfer from Allentown Central Catholic, and has formed a connection with Gross, who was also at ACCHS last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just transferred and this is what I came here to do,\u201d Tillman said. \u201cGod put me here to compete on the field. As soon as I got here, everyone was so welcoming. I can\u2019t even explain it. [Gross] came here with me. He has really grown a lot and this is where he can show what he has. I believe in him and know he\u2019ll get the ball there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gross finished with 170 yards passing and the two scores. He shook off an interception in the end zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur quarterback and our offensive line have shown growth and did a lot better job today than they have done the last few weeks,\u201d Daignault said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to remember that Alsaiah\u2019s first meaningful varsity snaps were two weeks ago. To see him grow each week has been great. He has become more of a leader and he\u2019s putting things together himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Stroudsburg'sStroudsburg\u2019s quarterback Jack Mitchell throws a pass Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, against Liberty during a football game at BASD Stadium in Bethlehem.(April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

As for the other two offensive standouts, Daignault wasn\u2019t surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreg Tillman is a heck of a ballplayer and went\u00a0 up and really stole two balls for touchdowns and Treyce Whitlow is someone we\u2019ve known was coming,\u201d Daignault said. \u201cTreyce is the real thing. He plays a lot for us at safety and with Mekkhi going down, he got the chance to play a lot on offense. I\u2019m not surprised by what I saw. We\u2019ve known for a couple of years he was going to be a real good player.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other side, Stroudsburg left Bethlehem feeling as though it beat itself and missed an opportunity to show that the program is not only a contender in the EPC\u2019s Monroe County Division but also in District 11 6A.<\/p>\n

\u201cMistakes, we made so many of them tonight, on all sides of the ball,\u201d Mounties coach Jim Miller said. \u201cWe made a mistake on our punt return, not going up and catching the ball on a fair catch and it rolls and pins us back deep. We put the ball on the ground tonight after having limited fumbles this year. We had receivers dropping the ball, another thing we hadn\u2019t happened this year. Anything that could go wrong tonight, it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller said that he wasn\u2019t surprised by Liberty\u2019s ability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care what their record is,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re well-coached and they do a good job and they have a lot of athletes. We missed a lot of tackles and against those guys, you can\u2019t miss tackles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stroudsburg returns to the Lehigh Valley for another Thursday night game at Parkland.<\/p>\n

\"Liberty'sLiberty\u2019s Carmelo Griffin carries the ball down the field Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, against Stroudsburg during a football game at BASD Stadium in Bethlehem.(April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

\u201cParkland is Parkland and they are outstanding,\u201d Miller said. \u201cWe have to clean up the mistakes we made and see what happens. I like playing these schools, I really do. It\u2019s good competition and it gives us a chance to see what we need to work on as we go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberty opens up league play with a Northampton County Division game against Northampton on Friday night at BASD Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorthampton is a damn good team,\u201d Daignault said. \u201cI have already seen film and they are good. They are going to be a real big challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberty 28, Stroudsburg 14<\/p>\n

Stroudsburg 7 \u2013 0 \u2013 0 \u2013 7 \u2014 14<\/p>\n

Liberty 7 \u2013 7 \u2013 7 \u2013 7 \u2014 28<\/p>\n

Scoring summary<\/p>\n

FIRST QUARTER<\/p>\n

S: Keyen Johnson 13 run (Gabe Ferguson kick), 8:15<\/p>\n

L: Treyce Whitlow 33 run (Christian Hackett kick), 3:00<\/p>\n

SECOND QUARTER<\/p>\n

L: Greg Tillman 35 pass from Alsaiah Gross (Hackett kick), 1:17<\/p>\n

THIRD QUARTER<\/p>\n

L: Whitlow 35 run (Hackett kick) 9:53<\/p>\n

FOURTH QUARTER<\/p>\n

S: Victor Cassese 13 pass from Jack Mitchell (Fuller kick), 9:07<\/p>\n

L: Tillman 27 pass from Gross (Hackett kick), 7:30<\/p>\n

Individual stats<\/p>\n

RUSHING\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stroudsburg (27-92): Keyen Johnson 18-79, TD; Jackson Mitchell 8-23; Jeremiah Hernandez 1-0.<\/p>\n

Liberty: (30-169): Treyce Whitlow 15-144, 2 TD; Zyaire Davis 2-17; Mekkhi McKenzie 2-8; Elias Lopez 1-1; Alsaiah Gross 10-(-1).<\/p>\n

PASSING<\/p>\n

Stroudsburg: Mitchell 16-31-0, 220 yards, TD.<\/p>\n

Liberty: Gross 9-17-1, 170 yards, 2 TD.<\/p>\n

RECEIVING<\/p>\n

Stroudsburg: Josh Ivers-Green 5-105; Keyen Johnson 2-39; Victor Cassese 3-33, TD; Andres Batista 3-25; Keegan Munch 2-17; Kygen Damato 1-8.<\/p>\n

Liberty: Zyaire Davis 4-92; Greg Tillman 2-62, 2 TD; Jayvion White 2-16; Jeter DeJesus 1-10.<\/p>\n

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