Three SOL teams – Abington, Neshaminy and North Penn – advanced to next week’s PIAA District One AAA semifinals. To view photos of the CB West/PV, Pennsbury/NP and Neshaminy/Spring-Ford games, please visit the Photo Gallery.
1-8 ABINGTON 26, 1-1 GARNET VALLEY 21
Throughout the game, players on the sideline were saying it over and over.
“Put Khari in,” one Abington player said.
“They won’t. He’s injured. He can’t play,” said another teammate.
Well, injured or not, Khari Jefferson eventually went in the game. And he scored perhaps the biggest touchdown that Abington football has seen in many years.
Trailing by two points, with less than 30 seconds to play and with the season on the line, Abington quarterback David Kretschman sent a fade to Jefferson in the corner of the end zone. The 6-3 senior wide receiver did the rest, pulling down an 11-yard touchdown to put the Ghosts on top with 26.7 seconds remaining in regulation.
The touchdown boosted visiting Abington to a dramatic 26-21 win over Garnet Valley - the No. 1 seed in District One - in a Class AAAA district quarterfinal on Friday night.
“We just beat the number-one team in District One,” Abington coach Tim Sorber yelled to his players after the game. “We just beat the best team in the best district in the state.”
District 12 may have a problem with that statement, but that’s neither here nor there.
The fact of the matter was that the eighth-seeded Ghosts had just come back from being down 14 points against a previously undefeated Garnet Valley (11-1) team in the postseason.
“I told these kids on Thursday that with the injuries we’ve had this year and with losing this kid and losing that kid, this is the kind of team that hasn’t put their heads down,” said Sorber, who lost his starting quarterback (Anthony Lee) and backup running back (Tyler Schreiner) to injuries this season. “Especially the seniors, these kids don’t put their heads down and they went to work and played extremely hard.
“This game kind of shows the type of character these kids have, which is phenomenal. This win means a lot to Abington.”
The Jaguars built up a 21-7 lead in the first half, thanks to 76 yards and three touchdowns on the ground from quarterback Christian Portale, but the Ghosts cut the deficit to one score when senior running back Craig Reynolds scored his second touchdown of the half. The Ghosts’ defense then came up with a huge stop late in the half and trailed 21-13 going into the locker room.
“Our defense played phenomenal and we have our bend-but-don’t-break defense. I guess the odds are that you can’t make every fourth down,” Sorber said. “The odds were in our favor, but our defense also made big plays.”
What Sorber was referring to was Garnet Valley’s ability to convert on fourth downs throughout the first three quarters, but what led to the Abington game-winning score was a fourth down hold.
What came next was something Abington doesn’t do very often – they beat a team through the air.
“I’m so happy for Khari (Jefferson), because there’s a kid who had some issues earlier in the year and for him to come out there and make a big play like that is amazing,” Sorber said. “We’ll all remember for that for a long time. And David Kretschman struggled in the first half, but we came out in the second half and made the throws necessary to win it.”
Kretschman hit wide receiver Daron Boone for a 25-yard score in the third quarter to help pull Abington closer. After failing on a two-point conversion, the Ghosts trailed by two (21-19) entering the fourth quarter.
Then the play to Jefferson happened, and Abington’s sideline and crowd went crazy.
“We called a 46 fade and it felt amazing. It feels great and this is just amazing. I don’t know how else to explain it,” Jefferson said. “I just tried to keep my feet in. They were shorter than me and I have long arms, so I knew I could get over (the defenders) and get the ball.”
Abington’s defense stopped Garnet Valley one last time on a last-second turnover, sending the Abington students and players onto the field in celebration.
“This is the biggest win for Abington in years,” Jefferson said.
The touchdown was the only pass of the night Jefferson would catch. Reynolds rushed the ball 33 times for 166 yards and two touchdowns, while Kretschman completed 8 of 13 passes for 105 yards and two scores. He also rushed five times for 40 yards.
Abington will visit Neshaminy in the district semifinal next week. The Ghosts lost to the Redskins, 31-14, back on Oct. 25 at Abington High School.
Abington 7-6-6-7 26
Garnet Valley 14-7-0-0 21
1-4 NESHAMINY 56, 1-12 SPRING-FORD 27
Pollard and Brown Lead Neshaminy to Victory
By Jesse Bernstein for SuburbanOneSports.com
Down early, the Redskins turned to their star junior running back D’andre Pollard, who, on a chilly night in Heartbreak Ridge, pounded his way to 183 yards and four touchdowns to key a 56-27 Neshaminy win over Spring-Ford in the second round of the district playoffs.
Neshaminy began the game with a drive that went for nearly nine minutes, culminating in a one-yard touchdown run from senior Denny Lord, though the celebration was muted after a blocked extra point.
In the second quarter, the frigid belligerents traded punts before Rams junior quarterback Matt Daywalt found senior wide receiver Gary Hopkins in the end zone for a 7-6 lead. Neshaminy lost a fumble in its own territory, and the Redskins paid dearly, watching Spring-Ford running back Jarred Jones burst around the edge for a 28-yard touchdown to put the Rams up 14-6.
On the ensuing Neshaminy drive, a truly bizarre sequence came in which quartertback Tyler Wombough was picked off by Spring-Ford senior linebacker Jake Leahy, and on the very next play, Daywalt was picked off by Neshaminy defensive back Devon Brown, who would leave the field with a second interception and a fumble recovery to his name.
That interception seemed to have given the Redskins a spark, as their next two drives were punctuated by D’andre Pollard touchdowns, and at halftime, the score was 21-14.
Of the turnaround, Redskins’ coach Mark Schmidt said, “We just kind of got settled down and got after them a little bit. We liked some things we were doing, but you know, we just got a little bit of traction.”
The second half would not go nearly as well for the Rams. Four second half turnovers (out of a game total of six) doomed the away team, who could only shake their heads as two Daywalt interceptions were taken back for touchdowns.
Pollard had himself an enjoyable second half as well, adding two more touchdowns and whooping and hollering as he watched his backfield mate, senior fullback Blake Sullivan, rumble into the end zone on a nimble 20-yard touchdown run. Brown and teammate Matt Magdelinskas both turned interceptions into touchdowns with Brown taking it in from 45 yards and Magdelinskas from 40.
Spring-Ford did add two fourth quarter touchdowns on a 35-yard run from Jones and a 10-yard pass from Daywalt to senior tight end Tyliek Freeman, but it was too little too late.
Neshaminy (11-1, 7-1 SOL) will play at home against Abington next Friday night, and Spring-Ford finishes their season at (9-3, 7-1 PL).
Neshaminy 6-15-7-28 56
Spring-Ford 0-14-0-13 27
Scoring
Scoring
N- Lord 1 run (Kick blocked)
SF-Hopkins 12 pass from Daywalt (Gulatti kick)
SF-Jones 28 run (Gulatti kick)
N- Pollard 8 run (Wombough pass to Carrezola)
N- Pollard 3 run (McDonald kick)
N- Pollard 10 run (McDonald kick)
N- Pollard 31 run (McDonald kick)
SF-Freeman 9 pass from Daywalt (Kick wide)
N-Sullivan 20 run (McDonald kick)
N-Brown 45 interception return (McDonald kick)
N-Magdelinskas 40 interception return (McDonald kick)
SF-Jones 35 run (Gulatti kick)
Statistics:
D’andre Pollard:
36 rushes for 183 yards, 4 touchdowns
Tyler Wombough
5/7, 81 yards, 1 interception, 1 lost fumble
Blake Sullivan
4 rushes for 25 yards, 1 touchdown
Denny Lord
6 rushes for 36 yards, 1 touchdown; 0/1 passing
Hamiid Pack
2 receptions for 55 yards
Jarrod Jones
15 rushes for 115 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 lost fumble
Matt Daywalt
13/25, 140 yards, 1 touchdown, 4 interceptions
Tyliek Freeman
4 receptions for 75 yards, 1 touchdown
Gary Hopkins
2 receptions for 25 yards, 1 touchdown
1-11 NORTH PENN 31, 1-3 PENNSBURY 21
Proving yet again how meaningless district seeds really can be, the Knights brought an abrupt end to a postseason of great promise for the third-seeded Falcons, delighting the enthusiastic crowd of North Penn faithful who made the trek to Fairless Hills on a cold November night with a convincing win.
“I don’t even know what it feels like yet,” Knight senior Alex Eppinger said. “I’m still in shock that we just won this game by 10. It’s just an unbelievable feeling.”
All night long, the Knights were sparked by the deadly one-two punch of senior quarterback Austin Shearer and sophomore running back Nyfease West. West finished the game with 176 yards on 23 carries and one TD while Shearer was a near-perfect 7-of-8 for 108 yards and three touchdowns.
“When we have Austin keeping them honest like that, that’s the perfect storm,” North Penn coach Dick Beck said. “When they start creeping up, Austin would throw it deep. Now they play loose, and then we start running with West and (Luke) Berry. That’s what our game plan is almost every game, and luckily, it worked tonight.”
Before the fans had settled in their seats, the Falcons went on top 7-0 after Ronquay Smith – on fourth down - took it in from four yards out to put the finishing touches on a 57-yard drive. The Knights answered with a scoring drive of their own and made it a 7-6 game after Shearer found Nick Wright with a 10-yard TD pass.
A three-and-out for the Falcons was followed by another North Penn TD drive. This time Shearer hit Connor Gill with a 22-yard pass that made it a 13-7 game at halftime. If there was a defining moment in the opening half and perhaps the game, it came when – with the Knights clinging to a 13-7 lead, the Falcons opted to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line. The Knights’ defense delivered the big stop.
A third Shearer TD pass to Wright to open the second half, this one for 15 yards, made it a 20-7 game, and after a huge interception by Nick Muth, West took it in from 18 yards out. Shearer ran it in for two, and the Knights led 28-7. The Falcons would get no closer than 10.
Junior Chuck Snorweah led the Falcons with 94 yards on 12 carries while Smith added 93 and Raheem Thompson, 84 yards. The Falcons had 329 yards rushing but zero yards passing.
The win was the ninth in a row for the streaking Knights (9-3) while the Falcons (10-2) saw their season come to an end.
North Penn will host Perkiomen Valley in a semifinal contest next Friday.
“It’s so much fun,” Beck said. “The kids have been just fantastic. I’ve talked about them – our enthusiasm at practice, their attention to detail, which was definitely lacking early in the year.
“Look, these kids have grown up. In three months, I think they all turned into seniors. Our leaders have always stuck with us. We want to keep this run going.”
North Penn 7-6-18-0 31
Pennsbury 7-0-7-7 21
1-15 PERKIOMEN VALLEY 60, 1-7 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 20
The Bucks saw a successful season come to an end at the hands of a red hot Viking squad that had sent second-seeded Bayard Rustin packing a week earlier. The Vikings took an early 7-0 lead, but the Bucks came right back with a scoring drive of their own. Marvin Todd, who had 60 yards on 13 carries, took it in from 12 yards out, and after Mike Miller’s PAT, it was a 7-7 game.
The rest of the night belonged to the Vikings, who answered with six straight touchdowns and took a 54-14 lead into halftime. Perk Valley amassed 553 yards of total offense to 280 for the Bucks.
While the Vikings advance to next week’s semifinal round against North Penn, the Bucks closed out their season with a 9-3 record.
Perkiomen Valley 21-33-6-0 60
Central Bucks West 7-7-6-0 20
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