To view action photos of the Pennsbury/William Tennent game, visit the Photo Gallery by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
Ground and Pound.
Those words are emblazoned on the home page of the web site of the Pennsbury football team, and as anyone even remotely familiar with the program will attest, the Wing-T ‘ground and pound’ offense has been synonymous with Falcon football.
Until last year, that is, when coach Galen Snyder opted to scrap the Wing-T in favor of the Power I offense. A lot of things didn’t go right for the Falcons.
“It was my first year on the O-line, and we had a couple of other inexperienced guys,” senior Dylan Pepper said. “It was awful. The Power I was just not our offense, just not us.”
Before the season was over, the Falcons had gone back to the Wing-T, and this year, the Falcons – after a subpar 5-5 season last year -are back to running the football down their opponent’s throats.
“It’s what we do best,” senior captain Jake Andrassy said. “I think it’s fairly more impressive than last year.”
Impressive might be an understatement for the Falcons’ running game in Thursday night’s 44-7 win over William Tennent. The Falcons accumulated 390 yards on the ground. That came on the heels of a 232-yard rushing performance in the Falcons’ big win over Council Rock South.
“We try and play quick, physical football – down on the line, do our assignments, and if everybody does, we get the big plays,” Andrassy said. “We had a couple tonight.”
In truth, the Falcons had a couple of big plays on the first drive alone as Chuck Snorweah and Daquan Mack delivered consecutive 24-yard runs. Mack capped the drive with a two-yard TD run.
Adam Lewis led a balanced Falcon attack with 104 yards while Snorweah added 91 yards and Mack had 71. David Gray added 56 yards on the ground, and quarterback Bruce Campbell had 55 yards. All five players had touchdown runs.
While those players regularly find themselves in the spotlight, their teammates who make it happen for them on the offensive line don’t. Pepper, Andrassy, J.J. Denman, Doug Bancroft, Dalton Zimmerman and Alex Mollohan are the unsung heroes on a team that is once again establishing itself an SOL power.
The key to the Falcons’ success on the ground, according to Denman, is simple.
“Working together,” the Falcons’ captain said. “I have been with some of these guys since seventh grade, so we have been playing together for a while.”
Denman – who will be taking his talents to Penn State - was not in the lineup when the Falcons suffered a 24-0 loss to Easton in their season opener.
“It wasn’t a look we wanted,” Andrassy said. “After that, we got everybody back, we’re playing a little more physically, and since then, we’ve just been rolling.”
Andrassy, Denman and Pepper are an imposing trio on the line as the three combined tip the scales at close to 800 pounds.
“We have some good ball players on the line, especially those three guys,” Snyder said. “But the whole line and the tight end – they’ve done a real nice job. They keep getting better every week.”
This year’s offensive line and the multi-pronged Falcon backfield are evoking comparisons to the Falcons’ district championship squad in 2006.
“All the components they had we have this year -like the big backs, strong up the middle and good guards,” Denman said. “This is the best our O-Line has ever looked.”
On Friday night, the Falcons will face their toughest test of the season when they travel to Abington to face a Ghost squad penciled in by some to be the district’s top seed.
“Council Rock South is a really good team – they’re physical as anything, and they’re fast,” Pepper said. “We (beat) them. That should show we can take on Neshaminy and Abington.”
“If we came out harder in the first half than we did against South when we play them, we would have beaten them by two touchdowns,” Denman added. “If everyone comes to perform, we’ll win the game.”
Thursday’s game against Tennent was a warm-up to Friday night’s SOL showdown.
“These are the games that get us ready for the big games so we do everything correctly,” Andrassy said.
“This was pretty much a pump-up game,” Pepper added. “It gets us fired up.”
The Falcons are 5-1 but, according to Snyder, can’t be satisfed.
“It’s just about working hard every day, trying to get better every day,” the Falcons’ coach said. “That sounds cliché, but it’s the truth.”
- Log in to post comments
