Time can sometimes be a game-changer, particularly in football where emotions ebb and flow and injuries can turn a season on a dime.
In Week 2, Easton Area High School turned Parkland every which way but loose in a 24-0 win that established the Red Rovers as the team to beat not only in the Lehigh Valley Conference but in the District 2/4/11 subregional as well.
How the worm can turn in 2.5 months.
The Trojans, which routed Easton 42-0 Friday night before a crowd of 8,000 at Parkland Stadium, was the facilitator this time against the same team that dominated them in early September when the air still had the tinge of summer.
Easton was pounded so badly by Parkland that Trojan coach Jim Morgans instructed his backup quarterback Ethan Persa to start taking a knee with six minutes left in the game. Parkland was already under the mercy rule with 3:25 left in the third quarter.
Easton coach Steve Shiffert, who's not accustomed to being on the short end of such lopsided games, had the opportunity to say his Red Rovers quit as early as the first few minutes of the second half. But he refused to take that road.
"We tried to play assignment football and we failed to carry out our assignments," a composed Shiffert said. "We had a lot of breakdowns on those long runs by Kareem Williams. We left a lot of gaps and he found them.
"We had a decent week of practice. But I'll you tell this: We didn't seem to be mentally there after Williams broke off that 94-yarder (on Parkland's first touchdown)."
If nothing else, Friday night's game reflected the feelings that Shiffert and Morgans, two high school coaching lifers, have for each other. Parkland could have really rubbed salt in Easton's wounds in the last quarter but Morgans instructing his quarterback to take a knee, which symbolized their relationship.
"I have tremendous respect for Steve, his staff and his kids," Morgans said. "There was no need (to score an additional touchdown or two). The game just kind of got away from them, that's all. If the shoe was on the other foot, he would have treated us the same way."
Sometimes one player move, no matter how insignificant the change might be at the time, can make all the difference in a team's season.
Williams, whose older brother Andre is a Heisman Trophy candidate at Boston College, believed the trajectory of the Trojans' season was altered dramatically by one personnel change after the Easton loss in Week 2.
"We made some changes in the offensive line, one of which was moving David Barber to (right offensive) tackle," Williams said. "It changed our season. Our offensive line really came together. It's given all the running backs tremendous confidence when they run the ball.
"We just don't want the season to end. This was not the night we all wanted to say goodbye to each other."