Souderton and Pennsbury were winners in SOL football action Saturday. Stats used in the Souderton/CB East wrap are provided courtesy of the Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times. For complete high school football coverage, visit the web sites: http://www.theintell.com/sports and http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports.
SOL Continental Conference
SOUDERTON 21, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 14
The Indians listened to the pre-season predictions that Pennridge was the clear choice to finish second to North Penn in the Continental Conference standings. But the Rams hit a skid, losing four straight, and CB East became the popular choice to earn that distinction. The Indians listened and then they went out and made themselves very much a part of the conversation. Eight days after knocking off Pennridge, the Indians notched an impressive come-from-behind win over CB East on Saturday that upped their conference record to 3-0.
“I think the kids have now bought in – they’re starting to play for each other, they’re starting to have some confidence, and they’re going out and having fun and executing,” coach Ed Gallagher said. “Our kids are playing the underappreciated underdog role, right now, kind of like the Eagles last year. I’m not going to argue.
“What I’m most proud of is we responded well to adversity in the second half. They scored to take a 14-7 lead, and we just came back with two more (touchdowns), and that’s awesome. The defense really stood up after that.”
While Saturday’s win doesn’t make the Indians an automatic favorite to finish second, it does represent a step in the right direction for a squad that has won just two conference games in each of the last five years.
“We were in this league since it originated, and we probably have the most wins in Continental Conference history because North Penn was in the National Conference for part of it,” Gallagher said. “We were a big player in the conference since we’ve been in it, but we haven’t been for the past couple of years. I’ve been preaching to the kids for a while – let’s get back to being where we belong, and right now we’re 3-0 in the Continental, and that’s more games than we’ve won in the league for a long time.
“We still have a lot of winnable games on the schedule. I’m not saying we’re going to win them, but we’ve put ourselves in a position to be successful and make some noise in the conference.”
The Indians have been making plenty of noise since recuperating from their 0-3 start to win three straight, and playing no small role in that turnaround is junior running back DeAndre Wakefield. For the third straight week, he had three touchdowns. His 78-yard TD run on the heels of a 49-yard run gave the Indians a 21-14 lead. He finished the game with 181 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a 19-yard touchdown reception in the first half.
“DeAndre got off to a slow start, but once he gains some confidence – he gets one good run and then, all of a sudden, he runs like a man possessed,” Gallagher said. “He all of a sudden kicks it into a new gear, and he is really hard to stop. Not only is he fast, but he’s a strong kid, and he’s really tough to bring down in the open field.”
Wakefield was hurt in the first half of the Indians’ loss to Quakertown and then did not play in their one-point loss to Hatboro-Horsham.
“That definitely stalled our offense because he seems to be our home run hitter right now,” Gallagher said. “He's the one that can get the ball in space and go. We have other kids that are capable of doing that, but it just wasn’t the same.”
Senior quarterback Andrew Vince – who also had an interception on defense – threw for 122 yards and a touchdown. His 19-yard TD pass to Wakefield spotted the Indians a 7-0 lead in the second quarter. The Patriots answered when Evan O’Donnell, extending the play with his legs, found Will Silverman with a 15-yard touchdown pass to send the teams into halftime deadlocked 7-7.
The Patriots took their first and only lead in the third quarter when – after a David Moyer interception – O’Donnell hooked up with Silverman for a second TD, this one from 28 yards that gave East a 14-7 lead. That set the stage for back-to-back Wakefield touchdown runs, and then came the not-so-little matter of defending that lead for the entire fourth quarter.
East drove to the Indians’ 10-yard line where the drive stalled.
“They had first and goal at our 10, and we got a sack, forced them to go for a field goal, and they missed the field goal,” Gallagher said. “Then we had to kill five, six minutes off the clock and we were able to do that.”
Vince came up with a clutch completion on third and five to keep the drive alive.
“If we don’t make that play, we’re punting it back to them in a one-score game,” Gallagher said. “That was a huge conversion, and then we were able to run the ball effectively enough to get a couple more first downs, milk the clock down and eventually just take a knee. It worked out really well, but that play definitely helped.”
Vince – Souderton’s version of ironman – played every down on both offense (quarterback) and defense (safety) in the Indians’ win over Pennridge last week.
“We didn’t realize that until the game was over,” Gallagher said. “This week we probably got him out for about five plays on defense. He’s just a warrior. He’s in great shape, he just wants to play, and he’s a competitor.”
There were plenty of unsung heroes for the Indians in the win. Topping the list, according to Gallagher, was lineman Austin Moyer, who even added a carry to his resume Saturday.
“It was not planned,” the Indians’ coach said with a laugh. “We must have fumbled the snap and it popped right up to him. All of a sudden I see 66 (Moyer) running down the field with the ball, and he almost scored. He had another solid game playing both ways at tackle.”
Joining Moyer on an offensive line that, according to Gallagher, has been “a little unsung and underappreciated most of the year” are Kyle Gia, Stanton Godshall, Dan Villalba and Spencer Haslem. Ethan Smerecki and Bruno Stolfi split time at tight end.
“They both start on defense for us,” Gallagher said of his tight ends. “Ethan, at linebacker, made two plays off of screens where it seemed like they had four guys to block one, and he just beat a block and made a play on two different plays. Both of those were huge because they had a couple of screens that were really well set up and Ethan singlehandedly took down.
“It’s been a nice combination of things. Not just the line blocking – I thought on both of DeAndre’s (touchdown) runs both Willie Goods and Tre Samuels had really nice blocks out on the edge to help spring DeAndre into the open field.”
Gallagher also credited defensive coordinator Mike Heath.
“He did a real nice job of scheming to stop some of the things they do well,” the Indians’ coach. “John Donnelly is a good coach, so he found some other things that were working for them. Ultimately, at the end of the day, we made enough stops to win the game.”
For the Patriots, O’Donnell threw for 166 yards and two touchdowns, and Jake Ventresca ran for 135 yards.
Souderton (3-3, 3-0 SOL) will host North Penn on Friday, and Central Bucks East (2-4, 0-2) will host Central Bucks West next Saturday at 1 p.m.
Souderton 0-7-14-0 21
Central Bucks East 0-7-7-0 14
SOL National Conference
PENNSBURY 49, BENSALEM 13
Bensalem and Pennsbury found themselves playing an unexpected Saturday afternoon game at an unexpected location – the turf field at Harry S Truman. The change in schedule after Friday’s game was postponed due to unplayable field conditions at Bensalem did not slow down the suddenly high-scoring Falcons.
Jalen Smith’s eight-yard touchdown run spotted the Owls a 7-0 lead late in opening quarter. Not a whole lot of things went the Owls’ way the rest of the game. The Falcons answered with three straight touchdowns to go on top 21-7, and although the Owls pulled to within eight, the Falcons had an immediate answer and went into halftime with a 28-13 advantage.
Pennsbury knotted the score on a three-yard Josh Boyda run. The Falcons took a lead they would not lose when – after Sam Burke recovered a fumble – quarterback Drew Hensor hooked up with Jason Cook for a 29-yard touchdown strike. On the Owls’ ensuing possession, Matt Carey returned an interception to the Owls’ 14, and two plays later – on second and 13 – Hensor found Sheenan Miles for an 18-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead, and in a 90-second span, the Falcons turned a pair of Bensalem turnovers into touchdowns.
The Owls made it a 21-13 game when Tyler Barry hooked up with Jared O’Connell for a 36-yard touchdown, but with 3:08 remaining in the opening half, the Falcons – aided by back-to-back Owl penalties – tacked on another touchdown when Jay’Von McNeil punched it in from one yard out.
It was more of the same in a third quarter that saw the Falcons reel off 21 unanswered points. Their first drive featured a whole lot of Eddie Dualu – who hauled in a Hensor pass for 25 yards and then had an 18-yard run. The drive culminated with Hensor handing off to Miles, who found Cook from 15 yards out with a TD pass. McNeil’s second TD of the afternoon was followed by a six-yard touchdown run by Jeremiah Sawbo to close the scoring.
Dualu led the Falcons with 66 rushing and 60 receiving yards.
Defensively, Sam Burke led the way with 12 tackles, which included a sack. He also had a fumble recovery. Delivering seven tackles each were James Hose, Trevor Williams and Zach Wales. Wales also had a sack.
Pennsbury (3-3, 2-0 SOL) will host Harry S Truman in a key conference game Friday, and Bensalem (0-6, 0-2) will travel to Council Rock South on Friday.
Pennsbury 0-28-21-0 49
Bensalem 7-6-0-0 13
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