William Tennent earned its first win of the season, and CR North rolled to a big win over Hatboro-Horsham. To view photos of the CR North/Hatboro game, please visit the Photo Gallery. Check back Tuesday night for Scott Huff's weekly notebook.
By Scott Huff
Warminster - The William Tennent-Upper Moreland football game may not have been the Super Bowl, but Tennent head coach Bob Rosenberger was given an ice bucket shower after his Panthers clawed the Golden Bears 24-14 at Alumni Stadium.
And for good reason as the victory was both the first of the season for Tennent - and the first career varsity win as head coach for Rosenberger. Rosenberger spent the last eight seasons as defensive coordinator under Randy Cuthbert at Pennridge Prior to that, he coached three years at Wissahickon and five years at North Penn.
“We will enjoy this win as a team for a very short time,” smiled Rosenberger. “And then get ready to play one of the best teams in the state on Friday in Neshaminy.”
It did not appear that the Panthers would be going into their SOL National Conference opener with that modest one-game win streak. Tennent trailed Upper Moreland after three quarters 14-6 – and 14-12 with 8:57 left in the game. But the Panthers continued to have faith in their run offense, and the winners were able to break off big plays when the game was on the line in the final period.
“Our team motto is to keep choppin’ wood,” said Rosenberger. “We are convinced that good things will happen if we continue to work hard. We kept after the running game the whole game, and it finally came through late in the game.
“This really is a win that we earned in the weight room in the months of March, April, May, and June,” added Rosenberger. “We have worked hard, and it paid off with a win today.”
The Panthers impressed with their initial drive of the game as the Black Cats clawed 80 yards for the score and consumed 10:12 seconds. The scoring play may not have been in the Tennent playbook as quarterback Nik Banks fired a pass that deflected off the hands of Christian Mendez into the waiting arms of teammate Alex Perks. The Panthers did not have their kicker available for the game due to his soccer game, and the attempt for the two-point conversion failed and kept the score at 6-0.
Upper Moreland would take the lead in the second period as sophomore Tyler Whitmore capped a 73-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown burst. Featured in the drive was a nifty 39-yard dash by quarterback Charlie Hooker and a 13-yard completion from Hooker to Tom Robinson. Kyle Dolan added the extra point to give the Golden Bears a 7-6 lead – an advantage they would carry into halftime.
Upper Moreland extended its lead to 14-6 on its first possession of the second half. Hooker connected on a gorgeous 40-yard hookup with Kyle Bennis, and Dolan once again added the point after touchdown. It would prove to be the final points of the game for the Bears.
Tennent began to get stops on defense, and the WT offense began to wear down the Golden Bear defense with a punishing running attack in the final period.
The first score came on a 40-yard scamper by senior Rob Poekert with 8:57 left in the fourth period – but once again the attempt for the 2-point conversion failed and Upper Moreland clung to a 14-12 lead.
“The offensive line gave me a great hole to run through,” said Poekert who rushed for 70 yards on 9 carries. “We ran hard in the fourth quarter, and a lot of that had to do with all the hard work we did in the offseason.”
Again the Panther defense created a stop – and again the Panther offense came up with a huge running play to finally regain the lead.
This time it was Perks who took advantage of a gaping hole to dart 46 yards for what proved to be the winning touchdown. Tennent – which again failed at the 2-point conversion – led 18-14 with 6:18 left in the game.
Again the Panther defense created a stop against the potent Upper Morelend offense – an offense that featured the speedy Whitmore. Whitmore finished the night with 81 yards on 21 carries.
The defense would also score a touchdown on the final snap of the game when Vince Icabone scooped up a fumble and staggered 18 yards into the end zone with 0:00 showing on the clock.
“Coach Rosenberger and the coaches prepared us well,” said sophomore linebacker Derek Finley who flew all over the field for the Panthers. “I make the calls on defense – but I only do what Coach Rosenberger tells me to do.”
Rosenberger – who doubles as both the offensive and defensive play caller for Tennent – seemed to make all the right calls on this afternoon.
And the result was a much-deserved celebratory bath – even if it wasn’t the Super Bowl.
Upper Moreland Golden Bears 0 7 7 0 * 14
William Tennent Panthers 6 0 0 18 * 24
WT: Alex Perks 9 pass from Nik Banks (pass failed)
UM: Tyler Whitmore 6 run (Kyle Dolan kick)
UM: Kyle Bennis 40 pass from Charlie Hooker (Dolan kick)
WT: Rob Poekert 40 run (pass failed)
WT: Perks 46 run (pass failed)
WT: Vince Icabone 18 fumble return (no attempt)
Council Rock North Indians – 56 Hatboro-Horsham Hatters 26
Council Rock North (3-0) kept its season perfect with both big-play special teams play and big-play offense to secure the win over Hatboro-Horsham (2-1).
The Indians exploded for a 49-6 halftime lead and were aided by a pair of touchdown runs on blocked punts by Josh McWilliams. Sophomore quarterback Brandon McIlwain threw for two touchdowns and ran for another to fuel the explosive Rock North offense.
“We worked hard in practice this week on special teams, and we really felt we could exploit something when they punted the football,” said CR North head coach Adam Collachi. “And we did a very good job on offense with Brandon and Dejuan (Martin) making plays.”
Next on the docket for Rock North will be its SOL National Conference opener against unbeaten Abington (3-0).
“We are really looking forward to that game,” said Collachi. “Abington has been a program that has been one of the best for the last eight to ten years, and that is a program that we want to become.”
Hatboro-Horsham Hatters 0 6 6 14 * 26
Council Rock North Indians 28 21 7 0 * 56
Saturday SOL Games By The Number
Quakertown (3-0) remained unbeaten with a 28-14 victory over Cheltenham (1-2) in a non-conference game played at Quakertown. Alec Vera scored a pair of touchdowns for the victorious Panthers, while Matt Stoneback raced for 119 yards and a touchdown for Q-town. Marcus Heimann scored on a running play and fired a TD pass to Justin Myarick for the other Cheltenham score. Quakertown hosts Pocono Mountain East (2-1) in a non-conference game, while Cheltenham opens its SOL American Conference schedule with a home game against Springfield (2-0).
North Penn (0-3) remained winless for the season as the Knights were hammered by St. Joe Prep (2-1) – 35-6 in a game played at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. The lone North Penn scoring play was a 22-yard pass from Austin Shearer to Justin Hudinac. Shearer completed 12 passes for 164 yards. North Penn will host Central Bucks East (1-2) in its SOL Continental Conference opener on Friday.
Norristown (0-3) remained winless for the season as the Eagles were grounded by Bishop Shanahan (2-0) – 31-0. The 31 and the 0 were not the only negative numbers for Norristown, which punted seven times, yielded five sacks, and fumbled nine times. Norristown will travel to Upper Merion (2-1) for its SOL American Conference opener.
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