The Whitehall Zephyrs advanced to the District XI Class 6A semifinal with their 45-28 victory over Stroudsburg on Nov. 6 at Whitehall.

Stroudsburg, the seventh seed, was relentless in the first half that included four lead changes with the second-seeded Zephyrs taking a 24-13 halftime advantage.

In the last few seconds of the second quarter, Whitehall quarterback Tanner Dogmanits found Henry Shultz in the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown pass.

“The clock was running down, and I usually am in the slot. We run that play a lot, so I knew that I had a post route, and I knew that I could beat the guy off the line of scrimmage, and definitely, it was exciting punching it in right before half,” Shultz said.

Stroudsburg pulled within four points early in the third quarter on a 7-yard touchdown run by Jarel Jackson.

Whitehall responded with Shultz’s second touchdown of the night on a 27-yard pass from Dogmanits.

“We had a lot of talk at halftime and how to just fix what we were doing wrong and it really showed up,” Shultz said. “We have a lot of corrections to make over this upcoming week... We run for penalties, so we need to cut down on those. It’s gonna be a rough Monday for us, but yeah, we need to cut down on those.”

Both teams were plagued by penalties: 13 for Whitehall and 10 for Stroudsburg.

With only three points separating the teams in the fourth quarter, a 15-yard penalty against the Mountaineers aided in Dogmanits’ 10-yard touchdown run.

Then, Whitehall’s CJ Lowe stepped in front of Stroudsburg’s Jayson Klokis for an interception, negated by a Zephyr penalty, but in the last three minutes of play, Jeziah Gregory scored for the Zephyrs on a 15-yard run.

“I think the whole game was just a mess, you know, on just penalties and just people just losing their attitude,” said Whitehall senior Iskander Blanco, who had a sack in the second quarter. “I was in the right spot at the right time. They were trying to run a reverse, and it was just perfect timing, and I was there, but we definitely didn’t play the best. You know, hats off to them. They came out strong, and they shocked us. We were able to finish it so that’s all that matters.”

Whitehall will host Parkland in a district semifinal on Nov. 13.