A double rainbow arched over Andrew S. Leh Stadium before Whitehall’s game against Nazareth, and while no pots of gold were to be found, the Blue Eagles did run into the man with the golden legs.

Zephyr quarterback Ethan Parvel rushed for 115 yards on 19 carries in the 51-49 win over Nazareth last Friday. He also ran for three TDs, but it was his final carry (not counting their victory formation) for eight yards that proved to be the biggest of the evening. Facing a third-and-seven at their own 19-yard-line, Parvel tore up the middle determined to make it past the sticks. The junior churned forward past the marker, and with a fresh set of downs now secured, Parvel could take a knee and enjoy their third win of the season.

Without that crucial first down, Nazareth would have gotten the ball back with about a minute left to play. And with the dangerous Johann Dotson, who committed to UCLA this week, presumably back deep to field the punt, who knows where the Eagles would have begun their next drive. They only needed a field goal to win, but Parvel’s golden dash kept the Zephyrs undefeated.

Parvel said that quarterbacks coach Chris Kinane instills a lot of trust among his offensive players. In that crucial situation they decided they would run a power read where Parvel would choose his best option once the ball was snapped.

“He said that if it’s there, keep it, and they told us that one first down wins the game, and I knew I could do it,” said Parvel.

Parvel is a strong runner who has a lot of confidence in his legs. The coaching staff told him they would use that aspect of his game to make defenders respect the run as well as the pass.

“They said that my legs were going to be a large part of the offense,” said Parvel who has now rushed for 324 yards through three games. “It’s a different look than we had last year and teams aren’t prepared for it.”

It’s the second consecutive week where the game came down to the wire. Parvel has led them past two tough EPC South opponents, remaining poised as he had to orchestrate a big comeback against the Eagles on Friday.

The Zephs quickly trailed 7-0 as Nazareth scored on their first possession as Eagle quarterback Anthony Harris found Zac Keifer for a 62-yard TD strike. The Zephs answered on their ensuing possession as Parvel looked to be stuffed on a fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard-line, but he deftly bounced outside for the tying score.

But the Eagles answered again to make it 14-7, and then on Whitehall’s next possession forced a sack/fumble that led to another score.

With the score now 21-7, Parvel led the Zephs down the field, dancing into the end zone on a 13-yard run to cut the lead to seven, 21-14.

Nazareth kept finding ways to move the chains throughout the first half. They compiled 243 total yards in the first half, 28 of those on a Tommy Manos run that gave them a 28-14. They were looking to pad that lead even further, but missed a field-goal attempt late in the second quarter

After that miss, the Zephyrs took control of the game, reeling off 27 unanswered points to take a 34-28 lead. Parvel said that while they didn’t have the start they wanted, they kept plugging away and believe they would turn it around.

“You have to have faith in your team, and we have so much faith in what we do, with our defense, with our offense, everything,” said Parvel. “With that faith in ourselves, the motivation gets going.”

On a night filled with big plays, including a 35-yard field goal from Alex Khouri to put the Zephs in front 44-42 with 5:09 remaining in the game, the EPC slugfest between two high-powered offenses appeared to be salted away when Dez Boykin turned the corner and raced down the sideline for a backbreaking 61-yard TD run. That gave the Zephs a 51-42 lead with just under three minutes to play.

That play was made possible thanks to a big stop on defense for the Zephyrs who had trouble getting the Eagles off the field all night. With the Eagles failing to convert on a 4th and 13 at Whitehall’s 48-yard-line, Boykin struck with that romp that made it a two-score game again.

But the Blue Eagles refused to go quietly into the good night. The Blue Eagles had just scored on a pass with 2:00 remaining as Harris hit Nathan Stefanik for six. It was Harris’ fifth TD pass of the game, tying a school record.

While it was another win, head coach Brian Gilbert saw a lot of areas where they needed to play better after allowing 464 total yards and seven TDs to Nazareth.

“It was a frustrating night, needless to say, especially on defense because we couldn’t get stops,” said Gilbert.

They made up for that by moving the ball on offense as they put up 567 yards. Joe Herman III was a large part of that success as he had three catches for 113 yards, including three TDs.

Gilbert said that he needed to do a better job in having them up and ready to go from the outset. Nazareth was able to score on each of their first four possessions.

“The guys weren’t ready to play from the first snap for some reason so we’ll get that fixed, Gilbert said. “But a win is a win, and after tonight we’ll be happy, but there’s a lot of things we need to clean up and fix.”