It was an opportunistic Whitehall football team that took advantage of several Pocono Mountain East turnovers as they rolled over the visiting Cardinals to open the season.

The Zephyrs turned three of those turnovers into touchdowns, one on a pick six by Ryan Klaugh, another from a fumble recovery by Nick Dex deep in Cardinals’ territory which set up a 4-yard scamper by Zach Gilbert, which helped propel them to a 46-0 victory at Zephyr Stadium last Friday night.

They’re now 1-0 and look forward to playing Emmaus this Friday.

The Zephs got on the board in their opening drive. They covered 51 yards in four plays. It was capped off by a Tavion George run for 42 yards. George finished the game with 56 yards to lead the Zephs. He was one of four Zephyrs to have over 20 yards rushing as they rolled up 429 total yards against the Cardinals.

On their next possession Dez Boykin got free, taking the ball 41 yards for the score. They would wind up scoring on their first three possessions, giving Pocono Mountain East a considerable mountain to climb.

The third possession showcased Zach Gilbert’s ability to thrown on the run. He rolled to his right and found a streaking Jackson Buskirk down the far sideline for a 36-yard score.

In his first game as the varsity starting quarterback, Zach Gilbert was 14-of-23 for 218 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a score.

Zach Gilbert said that he was a little nervous before the game and had some pregame butterflies, but those all went away as soon as he hit the field.

“Once I was out there, my line did a good job giving me confidence, and I had time to make decisions, and we came out on top,” said Zach Gilbert.

On the play in which he hit Buskirk, Zach Gilbert said it’s just a matter of gaining confidence through repetition. As a leftie, he has to throw across his body to make that throw. He also credited his line for covering his back side as he rolled out, allowing him to make the completion.

“I knew exactly where Jackson was going to be, and I threw it and he made a good play,” said Zach Gilbert.

Zach Gilbert said that his 4-yard touchdown run came off a broken play. The snap came early causing him to improvise.

“I still faked that we were going with the original play, and I was supposed to roll, so I just took it ahead,” said Zach Gilbert.

“He did well for his first game; I’m pretty happy” said head coach Brian Gilbert. “There are some things that we have to clean up, but I think as a team, we do as well.”

Boykin was on the receiving end on a lot of Zach Gilbert’s throws. He caught five passes for 75 yards, including a crossing route that netted 65 yards and a score. Boykin also made an impact on defense, blowing up a screen play during the second quarter for a big loss.

The defense was also impressive in the opener. They only allowed the Cardinals past midfield once during the whole game. They allowed just 132 total yard and forced five turnovers. They also gave the offense great field position throughout the game.

“Our defense did a really good job tonight,” said Zach Gilbert. “They held them to zero, which is always a goal of our defense.”

Gilbert said that their defense set the tone early and the turnovers were a result of things going their way. However, he would have liked to have seen more sustained drives.

“We didn’t have many of those field-long drives tonight like I wanted to get, but I was happy that we were able to turn that into some points,” said Gilbert.

“We ran to the ball well,” said Gilbert. “Our team speed showed a little bit tonight.”

That team speed kept PME quarterback Jacob Keane in check for most of the night. He finished the game 4-of-14 for 46 yards. He also ran for 25 yards.

The Zephs got contributions from a number of players including, Kasai Harrison, Devin Castro, Jacob Snyder, Devin Martinez, Braxton Marrero, Ethan Parvel, Akil Pulyado and Alex Hatch.

Zach Gilbert said that this is a big week coming up and that Emmaus will pose some problems.

“They change a lot of things, they put up 77 on Dieruff [last Friday], and they’re going to have a lot of confidence,” said Zach Gilbert. “We need to work hard. It should be a great game.”