Red blasts Gold in Classic
Zack Bradley was fairly confident that the Red team would defeat their Gold counterparts in last Thursday's 44th annual McDonald's Lehigh Valley All-Star Classic.
Following a 55-21 victory by the Red team, you could see why Bradley wasn't worried.
The former Catasauqua quarterback proved his worth on the big stage, completing 13-of-16 passes for 308 yards and four touchdowns.
The Red's 55 points set an offensive record for the contest and the 76 total points also became a record.
Whether Bradley knew it would be record-setting is up for debate, but there was no doubt, in his mind, in regards to who the victors were going to be on the night.
"I expected this game to be this way," Bradley said. "We put the time in and we were practicing in full pads and they [Gold] were in shorts. That's really what it amounts to. Whoever puts the most work in, is going to get the most out of it. Our receivers were just ridiculous and we knew they [Gold] couldn't stop them."
The game got out of hand very quickly, as the Red (Lehigh-Carbon-Monroe) jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the second quarter with a series of big plays to confirm his statements.
Bradley connected with teammate Paryss Marshall for a 73-yard TD strike and then found East Stroudsburg South's Zee Robinson on a 52-yard connection later in the first quarter.
Pleasant Valley quarterback Brandon Leap took his turn under center and applied similar results, throwing a 64-yard score to Parkland's Eli Redmond, followed by a 93-yard TD to Southern Lehigh's Jake Del Priore.
Bradley and Marshall kept their connection going the rest of the evening, as they hooked up on TD's of 17 and 62-yards to build a 42-14 advantage in the third quarter.
With the Gold team comprised of players from Northampton-Phillipsburg-Palisades, Northampton quarterback Nick Cook wished things could have ended differently.
"They had really good playmakers and whenever they got into space, they made plays," Cook said. "It would have been really nice to finally get a win this year, but it's all for a good cause."
Bethlehem Catholic's Chris Figler would have liked a different result as well for the Gold team, but he reveled in the postgame moments grabbing final pictures with friends and family.
"This was my last high school football game and you think about it when you're playing in the game," Figler said. "We're all competitors and we want to win, but at the end of the day, it was a for a good cause and that's what we can take away from this."