By Lisa Byers
EAST STROUDSBURG — Eiler-Martin Stadium is still referred to by some as Jimmy Terwilliger’s house. Terwilliger is, after all, the most successful football player ever to have donned an East Stroudsburg jersey.
The 2006 graduate is a Harlon Hill Trophy winner, and going into Saturday’s NCAA Division II first-round playoff game between East Stroudsburg and Edinboro, owned every career passing record in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
Not anymore.
Edinboro senior quarterback Trevor Harris etched his name into history yesterday when he surpassed Terwilliger to become the PSAC’s all-time leader in pass completions. Harris completed 28 of 39 passes for 298 yards with three touchdowns as the Fighting Scots downed the Warriors, 31-16, at Eiler-Martin Stadium.
Harris set the record with a seven-yard completion to D’mar Jeter during the Scots’ opening possession of the second half. The completion was the 907th of his career and set up a nine-yard touchdown pass to Shawn Walker that gave the Scots a 24-13 lead.
In true Harris fashion, the two-time Harlon Hill regional finalist had no idea he had broken the mark until a couple of the 40 or so fans that made the trek from Edinboro congratulated him on the sidelines. Even then, Harris was a little confused.
“I didn’t know what happened,” Harris said. “They all started cheering. Then I heard somebody say, ‘Good job, Trevor.’ I was like, ‘What? Yeah, that was a good score and a good play by Shawn (Walker).’ And then somebody said, ‘You broke the completion record.’ There was a big roar after we made an extra point and I was like, ‘I didn’t know extra points were that tough.’ I wasn’t real sure what was going on.”
What was going on was yet another accomplishment in Harris’ storied career at Edinboro. Harris now has 916 completions for his career. He also moved into third place in the PSAC in career touchdown passes with 95, surpassing West Chester’s Mike Mitros, who had 94. Next on the list is Millersville’s Drew Folmar, who holds the second spot with 96 touchdown passes.
And all of this by Harris came two weeks after many thought his career was over when he went down with a knee injury in a 30-17 loss to Clarion that Edinboro also thought ended its playoff hopes.
The injury wound up being a torn meniscus, an injury that takes on average, after surgery, four to six weeks to heal. Harris, however, was holding out hope that the Scots would get into the playoffs and made it his mission to beat those odds. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on Nov. 5 in Columbus, Ohio and on Thursday returned to Columbus where his knee was graded at just over 91 percent, earning him the all-clear from doctors there.
East Stroudsburg coach Denny Douds, who coached Terwilliger, acknowledged just what kind of feat it was that Harris accomplished in getting back on the field yesterday. Douds went through the same injury earlier this season.
“Tip your hat,” Douds said. “The career he had … He’s a true competitor. They had a chief at the wheel. There is no doubt about that.”
Harris said he had no troubles with the knee and it was never even a thought throughout the game.
“When I woke up (Saturday), to be honest with you I didn’t even think about my knee until there was a point in time where I looked down and saw my bandages over my sutures,” he said. “I was real focused on the game. It took me a little bit to get into a rhythm; I was a little rusty in the first half.
“I had a little bit in my mind I was like, ‘Protect yourself; protect your foot.’ One point I actually took off and ran and it felt great and I was like ‘if I’m going to be out here I may as well play mentally tough.’ It started working out once I got the runs going.”
Boy, did it ever.
Harris led Edinboro to its first playoff win since 2004. That win came against Bentley, 47-44, in the first round. The Scots ended up falling to East Stroudsburg in the second round, 36-32.
