WRITTEN BY: JERIC YURKANIN
Yesterday was the perfect day for football.
If you were up at North Pocono and you’re a Trojans youth football fan—or even someone who follows the varsity program—you could feel the excitement around the field. The sound of helmets cracking, coaches calling out instructions, teammates cheering from the sideline, and families filling the stands made it feel like football season was truly alive.
To be honest, I haven’t followed youth football closely for many years. But recently, I’ve watched what has been happening with the North Pocono football program, especially at the varsity level.
And something is clearly being built.
North Pocono has developed into one of the area’s strongest football programs. Last season, the Trojans captured a District championship, and this year the varsity team came into the season 2-0.
That kind of success doesn’t just suddenly appear underneath the Friday night lights.
It starts years earlier.
Growing up and watching football in the 1990s, I learned that successful varsity programs are often built from the ground up. It begins with the youngest players—the C-Team—then continues through B-Team, A-Team or junior varsity, and eventually reaches the varsity level.
Little by little, players learn how to compete.
They learn how to practice.
They learn how to become teammates.
They learn how to listen to coaches, respond to adversity, work hard, stay disciplined and understand that football is bigger than any one player.
And right now, North Pocono appears to be building exactly that type of culture.
They’re on fire.
Legendary Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi famously preached that winning wasn’t something you did only once in a while. It had to become part of your habits and preparation.
Lombardi knew a little something about winning.
He coached the Green Bay Packers from 1959 through 1967 before finishing his coaching career with Washington. His teams became known for discipline, toughness, preparation and expecting everyone on the roster to do their job.
That same philosophy still applies to football today.
Love the game.
Have fun playing it.
Support your teammates.
Work hard.
Bring the right attitude.
Be coachable.
Stay dedicated.
And create a standard that every player understands.
Those lessons begin in youth football.
And North Pocono’s B-Team is beginning to show what can happen when those lessons come together.
But Sunday wasn’t going to be easy.
Standing across the field was Honesdale—a talented football team that wasn’t coming to North Pocono just to participate.
The Jr. Trojans were going to have to earn everything.
Before the first big run, before the first tackle, before anyone crossed the goal line, it started with the players wearing North Pocono across their uniforms:
Paul Rushin, Cameron Donahue, Landon Ragin, Nicholas Bowers, Tucker Keegan, Dalton Powell, Joseph Kelly, Forrest Semsick, Richard Romanko, Ryan Romanko, Gunner Donahue, Ashton Rave, Jayden Rolph, Jaxon Ozovek, Matthew Gavern, Logan Gaus, Blake Lewis, Benjamin Butler, William Golden, Elijah Santana, Mackenzie Castellano, Aiden Dumm and Serenity Crawn.
Every name matters.
Every player matters.
Every coach matters.
Football games might be remembered because of the player who scores the touchdown, makes the interception or breaks loose for a huge run.
But teams are built with far more than the players whose names eventually appear in the headline.
The starter matters.
The backup matters.
The player waiting for his opportunity matters.
Because football can change in one play.
A player gets tired.
Someone gets injured.
A coach calls for a substitution.
Suddenly, the player who had been standing on the sideline moments earlier is sprinting onto the field with his teammates depending on him.
It becomes “next man up.”
And when that moment comes, he has to be ready.
That is why every position, every player and every role on a football team is important.
Everyone brings different strengths.
Everyone contributes something.
And as the North Pocono B-Team prepared to battle Honesdale, all of those players were going to be needed.
The helmets were strapped on.
The coaches were ready.
The crowd was watching.
Honesdale stood on the opposite sideline.
And now it was time to play football.
Honesdale received the opening kickoff and immediately went to one of its biggest weapons, No. 91 Graydan Kimble. Kimble was tall, strong and difficult to bring down, carrying the football five yards to the Honesdale 49-yard line.
On second-and-5, Blake Estus picked up another yard.
Then the Jr. Trojans defense made its first statement of the afternoon.
On third-and-4, North Pocono stormed into the backfield and dropped Jase Burrell for a four-yard loss.
That brought up fourth-and-8.
Honesdale handed the football to Estus, who fought his way forward for seven yards—but the North Pocono defense swarmed to the ball and stopped him just short of the marker.
Turnover on downs.
The Jr. Trojans offense took over, and it didn’t take long for North Pocono to show its own explosiveness.
On first down, Richard Romanko took the handoff and powered ahead for eight yards.
Honesdale stuffed the next two plays at the line of scrimmage, setting up fourth-and-2.
The crowd knew it was a big play.
North Pocono needed two yards.
Forrest Semsick gave them 49.
Semsick found daylight, exploded through the defense and was gone—racing 49 yards to the end zone for the game’s first touchdown.
Just like that, the North Pocono sideline erupted.
The extra-point attempt was unsuccessful, but the Jr. Trojans had landed the first punch.
North Pocono 6, Honesdale 0.
Honesdale didn’t back down.
Starting from its own 48-yard line, Estus ripped off a 22-yard run to quickly move the football into North Pocono territory.
Two plays later, Kimble made his presence felt again.
He caught the football about eight yards downfield, turned upfield and sprinted the rest of the way for a 25-yard touchdown with 1:35 remaining in the opening quarter.
The extra point was missed.
6-6.
A tie game.
And suddenly, the energy around the field had changed.
But North Pocono had an answer of its own.
With the football at its own 44-yard line, quarterback Dalton Powell dropped back and looked downfield.
He spotted Nate Bowers.
Powell let it fly.
Bowers hauled it in and took off toward the end zone, completing the touchdown connection with just 42 seconds remaining in the quarter.
This time, North Pocono converted the extra point.
Jr. Trojans 13, Honesdale 6.
Honesdale continued battling.
On its next possession, beginning at its own 42-yard line, Honesdale methodically drove the football down the field.
Run by run, the Hornets kept getting closer.
Eventually, Honesdale found itself at the North Pocono 2-yard line with 3:01 remaining in the second quarter.
Two yards separated Honesdale from the end zone.
Two yards separated North Pocono from protecting its lead.
And that North Pocono defense refused to move.
The defensive front dug in, bodies crashed together near the goal line and the Jr. Trojans kept Honesdale out of the end zone.
No touchdown.
No points.
Just a huge goal-line stand.
North Pocono wasn’t able to add another score before halftime, but the Jr. Trojans walked into the break holding a 13-6 advantage.
The second half turned into a defensive battle.
Honesdale kept searching for a way to break through.
North Pocono kept answering.
By the fourth quarter, time was becoming Honesdale’s biggest enemy.
With the football at its own 15-yard line and 2:58 remaining, Kimble carried the ball before it suddenly came loose.
The football hit the ground.
Players scrambled.
North Pocono’s Nate Bowers came away with it.
Jr. Trojans football.
And now North Pocono could smell the victory.
Three plays later, Richard Romanko made sure there would be no dramatic comeback.
Romanko took the handoff, found a crease and exploded 15 yards into the end zone.
Touchdown North Pocono.
Game over.
The Jr. Trojans had finished it.
North Pocono 19, Honesdale 6.
And when that final whistle sounded, Sunday’s victory represented more than another number in the win column.
It represented everything we talked about before the opening kickoff.
A winning football program is built from the ground up.
It is built when a defense refuses to surrender at the 2-yard line.
It is built when a player makes a fourth-down stop.
It is built when a quarterback trusts his receiver and lets the football fly.
It is built when someone recovers a fumble with the game on the line.
It is built when 22-plus young players practice together, compete together and learn that every job on the field matters.
Years from now, some of these same players may run underneath the Friday night lights wearing a North Pocono varsity uniform.
The crowd may be bigger.
The stakes may be higher.
There may be District championships on the line.
But the lessons that prepare them for those moments are being learned right now.
On afternoons like Sunday.
On youth football fields.
In games like this.
Yesterday really was the perfect day for football.
Not just because of the weather.
Not just because North Pocono won 19-6.
But because anyone watching closely could see something bigger happening.
They could see the next generation learning how to compete.
They could see teammates learning how to depend on one another.
They could see a football culture continuing to grow.
North Pocono’s winning tradition doesn’t begin when the stadium lights turn on Friday night.
It begins right here—with these kids, these coaches, these families and afternoons just like this one.
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