Council Rock North kicked off its season with a shutout win. Springfield Township notched an impressive non-league win on Friday night.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 30, NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 0
As beginnings go, they don’t get much better than this one for a Rock North football team looking to build on last year’s 2-2 record in the abbreviated season.
“Going 2-2 last year might not sound like a big deal, but it’s been a long time since Council Rock North finished .500 or above, so even though it was a small optic for us last year, the two teams that we lost to – Upper Dublin and Souderton – were both district champs for 5A and 6A, so the teams we lost to were no slouches,” Rock North coach John Greiner said. “This was a nice win over a competitive New Hope team that I’m used to playing from the BAL back in the day coaching when I was at Bristol. It was nice to finally get a win over them. What Jim DiTulio built over there is basically going to keep on building with Mike (Pacitti). I have all the respect for what Jim did and what Mike is doing over there.
“It was a nice game, a nice win for our players. We got everybody in there. All the kids have been working hard. To see the second team guys get a couple reps was very nice. I couldn’t have scripted a better way.”
Gavin Papp had a huge night, scoring all four of the Indians’ touchdowns.
“He also is a starter on our defense at strong safety, so he was a two-way player,” Greiner said. “He held the load today in terms of running the ball, but we were able to keep them off balance a bit by giving the ball to Will Scibona and Kim Seunghyeon.”
The Indians owned this one from the outset, benefitting from four first-quarter NHS fumbles to open up a commanding lead. A Sawyer Koza field goal spotted the Indians a 3-0 lead, and a pair of Papp TD runs of 13 and 12 yards put the Indians on top 17-0 after one quarter. That score stood until the 3:48 mark of the second quarter when Papp scored from five yards out to send the Indians into halftime with a 24-0 lead. A six-yard TD run by Papp late in the third quarter closed out the scoring.
The Indians repeatedly won the battle for field position, benefitting not only from the NHS fumbles but also the strong leg of kicker Sawyer Koza.
“He had a field goal and three awesome punts,” Greiner said. “He came through in the clutch with three coffin-corner punts that just died within the five-yard line. Give props to Sawyer and special teams coach (Zach) Schram and coach (Joe) Brown for working with Sawyer with his punting game. They’ve been working with our kickers tremendously, and it showed tonight.”
The Indians’ coach also tipped his hat to defensive coordinator Joe King, whose defense did not allow the Lions to collect a first down until the fourth quarter when the outcome had already been decided.
“He did a great, great job with the defense, pitching a shutout” said Greiner, going on to credit several players on the defensive side of the ball. “Avi Patel at middle linebacker filling the gaps and also the three big guys up front – Gavin Swope, Fred Nolte and Aiden Roe. Dylan Siveter, outside linebacker, did a heck of a job as well. He just did a great job of chasing the quarterback all around in the backfield.”
Paving the way for the Indians’ big night offensively was the offensive line comprised of Erik Urbaniak (tight end), Gavin Swope (right tackle), Fred Nolte (left tackle), Aiden Roe (center), Kyle Oros (left guard) and Nate Simon (right tackle).
“They did a good job blocking some of their bigger kids,” Greiner said. “New Hope had some big kids on their team, and they were able to push or control the line of scrimmage. They deserve credit too.”
Prior to Saturday night’s game at Walt Snyder Field, those in attendance paused to remember the events of the previous night
“We had a moment of silence for the 7-year-old victim at the Pennsbury-Academy Park game,” said Greiner, himself a teacher at Pennsbury. “No one wants to go to a football game and have that happen. It’s heartbreaking when I see the video of kids that I taught last year running from the stadium onto the bus. I coached half those kids that were on the Pennsbury team, and that’s why I wanted a moment of silence tonight – for them, for Academy Park, and, more importantly, for the victim and the (two) people still in critical condition.”
Council Rock North (1-0) will travel to Quakertown for Friday’s SOL opener.
“We’ll take it one game at a time,” Greiner said. “Coach (George) Banas does a great, great job with the program up there.”
New Hope-Solebury will be on the road Saturday for a non-league game at Pope John Paul II (1 p.m.).
New Hope-Solebury 0-0-0-0 0
Council Rock North 17-4-6-0 30
Friday, August 27
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 35, SCHUYLKILL VALLEY 7
Chris Shelly wasn’t sure what to expect when Schuylkill Valley was a late addition to the Spartans’ schedule.
“We picked up the game the day after we found out Kensington couldn’t play us,” the Spartans’ coach said. “I know upstate is a different brand of football sometimes, so we were a little bit concerned – how big are they going to be? Can we run the ball? We felt really good running the ball last night. We felt like we could run on them all night, but we mixed it up with a little pass and run.”
Making an impressive debut in the backfield was sophomore Ryan Gibbons, who had 19 carries for 103 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 5.4 yards a carry.
“Gibbons is a little big man, but he’s a player,” Shelly said. “Pound for pound, he’s tough as nails, and we knew coming in that we’d rotate our b-back – we only have a one-back set, but he ran really hard, really tough, downhill. It was a phenomenal performance by that kid who’s only a sophomore.”
Senior Ben Cooney had a successful debut under center, completing 7-of-17 pass attempts for 153 yards and a touchdown for an average of 21.8 per completion. He also had nine carries for 56 yards and a TD.
“Ben Cooney is one of our captains,” Shelly said. “He didn’t put up the greatest numbers, but some of it was bad route running and things like that. I thought he really managed the offense well. He’s a kid we knew we had in our pocket last year because we had a two-year starter in Gabe Franczyk. That kid was really, really good, but we knew we had a good kid behind him in Cooney. It was a really impressive performance by him even though his numbers don’t show that.”
It was Cooney spotting the Spartans a 7-0 lead after one quarter with a 13-yard touchdown run. The Spartans added a pair of TDs in the second quarter. First it was Gibbons scoring on a three-yard run, and then Cooney found Dylan McKenzie with a 45-yard touchdown reception to send the Spartans into halftime with a 21-0 lead. McKenzie finished the game with four receptions for 99 yards and a touchdown.
“Dylan McKenzie was an all-league second team kid last year at receiver,” Shelly said. “He had a really phenomenal game too on the offensive side.”
A one-yard TD run by Gibbons gave the Spartans a 28-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter, and the sophomore back’s third touchdown of the night – a six-yard run – closed out the scoring.
The Spartans came oh so close to posting a shutout, but Schuylkill Valley scored a late TD when both teams had gone deep on their benches.
Shelly lauded the play of several defenders.
“Danny Matthews was phenomenal for us,” Shelly said. “He’s like an outside linebacker, kind of a rover. He had a lot of tackles for losses They really couldn’t run the ball on us. That was their MO coming in – to run the ball off tackle, and we shut it down and forced them to throw.
“Owen Hussie on our D-line – he was phenomenal on the front. Ryan Marcino had a ton of tackles at linebacker. Tim Saiber, our free safety, came downhill and made a lot of tackles. Defensively, we absolutely shut them down.”
Willum Conlin had a pair of receptions for 39 yards, and Ryan Marino had three for 26 yards. Also contributing were John Adams with a 15-yard reception, Richie Jones with three catches for 10 yards, and Jonah Wells with one reception for 10 yards.
Springfield Township (1-0) will host Academy of the New Church in a non-league game Friday.
Schuylkill Valley 0-0-0-7 7
Springfield Twp 7-14-7-7 35
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