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By Scott Huff
SOUDERTON – The media surrounded North Penn senior Tyler Smith moments after the Knights convincing 33-10 victory over Souderton.
And the 5-foot 9-inch running back has that Clark Kent scholarly look to him without his helmet. His calm voice and his diminutive stature belie his destructiveness on the football field.
Smith provided total devastation to the Souderton defensive effort with a marvelous 190-yard, four-touchdown performance.
“My offensive line did an amazing job,” said Smith. “I get to run a lot in the open field – and who wouldn’t like to run in the open field.”
Smith got into the open field on the initial offensive series of the game. On second and eight, Smith took a handoff and bolted 46 yards for the score. The kick was blocked, and the Knights settled for a quick 6-0 lead.
“Tyler has great vision and is the fastest kid on our team,” said North Penn head coach Dick Beck. “And he is also deceptively strong.”
Smith showed his strength on his second touchdown run as he bulled in from the one-yard line. The TD capped an 11-play drive that featured a pair of Justin Davey passes to – who else? – Tyler Smith.
“With North Penn you pick your poison with Smith or (Ronnie) Akins,” said Souderton head coach Ed Gallahger. “We knew that he could hurt us, but really there wasn’t too much we could do.”
Souderton came back to close to within 12-3 when place kicker Shawn Leo blasted a 31-yard field goal with 6:00 left in the half. It was the closest the Indians would get all evening.
North Penn increased its lead to 20-3 when Smith jetted 71-yards for his third TD of the half. The Knights added a 2-point conversion when Davey found Kenny Lewis in the end zone.
“When Tyler gets into the open field like that, he is gone,” said Beck. “I also thought that we showed some balance to our offense with the way that Justin threw the football.”
Davey was an efficient five-of-six for 79 yards. And the senior threw a 12-yard scoring strike to Joe Godio to expand the Knight lead to 26-3 before intermission.
Smith would score his fourth TD in the third period to conclude the North Penn scoring. His final scoring effort came on a nifty 26-yard scamper, and place kicker Brian McManus split the uprights to wrap up the scoring for the Knights.
Souderton would score the final touchdown in the waning moments of the game. Indian running back Justin Powell – who wore the # 26 to honor his older brother Ronnie who died suddenly – crashed in from the two-yard line. Leo’s placement made the score final at 33-10.
“We played with some heavy hearts,” said Gallagher, who coached Ronnie during his excellent high school career at Souderton. “But we gave it our best effort.
“It was a hard time for Justin, and we left it up to him as to whether he wanted to play tonight,” added Gallagher. “He wanted to play – and it may have been a great outlet for him. I’m proud of him – and our whole team.”
The scoreboard had North Penn beating Souderton – but both teams left the field as winners.
EXTRA POINTS – This was the final home game for Souderton at what was renamed Drew Darrah Field on Homecoming Night…Darrah- the celebrated Indian coach – was on hand and tossed the coin before the game… The Big Red will play on a gorgeous turf field next season at their new high school stadium in Franconia Township.
North Penn 12 14 7 0-33
Souderton 0 3 0 7-10
NP: Smith 46 run (kick blocked)
NP: Smith 1 run (pass failed)
S: Leo 31 FG
NP: Smith 71 run (Lewis pass from Davey)
NP: Godio 12 pass from Davey (pass failed)
NP: Smith 26 run (McManus kick)
S: Powell 2 run (Leo kick)
First Downs: [NP] – 14 ---- [S] – 12
Rush/Yards: [NP] – 311 --- [S] – 154
Pass/Yards: [NP] - 79 --- [S] - 58
Total Offense [NP] – 390 --- [S] – 212
Punts/Avg [NP] – 1-30 --- [S] – 4-36
Pen./Yards: [NP] – 4-20 --- [S] – 0-0
North Penn
Rushing: Smith 12-190 – 4 TD; Lewis 4-53; Akins 10-44; Davey 2-7; Needhammer 2-5; Bennett 2-5; Stoll 2-3; Colangelo 2-3; Godio 1-2; Price 1-0; Gill 1-0. Totals 39-311 – 4 TD.
Passing: Davey 5-6-1; 79 yards – TD.
Receiving: Taggart 2-35; Smith 2-32; Godio 1-12 – TD.
Interception: Taggart
Souderton
Rushing: Powell 29-140-TD; Lynch 4-13; Jenne 3-1; Passarella 3-0. Totals 39-154-TD.
Passing: Passarella 7-15-1, 58 yards.
Receiving: Muller 2-36; Powell 3-11; Lynch 2-11.
Interception: Hollingsworth
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