Springfield Township defeated New Hope-Solebury 41-0 on Friday night. (Photos provided courtesy of Thea Bosca/Springfield football)
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 41, NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 0
New Hope-Solebury was a familiar opponent to the Spartans long before joining the SOL last year. The two teams met regularly on the gridiron with the Lions winning four of the last five meetings, including last year’s 45-35 NHS win.
The Spartans had the upper hand in Friday’s contest, leading from wire to wire and winning for the fifth time in six games.
“We didn’t want to overlook this one,” Springfield coach Chris Shelly said. “We knew coming in that New Hope was struggling, but they’ve been a rivalry game for us for years, so that’s how we looked at it. We wanted to jump right on top of them.”
A 15-yard touchdown run by Dylan McKenzie gave the Spartans a 7-0 lead after one quarter, and they pulled away with three touchdowns in the second quarter. Quarterback Ben Cooney’s 24-yard touchdown run was following by Ryan Gibbons scoring a TD from 13 yards out. Cooney connected with McKenzie for a 13-yard touchdown pass that sent the Spartans into halftime with a commanding 28-0 lead.
“The New Hope kids always play hard, and they kept it close early,” Shelley said. “We had some miscues, but we busted it open in the second quarter.”
In the third quarter, junior linebacker Ryan Marcino came up with a pick six, returning the interception 50 yards for a touchdown. Cooney capped a productive night with a four-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring.
For the game, the Spartans had 200 yards on the ground on 34 carries and spread the ball around. Gibbons had seven carries for 60 yards and a touchdown, Macino had 10 carries for 61 yards, McKenzie had five carries for 36 yards and a TD, and Cooney had seven carries for 39 yards and two TDs.
“I was pleased with that,” Shelly said. “We really wanted to establish our run game. We hit on a couple of passes early, but really, it was us dictating up front, and our defense was phenomenal.”
Cooney completed 3-of-6 passes for 45 yards. McKenzie had two catches for 29 yards, and Will Conlin had one for 16.
The Lions managed just 93 yards of total offense. Owen Hussie led the Spartans’ defensive charge with six tackles, which included two sacks. He also had six quarterback hurries. The Spartans had three interceptions with one each from Marcino, Tim Saiber and Jim Halligan.
“Jimmy Halligan is a JV kid who’s ready to go – we call him a 1A,” Shelly said. “He had a nice interception that sealed the shutout. We put in our subs, and sometimes you give up some scores, but our kids kept them out of the end zone which was awesome.
“Our kids really were jacked up to see the young guys play and play hard. That’s neat to see when the game is out of hand.”
John Adams also played a key role defensively for the Spartans.
“He doesn’t get in the stat box, but he totally shut down their best receiver,” Shelly said. “We just locked him down on it, and when you have a kid that can do that, that’s phenomenal.
“Our kids really wanted this. It was an overall team effort. We were really, really happy to come out with the win. We know what’s ahead of us. We’re facing the big dog – we’re facing (Upper) Moreland. They have a lot to play for and so do we. We’re real excited.”
Springfield Township (5-1, 3-1 SOL) will travel to Upper Moreland on Friday, and New Hope-Solebury (1-6, 0-4) is off until Friday, Oct. 22, when the Lions will travel to Cheltenham.
Springfield Township 7-21-13-0 41
New Hope-Solebury 0-0-0-0 0
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