Coaches routinely yell out “poison” when alerting their players to stay away from a bouncing kick that may inadvertently hit them, leading to a possible turnover.

Right now the Parkland defense is playing like poison, keeping opposing offenses away from the end zone for the last 10 quarters.

Whitehall’s mission this week is to break that streak and find pay dirt against their rivals. The Trojans have shut out both Easton and Freedom after losing to Liberty in week three. Both performances saw their defense give up scant yardage to those EPC South foes, while Whitehall’s offense has been on the plus side of that total yardage ledger with wins against Liberty and Easton.

With the Trojans stingy defense, head coach Brian Gilbert knows that he’ll be facing a stiff challenge from a team that’s looking to keep the Joe Gerencser Trophy in their possession.

“We have our work cut out for us,” said Gilbert.

One thing that will be working in Whitehall’s favor is confidence. After two consecutive wins against tough opponents, Gilbert said that his team is playing with the belief that they can win any time they take the field.

Whitehall has also struck a good balance between the run and the pass in their last two wins. Tavion George and Braxton Marrero have combined for 589 yards so far this season, the bulk of those coming in the last two weeks. The pair had 162 yards against the Red Rovers last Friday.

“We found a running game, which is good,” said Gilbert.

Their rushing attack has been aided by an offensive line that dominated the line of scrimmage against the Red Rovers.

They’ll be looking to do the same against a smaller Parkland defensive line that relies on speed and quickness at the point of attack.

“They’re just really fast and aggressive,” said Gilbert.

However, one Trojan who patrols the middle of the field is in the mold of previous Parkland linebackers who could wreak havoc from that position (think Nezar Haddad), and his name is Jahan Worth.

“He’s somebody we have to be aware of on the field,” said Gilbert.

Worth is also a force on offense as a running back, rushing for 357 yards so far this season. He rushed for 172 yards against the Red Rovers, and can be one of those game changers at any given moment.

Whitehall has also been successful through the air this season and senior quarterback Zach Gilbert has been extremely efficient, posting a 57.69 completion percentage thus far. He’s thrown for 975 yards, including eight touchdowns.

He’s also been able to lead them down the field with the game on the line, showing great poise in the pocket, something he’ll need against Parkland who’ll be looking to spoil Whitehall’s bid for an upset.

The Zephs will also counter with a defense that’s coming off a big performance against Easton, registering four sacks and two interceptions, both by Devin Castro.

For the Zephyrs to win, Gilbert said that they’ll need to move the chains and dictate what they want to do on offense. They can’t let Parkland force them to be one dimensional or predictable.

He also said that they’ll need to be successful on first down, keeping them away from third and long.

Whitehall can’t afford a third loss if they hope to win the EPC title. Gilbert said that this team is good at leaving the past behind them and not letting things linger, either good or bad. It was that way when they lost to Nazareth, and it was that way after they defeated Liberty.

“We’re just going to move on,” said Gilbert.

That moving will take them to Orefield Middle School on Friday night.