Pennridge and Hatboro-Horsham were winners in Thanksgiving Day rivalry games on Thursday. Pennridge/Quakertown photos provided courtesy of Sharon Shipe...CLICK HERE. Hatboro-Horsham/Upper Moreland photos provided courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
Stats used in the wraps are provided courtesy of Calkins Media. For complete high school football coverage, visit the web sites: http://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school/fall/football/ and http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/fall/football/
PENNRIDGE 55, QUAKERTOWN 27
It was a win they will savor for a long, long time.
They posed for photos, they accepted congratulations from ecstatic family, friends and proud alums wearing football jackets. Pennridge players and coaches alike were reluctant to leave Quakertown’s Alumni Field after their biggest win of the season.
“This means everything, especially to the group of seniors because this year didn’t go as we planned,” senior Ryan Cuthbert said. “We wanted to come out a lot better and make a deeper run in the playoffs but just to end it on a win and nice high note with the guys I’ve grown up with – it means a lot to me.”
Perhaps no one better understands how significant the Thanksgiving Day rivalry game is than Jeff Hollenbach.
“I remember when my second son lost the game here,” the Rams’ coach said. “He’s right over there on the 40-yard line crying his eyes out. I lost here my senior year. It really is with you most of the rest of your life.”
The no-doubt-about-it win brought an end to a three-game losing streak at the hands of the Panthers, which included last year’s 28-21 loss at home in a game the Rams led 21-0 at halftime.
“That was heartbreaking,” Cuthbert said. “I know it carried with all the seniors specifically. We kept working all year.
“This was the biggest game we highlighted all year because we wanted revenge after the last three. It was nice to come out on top.”
Cuthbert – who had a pair of interceptions and scored a touchdown - was one of many heroes for the Rams, and it was his touchdown reception in the closing seconds of the first half that was the game changer.
It came just 61 seconds after the Panthers clawed their way back from a 15-point hole to make it a one-possession game. Junior Jacob Barndt returned an interception 37 yards to the Panthers’ three-yard line and Noah Wood did the rest, taking it in to make it a 28-20 game with 1:05 remaining in a high-scoring first half.
That turned out to be plenty of time for the Rams to respond.
Josh Pinkney ran it nine yards on first down, and after an incompletion, Jagger Hartshorn took it four yards for a first down. On first-and-10 from the Panthers’ 48, Oliver Jervis threw a perfect strike to Anthony Kelly, who took it 37 yards to the 11-yard line.
After Nick Cass dove in front of Cuthbert to break up a pass in the end zone on second down, Jervis showed perfect touch on a TD pass to Cuthbert in the corner of the end zone, sending the Rams – after Matt Mauer’s extra point - into halftime with a 35-20 lead.
“The play before that – we thought it was there, so we tried to do another pass play and got something back,” Cuthbert said. “To Ollie’s credit, he threw a great ball. It was in a spot that only I could get, and I went up and got it.”
“I’m especially proud of Oliver,” Hollenbach said of Jervis. “He throws the pick and then he goes down at the end of the half a throws the long pass to Anthony and then comes back with a perfect pass to Ryan Cuthbert. That was just great, just great.”
Things were never the same for either team after that.
The Rams needed just five plays to march 70 yards on their opening possession of the second half. Joe Robinson – who had a pair of touchdowns and was a factor on both sides of the football – took it in from three yards out. The big play of the drive was a 60-yard completion from Jervis to Cuthbert. The Rams led 41-20 and never looked back.
Senior Austin Herrlinger added a pair of touchdowns – the first on a five-yard run and the second on an 11-yard TD pass from Hartshorn that gave the Rams a 55-20 lead late in the third quarter.
“Everyone was pumped up, fired up,” Robinson said. “We felt like the last game (a 26-21 opening round district lost to Neshaminy) was taken away from us.
“Going into this game, we were going to play our game, execute our game. In the first half, we had way too many penalties, gave them opportunities to score. The second half we fixed that. We shut them down.”
The Rams – according to Hollenbach – used the Neshaminy loss as motivation.
“The Neshaminy playoff loss was a huge loss,” said the Rams’ coach of a game the Rams led in the fourth quarter. “I think the frustration of that loss kind of carried into real motivation for today.
“These guys were ready to play, they showed we could play. We just played a great game. We had too many early penalties, but besides that we settled down and played football the way you’re supposed to play football.”
Both teams came ready to play in a first half that saw the teams combine for 55 points.
After a three-and-out and a short punt by the Panthers, the Rams capitalized on the short field. Hartshorn raced 19 yards on first down, and five plays later Robinson took it in from two yards out to cap the 35-yard TD drive, spotting the Rams a 7-0 lead.
The Panthers needed just two plays to get on the board when Tim Shevlin turned an Austin Clarke pass into a 75-yard touchdown that knotted the score. A four-play drive by the Rams was capped when Josh Pinkney raced 40 yards for the score and a 14-7 lead.
Hartshorn scooped up a Panther fumble and took it 45 yards for a touchdown that put the Rams on top 21-7.
“Jackson (Henry) hit the kid – I give all the credit to him,” Hartshorn said. “I saw the ball came out, and it popped right in my hands. I knew from then I was gone.”
The Panthers had an immediate answer, thanks to a 60-yard Wood touchdown run. The failed extra point made it a 21-13 game. A 29-yard TD pass from Jervis to Kelly put the Rams on top 28-13, setting the stage for the dramatic end to the opening half that swung momentum in Pennridge’s favor.
And if the Rams were looking for redemption for disappointments past, they got it on a Thanksgiving morning they will remember for a lifetime.
“It’s definitely a great feeling compared to last year,” Robinson said. “Last year we were heartbroken. Walking off the field, you’re like ‘Wow, what just happened? Twenty-eight unanswered points.’
“I think we were prepared (for this) since we walked off the field at Neshaminy – it was just Quakertown. We were all ready to go. I thought we practiced better than we did all year. Walking off the field today with a huge win – it’s awesome. I get to go home and have some nice turkey.”
EXTRA POINTS: Hartshorn, who saw action behind center and running back, suffered an ankle injury in the first half, but leaving the game was never a consideration. He led the Rams with 108 yards on the ground. “I didn’t want to come off – I had to finish it,” he said. “This win means a lot. This game goes back 87 years – it’s a rivalry, so winning this game after the season we had, the disappointment we had – this win means a lot to everybody.”…Herrlinger also had a big game for the Rams, finishing with 67 yards on the ground. “Austin Herrlinger had a great game at running back, and Jagger played really well at quarterback,” Hollenbach said…Wood closed out a stellar high school career with a game-high 152 yards and three touchdowns, surpassing the 1,000-yard milestone and finishing the season with 1,037 yards…Both teams closed out the years with 6-6 records.
Pennridge 21-14-20-0 55
Quakertown 13-7-0-7 27
Pennridge – Joe Robinson 2 run (Matt Mauer kick)
Quakertown – Tim Shevlin 75 pass from Austin Clarke (Dalton Frederick kick)
Pennridge – Josh Pinkney 40 run (Matt Mauer kick)
Pennridge – Jagger Hartshorn 38 fumble return (Matt Mauer kick)
Quakertown – Noah Wood 60 run (Kick failed)
Pennridge – Anthony Kelly 29 pass from Oliver Jervis (Matt Mauer kick)
Quakertown - Noah Wood 3 run (Dalton Frederick kick)
Pennridge – Ryan Cuthbert 11 pass from Oliver Jervis (Matt Mauer kick)
Pennridge – Joe Robinson 3 run (Kick failed)
Pennridge – Austin Herrlinger 5 run (Matt Mauer kick)
Pennridge – Austin Herrlinger 11 pass from Jagger Hartshorn (Matt Mauer kick)
Quakertown – Noah Wood 27 run (Dalton Frederick kick)
HATBORO-HORSHAM 33, UPPER MORELAND 6
The Hatters defeated the Golden Bears 35-14 in week five, and they owned the Thanksgiving Day rematch between the neighboring rivals from the outset, opening up a 27-0 halftime lead on their way to the convincing win.
A nine-yard touchdown run by Anthony Kwiatanowski accounted for the only score of the opening quarter, and in the second quarter, the junior running back – who had three rushing TDs in the first half - took it in from six yards out to increase the Hatters’ advantage to 14-0.
Chris Edwards hooked up with Robert Fitzgerald for a 21-yard touchdown pass to account for another touchdown in the opening half.
The Hatters led 33-0, thanks to a Josh Smith TD run in the fourth quarter, before the Golden Bears broke up the Hatters’ shutout bit with a 63-yard touchdown run by Sterlen Barr.
Hatboro-Horsham coach Mike Kapusta credited defensive back Brandon Brandt-Crews, inside linebackers Nick 
Chapman and Adam Suder and defensive end Robert Fitzgerald for turning in monster games.
Edwards accounted for more than 200 yards of offense, finishing with 141 yards and a touchdown in the air and running for 64 more. Kwiatanowski added 54 yards and three TDs and Adam Suder had 44 yards in a contest that saw the Hatters’ defense limit the Bears to less than 200 total yards.
Hatboro-Horsham (5-2 SOL) closed out its season with a 6-5 record while Upper Moreland (3-4) was 5-7 overall.
Upper Moreland 0-0-0-6 6
Hatboro-Horsham 7-20-0-6 33
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