This week’s first of periodic SOL football notebooks features Pennsbury, CB East and Wissahickon. Photo provided courtesy of Jesse Garber (http://JSGarber.zenfolio.com/p848137460)
Week one of a football season that began a week earlier than usual is in the books, and while 10 SOL teams were winners and 10 came out on the short end of the score, the biggest news came out of Springfield Township where athletic director Jason Pane announced Monday that the varsity football program would be cancelled for the season due to low numbers. The Spartans played on Friday night, falling to Octorara 47-20, and administration held off on making a final decision with the hopes that more students would join the roster. The junior varsity will play out its schedule with the goal of developing the young players and returning to varsity level competition next year.
Checking in with…
· Pennsbury: Coach Dan McShane notched a win in his debut at the helm, thanks to a late touchdown that propelled the Falcons to a 10-6 win over Frankford.
- · Goal line stand: The Falcons’ defense delivered the stop of the game in the closing moments of the opening half, stonewalling Frankford at the goal line and allowing Pennsbury to take a 3-0 lead into halftime.
“It brought back memories of when we had the goal line stand against Coatesville for the district title,” said McShane, who was Pennsbury’s defensive coordinator in the Falcons’ 21-14 win in the 2014 District One Quad A title game. “Everybody is scrambling, the last seconds, the clock is running down. A couple of periods a week we practice goal line defense. For the most part, we lined up right, which is good that early in the season with one week of training camp.
“Defensively, we’ve been in this system for five years. We only have two returning starters, but our kids have a real idea of playing the system. I wouldn’t say it’s just plug and play, but the kids have a certain comfort level. We practice against that spread style offense.” - · Getting defensive: Everyone contributed in a standout defensive effort, but a few players stood out. “Ryan Harrah, at inside linebacker, played really well,” McShane said of the senior who is a returning starter. Linebacker Mike Gabora and defensive tackles Isaiah Carpenter and Matt Rosso also received high marks from the first-year coach. “It was a classic team effort,” McShane said.
- · Looking for offense: The Falcons twice came up empty in the red zone in the first half and on their third trip settled for a 25-yard field goal by Chris Knop. “We just made a couple of mental mistakes,” McShane said. “They had a really good linebacker who was really blowing up a lot of our plays. We just didn’t get anybody to him. We just had one mental breakdown out of six guys, and you can’t have that down on the goal line. We went for it twice and didn’t get it. The third time I said, ‘Heck with it, we’re kicking the field goal. We have confidence in our kicker and took the points.”
- · A calming presence: Projected starting quarterback Zach DeMarchis, who broke his arm playing baseball this summer, entered the game in the fourth quarter, allowing starting quarterback Nasan Robbins to move to running back. The move paid big dividends as the Falcons drove 67 yards for a TD that proved to be the game winner.
"Zach was cleared to play by the doctors,” said McShane. “He played in our scrimmage against Wood, just handed the ball off so he got a little bit of exposure and got those jitters out.
“Nasson has done a great job. We took a wide receiver/defensive back and made him a quarterback for six weeks. We knew last year he played running back a little bit, so we made the move. We were trying to find a running back that was going to go north. We were going sideways for a while, and we said our number one rule is take care of the ball, and number two is go north.
"Zach (DeMarchis) is such a calm kid out there, and he settles everybody down. We got the coverage we wanted, and we called a play action pass, and he threw it over the top. Matt Lewis made a great catch and put us on the goal line.” Tyrone Hodges Jr. took it in from one yard out to give the Falcons a lead they would not lose. - · A win in the books: With La Salle looming on the horizon and North Penn waiting in the wings the following week, Friday’s win loomed large. “We couldn’t start 0-1 and go in this stretch,” McShane said. “You’re looking at strike three, you’re out, maybe. To Frankford’s credit, they really competed hard.
“We knew we were going to struggle a little offensively especially. Defense is a more go-get-‘em side of the ball – you can play well faster. Offensively, we feel real good with Zach back, but offense is a little more cerebral for the offensive line and the quarterback, and it’s always a couple of steps behind. We thought it would be a big game to kind of bust out. That didn’t happen, but we’re still confident it’s going to happen.”
Central Bucks East: The Patriots lost five starters who are playing at the collegiate level – four in Division 1-AA programs, but the cupboard is hardly bare. In Friday’s opener, the Patriots received contributions from many players en route to a 42-7 win over Cheltenham.
- · Stepping up: Matt Szcypiorski saw some action at quarterback last year, and in Friday’s debut, the senior QB threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 47 more. Wes Verbit, a returning starter at wide receiver, was Szcypiorski’s favorite target, hauling in nine passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
“It’s kind of the cycle of football life that kids are going to graduate after four years,” coach John Donnelly said. “While you have them, it’s tremendous, and when they leave it’s tough, but the idea is to develop the kids behind them that will emulate guys like Jack Lamb and Alex Gibson and are ready to step in when the time comes.
“That’s been the case with a number of guys. We had four or five guys that ran the ball. Alex Gibson is gone, and that’s a huge void we have to fill. Instead of having one guy that can do that, we feel like we have a number of guys to fill that void.” - · Unsung heroes: The Patriots returned their entire defensive line from last season. The line, which includes Nate Ventresca, Ryan Plack, Mike Gresko and Mike Melchiorre, sparked a defense that allowed just 30 total yards in Friday’s season opener.
“They’re kind of the unsung heroes,” Donnelly said. “They don’t get a lot of press, but in our scrimmage against Freedom, which is a top 15 teams in the state, they did a nice job against the run.”
Free safety Matt McKenney, a team captain, is the quarterback of the defense
“He played a significant amount of time the past two years, but now he’s a fulltime starter,” Donnelly said. “You might not hear a lot about him in the papers, but he plays a huge role.” - · A good start: The Patriots will take a 1-0 record into Saturday’s game against Haboro-Horsham. “I was really pleased,” Donnelly said. “Cheltenham had a lot of starters coming back. Our defense did a great job the entire night. The offense took a little time to get going, but to come out of the gate and get a win is huge.
“I told the guys – we have a lot of areas to improve in all three phases going into Hatboro. Hatboro is a dangerous team with a lot of skill position guys that can make plays. They’re really active on defense. They’re a good team, so we have our work cut out.”
Wissahickon: The Trojans – under first-year coach Randy Cuthbert - defeated Martin Luther King 42-27, snapping a losing streak dating back to Sept. 4, 2015, when they edged Central 7-6 before losing the next nine. Cuthbert spent the last three years at Emmaus where he led the Green Raiders to an Eastern Conference title last year.
- A new mindset: Setting up an offseason program was Cuthbert’s first order of business when he arrived at Wissahickon last winter. “They didn’t really have much of one in the past, and we wanted to get kids lifting and starting to get them together more than just in the fall,” the Trojans’ coach said. “It was kind of gradual. We had 8-10 guys at the first meeting, and it grew into the 30s by the end of the summer, so it was gradual - just getting the offseason program going but also working on the mentality.
“We were able to get up (in Friday’s game), empty the bench and get a lot of different guys in there. That’s always great for morale too.” - Turning point: With MLK driving and Wissahickon holding a 21-13 lead in the third quarter, the Trojans came up with a huge interception on their own three-yard line on a clutch fourth down play. “We got the ball back, and our quarterback cramped, so we had our backup in and we just went with our goal line package and ran straight at them,” Cuthbert said. “We had a 10 or 11-minute drive that covered 97 yards for a touchdown, and that was really the difference.
“It was a tough game into the third quarter. We shuffled so many people in the lineup, and it was a good team win. That’s kind of what we’ve been preaching – when you get a chance, contribute. Don’t put your head down when something bad happens. That’s the biggest thing you worry about when a team has lost nine games in a row. The second one bad thing happens, everyone’s head goes down and body language changes, so we’ve been harping on that stuff.” - Leading the way: Senior quarterback Mike Schoenleber found sophomore tight end Tyler Caso with a pair of touchdown passes. He also came up big defensively, taking a fumble recovery in for a touchdown. “He’s a really tough kid,” said Cuthbert of his quarterback/linebacker
All told, the Trojans amassed over 300 yards of total offense – 225 of those yards on the ground. Darryl Baldwin had a pair of rushing touchdowns. “We had a lot of guys cramp, so we literally played three different tailbacks, and our fullbacks had a bunch of carries,” Cuthbert said.
Schoenleber, Chad Dubin, who plays linebacker and offensive line, and Antaun Lloyd, a wide receiver and lockdown cornerback, are leading the team as captains. “They’re lead-by-example guys,” Cuthbert said. “They can get other guys to follow them. We’re putting in a new offense and a new defense, and it’s drastically different than what they did last year. I think they’re starting to see the results, and I think that’s going to hopefully snowball and get them to work harder.”
Last week in the SOL:
Central Bucks West 17, Hatboro-Horsham 6 (Ryan Moylan was 4-for-5 for 78 yards and also rushed for 80 yards.)
North Penn 33, La Salle 24 (Reese Udinski threw for 203 yards and four touchdowns.)
Souderton 38, Plymouth Whitemarsh 23 (Joey Curotto threw for 207 yards and three TDs.)
Neshaminy 28, Roman Catholic 20 (Mason Jones threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns.)
Central Bucks South 13, Abington 7 (Tyler Watson led the Titans with 111 yards rushing and also had a team-high six tackles.)
Upper Dublin 41, Methacton 0 (Justin Horn threw for 134 yards and two touchdowns and ran for three more.)
Upper Moreland 7, William Tennent 0 (Casey Decker threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Nick Pagano for the game winner with 1:46 remaining in regulation.)
Central Bucks East 42, Cheltenham 7
Pennsbury 10, Frankford 6
Wissahickon 42, Martin Luther King 27
Penn Wood 20, Bensalem 9
Father Judge 40, Council Rock South 0
Ridley 41, Harry S Truman 6
Archbishop Ryan 47, Quakertown 7
Octorara 47, Springfield Township 20
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