Lehigh Valley high school football: Is Thursday’s Whitehall-Liberty game the Pukszyn Bowl?

Jeff Pukszyn said his wife, Erin, updates the family calendar and she has had the date of Oct. 19 circled for awhile.

That’s because she knew that two significant members of the family would be busy that night.

Her husband, Jeff, will be busy as the defensive coordinator for the Whitehall football team and he’ll be coaching against their son, Jake, a standout sophomore wide receiver for Liberty.

The matchup is finally here with a 6 p.m. kickoff Thursday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium and it’s an intriguing and important matchup that will begin Week 9 of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference season.

Whitehall (4-4, 3-4 EPC South) is looking to snap a three-game losing streak and Liberty is hoping to stop a six-game slide.

Either way, a member of the Pukszyn family will play a significant role.

“It has been talked about and joked about for a long time, but this week it’s getting pretty serious in the house,” Jeff Pukszyn said. “It’s fun. It’s a good time, but certainly Jake and I aren’t able to watch as much film together as we usually do or talk about things as much we normally do either. It’s getting a little more serious this week. We seem to be talking about everything but football in the house.”

Sharon Merkel

Sophomore Jake Pukszyn has had a great season at wide receiver for the Liberty football team. (Sharon K. Merkel/Morning Call photo)

The key question is whether or not Jake Pukszyn, who is also one of the area’s top basketball players, will play. He suffered an injury in practice — a sprain of the deltoid tendon in his ankle — last week and was on the field for just two snaps against Emmaus.

“He shut himself down last week at Emmaus,” Jeff Pukszyn said. “He has been in a boot, taking a lot of stress off his foot. To be completely honest, it’s probably going to be as close to a game-time decision as possible. They want to rest it as much as he can. He’s doing a ton of rehab every day, before school and after school and he’s really taking it seriously and putting a lot of time and effort into getting back. But he probably won’t know until pregame warmups. That was also the case last week, too, and he knew it was going to happen. We’ll end up getting a decision close to 6 o’clock Thursday night. I know he’s very hopeful.”

Even though coach Pukszyn has a tougher job if Jake plays, the dad in Pukszyn hopes he does.

His son has had a phenomenal first season as a varsity player and has been among the EPC leaders with 34 receptions for 418 yards and six touchdowns.

“Jake obviously wanted to put a lot of time into his freshman year of basketball at Liberty and made the decision not to play football last year,” coach Pukszyn said. “Then probably after basketball season ended, he started thinking about football again. Then he got into AAU basketball and at some point he said to my wife that he missed football and said he was thinking about playing again. We certainly supported whatever he wanted to do. He’s having a lot of fun. He’s having a good time. He has obviously been productive and has worked hard. We’re proud of him.”

His father, the former head coach at Moravian University, said that his son is probably even a little surprised with how well he has done and is looking forward to more opportunities.

DONNA FISHER / THE MORNING CALL

Jeff Pukszyn coached at Moravian University for 12 seasons. (Morning Call file photo).

Meanwhile, Whitehall is looking for a much-needed win after losses to Parkland, Nazareth and Allentown Central Catholic in its last three games.

“We’ve run into a stretch against some really talented teams that have all played in big games before and have a lot of experience,” Pukszyn said. “Watching film with Jake as I have done, I believe Liberty has been getting better, too. I know they’re young, but defensively they’re playing well and they’re getting some good productivity now on offense. For me, it’s interesting because you’re watching your son run around out there playing well and at the same time you remember you have a job to do. I found myself spectating more than game-planning, but I’ve got to make sure I keep on my Whitehall hat the rest of the week.”

Whitehall coach Andy Marino is preparing his team to play on short rest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Short notice

Playing Thursday night high school games has become common and will happen with more frequency as the shortage of officials continues.

But Whitehall had the unenviable task of preparing for a Thursday game on the heels of a physical game against Allentown Central Catholic that stretched deep into Saturday night. It left the Zephyrs with four days to prepare for Liberty instead of the normal six.

“It has been a challenge,” said first-year Whitehall coach Andy Marino. “There are two parts to it. There is the mental preparation and the physical preparation and you need to know what’s important. What do you need to accomplish this week? There has been a difference sense of urgency because there’s so little time.”

Marino said his kids seem to have adapted well.

“I haven’t noticed much change,” he said. “We may notice some Thursday night, but they seem to be into it.”

Marino said he hasn’t talked to his team about the importance of the game.

“We have talked about playing for four quarters,” he said. “The last two games we played really well for three quarters and kind of let the game get out of our hands in the fourth. So that’s really been our focus. You can see on film that Liberty has been getting better every week. They’re flying to the ball on defense and [Gabe] Green is an exceptional running back and obviously, we know all about Jake and like a lot of EPC South teams, if the ball goes this way, you get a win; if it goes their other way, you get a loss and the ball hasn’t been bouncing their way in a lot of these games.”

Marino, in his first year at the high school level after an extensive college career, said his players haven’t become discouraged by the last three weeks.

“They’ve seen that when we play well, we can play with anybody,” he said. “It’s just a matter of consistency and playing four quarters. The energy has been there in practice. Our kids love to play football. So, playing on Thursday night doesn’t matter. They’ll play whenever you want them to.”

Whitehall (4-4, 3-4 South) at Liberty (2-6, 0-6)

Storylines: Two teams trying to deal with a short week and snap losing streaks ahead of their rivalry games. With a win, Whitehall would clinch a spot in the District 11 5A tournament.

Players to watch: The Zephyrs have a relentless worker in Carter Troxell. Against ACCHS, he carried 21 times for 92 yards and caught a 20-yard pass on offense. On defense, Troxell made 13 tackles including four for loss. He has 61 tackles on the season, 15 TFL. Zephs QB Trey Dogmanits has thrown for 1,220 yards and 10 touchdowns. His top target is Braden Bashore, who has 28 catches for 302 yards and four TDs. Caden Vermuelen completed 14 of 28 passes for 180 yards and a TD against Emmaus. Anthony Vega caught five passes for 90 yards and the team’s lone score.

What to expect: The Zephyrs will have to contain sophomore running back Gabe Green and get pressure on Vermuelen. Offensively, they will look for balance and consistency, something they have found elusive during their losing streak. The Hurricanes also will try to get their running game going after having been held to 38 yards on the ground, 1.5 yards per carry, by Emmaus. Whitehall has won the last two games in the series, including 33-22 last year when the Zephs rallied from a 22-6 deficit.

Keith Groller’s prediction: Whitehall 28-16

Note: Keith Groller’s EPC predictions were 7-2 last week and he is 57-15 this season.