The Whitehall defense withstood a big play early in the third quarter to shut out visiting Delaware Valley in the second half, giving the Zephyrs offense plenty of time to rally the District 11 champions to a 34-13 victory in a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 5A first-round football playoff game Friday night.
Delaware Valley, behind the running of Paulie Weinrich, took a 13-10 halftime lead.
Tyler Bird hit Jayden Ramirez down the right sideline for 57 yards on the third play of the second half, but the Zephyrs turned away that threat.
Whitehall then took the lead midway through the third quarter and broke away with three fourth-quarter scores.
Both Whitehall’s Nigel Linton and Delaware Valley’s Weinrich ran for well more than 100 yards and multiple touchdowns.
Quarterback Trey Dogmantis ran 2 yards for a touchdown and 17-13 lead with 5:25 left in the third.
Andrew Deutsch, who also hit all four extra points and an earlier field goal, made a 23-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to put Whitehall ahead by seven.
Linton ran 52 yards with 4:56 left and 5 yards with 1:08 remaining for his second and third touchdowns.
Weinrich surpassed 100 yards in the first half, nearly getting to the milestone in the first quarter.
Jackson Corrie, who had the district-title winning interception against Scranton last week, picked off another pass on the game’s first possession to set up Delaware Valley in Whitehall territory.
Weinrich took it from there, moving the ball down the field and scoring on an 11-yard run for a 6-0 lead with 5:25 left in the first quarter.
Deutsch kicked a 28-yard field goal late in the quarter and Linton scored on a 3-yard run 9:22 before halftime to give Whitehall a 10-6 lead.
Delaware Valley countered with a 16-play scoring drive to take the lead on a 2-yard Weinrich touchdown with 38 seconds left in the half.
The Warriors, who won their seventh straight District 2 title, finished 7-6.
Whitehall (8-5) moved on to the state quarterfinals.
