By Scott Huff
Legendary Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes would have loved Pennsbury coach Galen Snyder.
Hayes professed that if you throw the football only three things can happen – and two are bad.
The Falcons followed the Hayes’ playbook to perfection as Pennsbury did not attempt a single pass and defeated a good Council Rock South team – 27-20 – in the Suburban One National Conference opener.
“That is the style of football that we want to play,” said Snyder. “We beat a good football team tonight, and I hope that we are starting to come together.
“We really needed this win coming off the loss last week to Glen Mills,” added the coach. “I was miserable all week this week – and that meant our team was miserable as well.”
Pennsbury ran the football all 47 offensive plays from scrimmage – and rushed for a staggering 327 yards and four touchdowns.
If Snyder would have been on Hayes’ favorites list on his cell phone – so would Rock South coach Vince Bedesem.
The Golden Hawks ran the football an astounding 61 times – generated an amazing 25 first downs – and rushed for 329 yards and three scores.
“We may have lost the game, but I think we made a statement tonight,” said Bedesem. “We played 48 good minutes of football against an excellent team.
“They hurt us a lot in the first half, but I thought we made some good adjustments,” continued the coach. “I felt real good about the way we played tonight.”
Pennsbury scored on its initial drive of the game as the Falcons marched 75-yards on just six plays for the score. Richie Applegate – who rushed for a game-high 141 yards on 17 carries – capped the drive with a three-yard run. Pennsbury had the extra point blocked and settled for a 6-0 lead.
Council Rock South countered with a scoring drive on its initial possession. The Hawk touchdown drive covered 80-yards on nine plays as senior B.J. Deola earned scoring honors with a 12-yard TD bolt. Richard Bruno added the point after, and Rock South held its only lead of the night – 7-6.
Pennsbury counter punched with another scoring drive – this one covered 74-yards on six plays. This time it was sophomore quarterback Brandon Pepper who scampered 40-yards through the Hawk defenders for the score. Blake Montgomery booted the extra point to present the Falcons with a 13-7 advantage.
Pepper – who added 111yards on 15 carries – did not seem to mind his non-passing role in the Pennsbury offense.
“We didn’t need to throw tonight – and that’s fine with me,” said Pepper. “I consider myself another back in the backfield – we played the way we had to play.
“We thought it would take three or four weeks to get this offense going,” added Pepper. “We should be okay from now on.”
Pennsbury put together another scoring drive in the first half to assume a 20-7 lead at intermission. This time the drive covered 48 yards on seven plays with junior Dante Devine crossing the goal line from six yards out.
Rock South got itself back into the game at 20-14 with a scoring drive in the third period. The Hawks mounted an 11-play, 67-yard scoring drive that was capped by a one-yard keeper by quarterback Terence McGovern.
McGovern darted around the Falcon defenders for a team-high 118 yards on 20 carries.
However, Pennsbury answered the McGovern score quickly. It took the Falcons just four plays to make the score 27-14 as Applegate jetted 26-yards for what proved to be the final Pennsbury score.
The Hawks managed to get within a single score as they marched an impressive 80 yards on 14 plays to close to within 27-20. B.J Deola bulled in from the one-yard line to get South close.
After a Rock South defensive stop – the Hawk offense began another drive toward to Pennsbury’s goal line for a score that might have forced overtime. The 10-play drive was stopped, however, on a fourth-and-two at the Falcon 24-yard line.
“We had some playmakers on offense, and we had some playmakers on defense,” said Snyder. “Eric Williams came up with some big interceptions, and Dante Devine also had an interception.”
Like Woody Hayes said – only three things can happen when you throw the football. And two are bad.
Pennsbury 13 7 7 0 - 27
C R South 7 0 7 6 - 20
P – Applegate 3 run (kick blocked)
CRS – Chichkin 12 run (Bruno kick)
P – Pepper 40 run (Montgomery kick)
P – Devine 6 run (Montgomery kick)
CRS – McGovern 1 run (Bruno kick)
P – Applegate 26 run (Montgomery kick)
CRS – Deola 3 run (kick failed)
Pennsbury CR South
13 First Downs 25
327 Rush Yards 329
0 Pass Yards 21
327 Total Offense 350
5-32 Punts/Avg. 2-38
6-45 Penalties 0-0
Pennsbury
Rushing – Applegate 17-141- 2 TD; Pepper 15-111-TD; Devine 14-67-TD; Lollis 1-8. Totals – 47-327- 4 TD.
Passing – No attempts
Receiving – None
Interceptions – Williams (2); Devine.
Rock South
Rushing – McGovern 20-118-TD; Ambrose 9-66; Deola 15-66-TD; Chichkin 13-56-TD; Hickey 3-13; Damiglan 1-10. Totals – 61-329- 3 TD.
Passing – McGovern 2-8-2; 21 yards: Flemming 0-2-1; 0 yards. Totals – 2-10-3; 21 yards.
Receiving – Chichkin 1-17; Damiglan 1-4. Totals – 2-21 yards.
Interceptions – None.
- Log in to post comments
0
