North Pocono football, 1992 to 2003

The 12-0 season, the 1993 district title, and the 1994 district final have their own pages. What sits between them and the MaxPreps logs is thinner. From 1983 through 1994 the program was 96-41. Nick Donato resigned after 1995, following a 22-12 win over Lakeland, with 111 wins at North Pocono. That season has its own page, including a 22-13 Big 11 win over West Scranton in which Charles Lucke rushed for 140 yards and three touchdowns.

Anthony Donato coached the next six seasons, 1996 through 2001, at 38-26, and won the Lackawanna Football Conference Division II North title in 2001. The 2001 newspaper games are on that season’s page. The 2016 championship list also has an Eastern Conference Class AAA title in 1999. John Whitelavich coached 2002 through 2006. The 2003 games are on that season’s page.

1992 has its own page. The Sept. 28, 2017, Times-Tribune prints North Pocono at 9-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big 11. The games on that page include a 21-6 win over Crestwood, a 35-0 win over Scranton, a 34-7 win over Riverside, Dunmore’s 7-0 win, Valley View’s 22-21 win, and Berwick’s 35-0 win in the Eastern Conference championship. A Sept. 22, 2012, lookback, in the items from 20 years earlier, has Gary Snyder returning a fumble 60 yards for a touchdown in that September win over Crestwood. 1993 has its own page. A Sept. 28, 2013, lookback, in the items from 20 years earlier, has Jeff Laboranti returning a kickoff 98 yards in a 23-17 win at Crestwood. The district final was 20-12 over Wallenpaupack. In 1994 the schools split two Valley View meetings, and North Pocono’s 19-14 win was the District 2 Class 3A semifinal.

1996 has its own page. In September, West Scranton won 25-0, and on Sept. 20 North Pocono beat Dunmore 26-21. Garrett Swartz scored on a 15-yard interception return and a 5-yard catch in the Dunmore game.

1997 has its own page. In September, Andrew Magnotta threw three touchdown passes in a 47-8 win over Lakeland, and West Scranton won 14-7 on Tom Hughes’s 18-yard catch with 52 seconds left. In November, Magnotta had five interceptions in a 21-13 win over Honesdale. The Nov. 6, 1997, Times Leader says that win briefly put North Pocono in the District 2 Class AAA field before the PIAA Board of Appeals voted 3-2 to reverse Berwick’s expulsion.

In September 1998, Tony Shields caught two fourth-quarter touchdown passes in a 21-14 win over Honesdale. That November the Pocono Record had North Pocono ahead 21-0 and winning 28-12 over Bangor in an Eastern Conference Class AAA playoff game at Bangor Memorial Park. EasternPAFootball’s 1998 Division III championship table also lists Tunkhannock 27, North Pocono 24. The 1999 title was 17-14 over Milton. The 1998 games are on that season’s page.

2000 has its own page. The Times Leader has Abington Heights won 35-14, with North Pocono at 1-4 and 0-2 in Division 2 North after that game, a 41-34 overtime win over Dallas, and a 21-14 win over Tunkhannock that left the Trojans at 5-5.