COPLAY, Pa. -- A young, redheaded driver pulled up to the corner of 2nd and Chestnut, lowered his window and asked an officer if he would remove the barricade in the street. Nick Shafnisky used to be the star quarterback at Whitehall High and Lehigh University, but on this day, he was merely eastern Pennsylvania's most valuable chauffeur.
"I've got Saquon in here," Shafnisky explained.
On the nearest corner stood Samuel Owens Casual Family Dining, with a banner advertising a dollar-off happy-hour special over a sign that read, "Best of Luck Saquon." Across the street, in front of Giant Food & Drugstore, stood two large signs side-by-side, one announcing that afternoon, March 24, as "Saquon Barkley Day," and the other announcing Coplay as "The Little Town That Could.