By Scott Huff
Franconia – The Pennsbury defense has played in the shadow of the eye-popping ‘Ground & Pound’ Falcon offense all season. But it was the stellar play of the Black & Orange defense that was the catalyst for the 21-14 Pennsbury victory over Coatesville on a bone-chilling afternoon at Souderton High School in the PIAA Quad-A District One final.
Pennsbury (13-1) will advance to the state semifinal game next week against St. Joe Prep (10-3). The Hawks advanced with a 34-30 victory over Parkland.
Coatesville was poised to send the game into overtime on its final offensive drive of the game. The talented Red Raiders – trailing 21-14 – would push to the Falcon seven-yard line with a first-and goal. Three Coatesville runs netted six yards – and the game would come down to a fourth-and-goal from the Pennsbury one-yard line in the final minute of play.
“We knew what they were going to do on that play,” said Pennsbury senior linebacker Jordan O’Neill, who played a marvelous game for the Falcons. “We saw him go under center for the first time the whole game, and we knew they were going to run a quarterback sneak.”
‘He’ was gifted Coatesville quarterback Jordan Young – and ‘yes’ Pennsbury’s prediction of a quarterback sneak was accurate. Young was hit hard for no gain by a flock of Falcons that included O’Neill, Robert Daly, Luke Snyder, Daulton Hose, and Greg Lichtenstein – along with a trio of offensive lineman who made an appearance of the defensive side of the ball.
“The coaches put the big boys in the last two plays at the goal line,” smiled O’Neill as Maurice Stukes (6-7, 350), Sam Raywood (6-3, 355), and brother Austin O’Neill (5-11, 264) joined the impregnable PHS front defensive wall. “We practice that goal line defense a lot, and we trust that we can keep them out of the end zone.”
Pennsbury got into the end zone on its very first offensive play of the game.
After the Falcon defense forced a punt, Pennsbury ran its first play from scrimmage on its own 25-yard line – and the electrifying Charles Snorweah jetted 75-yards for a touchdown. Josh Leon would add the point after touchdown to present the Falcons with a 7-0 lead with 10:52 left in the first period.
“We ran that play out of the Wing-T, and I surprised that we were able to break it that early in the game,” said Snorweah, the Rutgers recruit who rushed 33 times for 198 yards and a touchdown. “But my offensive line has been great all season, and it was a great way to start the game.”
Pennsbury extended the lead to 14-0 with a score in the second period. The scoring march covered 67 yards on 14 plays as running back Raheem Thompson earned scoring honors on a five-yard burst. Thompson proved to be a dangerous complement to Snorweah and finished with 102 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown.
“Coach (Galen) Snyder said that we needed to have other people running the ball – not just Charles,” said Thompson after Snorweah rushed the ball 45 times in the 25-14 win over Upper Dublin. “We saw watching film that there were some plays we could run against them – take advantage of the edge. My offensive line did another great job, and we were able to take that advantage.”
Coatesville scored a second period touchdown of its own to cut the Falcons’ lead to 14-7. It appeared that Pennsbury had forced a turnover on downs – but a rare sideline infraction was called to extend the drive. Young completed a pass to Jalen Hudson for 17 yards, and Young followed on the next play with a nine-yard touchdown gallop. Ibrahim Kallie added the PAT to close the gap to a single score.
Pennsbury answered the Red Raider scoring drive with an impressive drive of its own to close the half. However, the Falcons failed to have enough time to convert the 11-play drive into points as the clock ran out with PHS on the Coatesville 15-yard line.
The Red Raiders tied the score in the third period. Hudson capped the 10-play, 78-yard scoring drive with a nifty 19-yard scoring run. Kallie knotted the score at 14-14 with the placement.
Pennsbury scored its final points of the game at the close of the third period. The Falcons pieced together an eight-play, 58-yard scoring march on a ‘believe it or not’ 15-yard quarterback sneak by Mike Alley. Leon’s PAT would make the score final at 21-14.
“On Monday, we can congratulate ourselves for winning both a (Suburban One League National Conference) league championship, and a (PIAA Quad-A) district one championship,” said Pennsbury head coach Galen Snyder. “But then we have to focus on winning that third championship.
“There were things that didn’t go well last week (in the win over Upper Dublin), and there were things that didn’t go well this week (in the win over Coatesville),” added Snyder. “But this team refuses to let anything get them down for too long.”
Pennsbury Falcons 7 7 7 0 – 21
Coatesville Red Raiders 0 7 7 0 – 14
P: Charles Snorweah 75 yard run (Josh Leon kick)
P: Raheem Thompson 5 run (Leon kick)
C: Jordan Young 9 run (Ibrahim Kallie kick)
C: Jalen Hudson 19 run (Kallie kick)
P: Mike Alley 15 run (Leon kick)
Pennsbury Falcons Coatesville Red Raiders
20 First Downs 14
336 Yards Rushing 174
13 Yards Passing 80
349 Total Offense 254
2-10 Penalties / Yds 3-20
1-31 Punts / Average 4-42
Pennsbury
Rushing: Charles Snorweah 33-198 & TD; Raheem Thompson 18-102 & TD; Luke Snyder 3-19; Mike Alley 3-17 & TD. Totals 57-336 & 3 TD.
Passing: Mike Alley 1-4-0; 13 yards.
Receiving: Charles Snorweah 1-13.
Coatesville
Rushing: Jalen Hudson 19-99 & TD; Jordan Young 17-49 & TD; Ahkema Evans 6-32; Keenan Coleman 1 (minus 6). Totals 43-174 & 2 TD.
Passing: Jordan Young 6-13-0; 80 yards.
Receiving: Jalen Hudson 3-30; Jay Stocker 1-23; James Clark 1-18; Amir Ealey 1-9. Totals 6-80.
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