Central Bucks West defeated Plymouth Whitemarsh 50-26 in Friday’s opening round District One AAA game. To view photos of all the action, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Ben Reese
DOYLESTOWN – Marvin Todd is special.
Everyone who has seen the Central Bucks West senior running back play this season can attest to that.
On Friday night at War Memorial Field, Todd put an exclamation point on the special tag. He rushed for 231 yards and six touchdowns as the seventh-seeded Bucks ran over 10th-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh 50-26.
Even PW coach Dan Chang came to that conclusion about Todd.
“He's a special player,” Chang said. “His speed is unbelievable. He gets a little seam and he goes.”
Chang couldn't have been more on target. And it was all proven in the first three minutes of the second half.
After West received the second-half kickoff and returned it to its own 38, Todd took the ball and - on the first play - broke through the line and roared 62 yards for a touchdown. Only 16 seconds had elapsed in the half, and the Bucks had turned a 21-20 halftime lead into a 28-20 lead.
Plymouth Whitemarsh could only gain four yards on its next series and punted to the Bucks. Corey Schott returned the punt 50 yards to the PW 20, and Todd took it the rest of the way on the first play from scrimmage. There was still 9:16 left in the third quarter.
West coach Brian Hensel was on the bandwagon also.
“Marvin's a special athlete,” the Bucks’ coach said. “Everybody on this team knows he's a special athlete.
“If you give him a little bit of space, he can really make some magic happen.”
But Hensel had more to say about Todd.
“We asked him, 'Marvin, are you going to carry the load this week?' and he told us that whatever the team needs, he'd do it.
“He did exactly what we asked him to do. He did some blocking, some catching and some running.”
Todd, meanwhile, gave all the credit to his offensive line.
“Our line did a real good job,” he said. “We didn't come out here thinking we were going to get an easy win.
“We respected our opponents tonight and just did what we had to do. We didn't think we were going to come out here and push them around.
“We practiced on the (blocking) sled all week. Every drive was like the sled; we just kept pushing and pushing and pushing, taking everything we could take.
“They've got a real good line. Our line just did what they had to do.”
And what they had to do was open holes for Todd against a defensive line that outweighed them by a lot of pounds.
“This might have been the best game they've had,” Hensel said of his offensive line. “They're really starting to come together.
“They're taking a whole lot of pride in what they have to do. When you have weapons like we have on the offensive side of the ball, if they do their job, there's a whole lot of things that can happen.
“They (PW) were like 265, 275, 280 and we have some guys who are under 200 pounds on the offensive line, but they've got a nasty streak in them. They bring it for all 48 minutes.
“If you ask them, they're going to tell you they are extremely tired right now. They battled these guys.”
Chang also came away impressed with the West offensive line.
“Their line played well,” he said. “They wore us down. In the second half, it just kind of steamrolled.”
Ah, yes, the second half. Well, in order to understand the second half, you have to understand the first half first.
Plymouth Whitemarsh took the opening kickoff and put together a 14-play drive, all but one play on the ground, and ate up slightly less than seven minutes and 30 seconds to take a 7-0 lead. Quarterback Connor Hanlon went in from the four for the score.
But West came right back.
The Bucks used seven plays to go 62 yards with Todd scoring his first TD from the two to tie the game at 7-7.
The Colonials' Nafeese Nasir fielded the ensuing kickoff and broke into the clear, finally being stopped at the West 15 after covering 72 yards. Jose Mora-Vega put PW back on top from the four.
The second quarter started off much like the first. The Colonials drove from their own 12 to the end zone as Hanlon hit James Rodgers with a 34-yard strike and PW was up 20-7 after missing the extra point.
From then on, it was all West. The next two possessions resulted in Buck touchdowns.
The first was a two-play drive. John Fitz ran for 11 yards and Todd took care of the final 48.
The second took a little longer. Five plays resulted in Fitz running the final 10 yards to put West into the lead for good at 21-20.
Then came the second half. Todd notched the two scores with 82 yards of running and the Bucks led 35-20.
Nasir got the Colonials close later in the period. He intercepted a Fitz pass on his own five and returned it all the way to the end zone and PW trailed 35-26. But that was all Plymouth Whitemarsh would get.
Todd added his final two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He went in from the one for TD No. 5 and scampered 46 yards for his sixth and final score on his last carry of the game.
“We knew we weren't going to have an easy time with this at all,” Hensel said. “When they went up two scores on us, our guys did a rally cry.
“They said 'That's the door they left open for us. Let's go take advantage of it.' Fortunately, we were able to string some things together in a positive way to move toward our goal.”
Hensel also gave some justified praise to his defense.
“When your defense goes five consecutive three-and-outs from the middle of the second quarter to the middle of the fourth quarter,” he said, “that's a situation where the offense just fed off of that.
“The stars lined up for us tonight. We knew it was going to be a battle. Our goal was to stay the course for all 48 minutes.”
Chang, meanwhile, was disappointed with the loss. It is the third straight year that the Colonials have lost in the first round of the District One playoffs.
“A loss is always disappointing,” he said. “We're going to have to get back at it in the off-season and keep working and hopefully get another opportunity next year.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh 14 6 6 0—26
CB West 7 14 14 15—50
PW – Connor Hanlon 4 run (Zach Zygmont kick)
CBW – Marvin Todd 2 run (Mike Miller kick)
PW – Jose Mora-Vega 4 run (Zygmont kick)
PW – James Rodgers 34 pass from Hanlon (kick failed)
CBW – Todd 48 run (Miller kick)
CBW – Fitz 10 run (Miller kick)
CBW – Todd 62 run (Miller kick)
CBW – Todd 20 run (Miller kick)
PW – Nafeese Nasir 95 interception return (pass failed)
CBW – Todd 1 run (Miller run)
CBW – Todd 46 run (Miller kick)
Plymouth Whitemarsh CB West
First downs 12 21
Rushing yards 98 394
Passing yards 130 126
Total yards 228 520
Passing 7-15-1 10-14-1
Fumbles – lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties – yards 2-10 4-30
Punts-Avg. 3-32 1-29
Individual statistics
Rushing
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Nafeese Nasir 8-60; Brian Aflick 9-18; Connor Hanlon 15-17; Jose Mora-Vega 2-9; James Rodgeers 1-(-)6.
CB West: Marvin Todd 23-231, 6 TD; John Fitz 17-101, 1 TD; Brent Hudicka 5-26; Eddie Shields 1-17; Thalen Sayres 2-17; Jacob Schiela 1-5; Dallas Owens 1-0.
Passing
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Hanlon 7-15-1, 130 yards, 1 TD.
CB West: Fitz 10-14-1, 104 yards.
Receiving
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Luke Mascio 1-52; Rodgers 2-30, 1 TD; Mora-Vega 1-25; Aflick 2-12; Nasir 1-11.
CB West: Mark Ciaudelli 4-71; Todd 4-45; Corey Schott 2-10.
Interceptions
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Nasir.
CB West: Luke Durkin.
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