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FRANCONIA TWP – The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
It’s a phrase ABC’s Wide World of Sports made famous. On Friday night, the Souderton and Pennridge football teams lived it.
The game between the neighboring rivals had come down to one play.
The Indians – trailing 7-3 – had the ball on the Rams’ 15-yard line with fourth-and-long and only enough seconds on the clock to take one more shot at the end zone.On the other side of the ball, the Rams needed just one more defensive stop, and the big win was in the books.
Then came the play they’ll be talking about for a long, long time. Junior quarterback Tanner Allem dropped back with a blitzing Brandon Cope in full pursuit. A millisecond before he was leveled, Allem released a pass that landed in the outstretched arms of teammate Ry Yozallinas in the end zone.
“I saw Brandon sneak up on the line, so I knew he was going to come lightning blitz right at me,” Allem said. “I saw an open middle, and I just knew I had to take the hit and just throw it as fast as possible.
“(Ry) made a great play, and the offensive line did a great job. I didn’t know he caught it. I asked Brandon, ‘Did he catch it?’ He just looked at me.”
The Indians needed a miracle, and they got one.
A 99-yard scoring drive had culminated with the miraculous fourth-down completion with 1.7 seconds showing on the game clock. As the Rams – the devastation just beginning to sink in - watched in stunned disbelief, the jubilant Indians began to celebrate.
Jeff Wolf’s extra point made it a 10-7 game, and the Rams’ desperation kick-off return as the final horn sounded never got close to midfield.
“I think we were all sitting there praying and just hoping that something happens from above,” Souderton senior Mike Statuti said. “Obviously, something happened tonight.
“We all swarmed the field. I couldn’t believe it. I still feel like we lost right now. I can’t believe we won.”
One team’s exhilarating win is another team’s heartbreaking loss, and this was a bitter pill to swallow for the Rams, who fell to 0-1 in SOL play (3-2 overall).
“It’s a disappointing loss,” Pennridge coach Randy Cuthbert said. “We had our opportunities. In the end, we shot ourselves in the foot too much.
“We were in the red zone a couple of times and turned the ball over. I don’t know how many penalties we had, but we had a few penalties at very bad times. It was a great back-and-forth game. Unfortunately, we were on the short end of it at the end.”
All but lost in the shuffle of the heartstopping ending was the dramatic play to close out the first half that saw Wolf – on a free kick at the buzzer- nail a 49-yard field goal.
Two short weeks ago against Abington, the Indians went for two and the win at the final buzzer because they were just 4-of-10 on extra points. They failed and lost by one.
The following week, Wolf was recruited from the soccer team, and the rest is history. “The Wolfman’s a weapon – I’ll tell you,” Souderton coach Ed Gallagher said. “Tom Quintois called me at lunch and said, ‘You have to kick a field goal tonight.’
“If we have a situation, I’ll give him a chance. I have plenty of confidence in him.”
That situation came up in the closing seconds of the first half of a scoreless ballgame.
With the Rams deep in their own territory and the Indians burning one timeout after another, the sophomore kicker – under the watchful eye Quintois - warmed up on the sidelines. A punt from the Rams’ end zone and ensuing fair catch set the stage for Wolf’s heroics that sent the Indians into halftime with a 3-0 lead.
“He (Quintois) just told me to focus and not think of anything else,” Wolf said of his soccer coach’s advice. “I wasn’t quite nervous. I was just anxious to get the kick off.
“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was good. Man, I don’t even know what to say. That was crazy.”
Crazy also summed a wild second half.
The Rams appeared to be in command after turning a Kyle Bigham interception – the Rams’ second of the game – into a touchdown.
Quarterback Kyle Peters found Rocky Ferrier at the one-yard line with a 30-yard strike, and then it was Peters punching it in for the score. Dan Caya’s extra point put the Rams on top 7-3.
It was three-and-out for the Indians, setting the stage for a Pennridge drive that saw the Rams survive a costly penalty and convert back-to-back fourth-and-long plays. The drive stalled when the Rams fumbled the ball on the Indians’ 27-yard line. Chris Force fell on the ball for the Indians, whose defense limited the Rams to less than 200 yards total offense.
The Indians couldn’t capitalize, but their defense came up with another big stand, forcing the Rams to punt after a huge three-and-out.“Our defense – we all had our gaps,” said Statuti, who helped anchor the Indians at linebacker. “We have got to give credit to our line. Chris Force and Joe Stolfi were going crazy, and our secondary held down tight for the first time in a couple of games. This is huge for our defense.”
The Rams still appeared to be in command when a 52-yard punt pinned the Indians at their own one-yard line with 5:36 remaining.
The Indians, according to Statuti - never doubted they could go the distance.
“I looked at my brother on the left, and I looked at my brother on the right, and we all just locked down and knew what we had to do,” said the senior linebacker, who also saw time on the offensive line. “We pushed, and we got the momentum.
“I don’t really know what happened from there.”
What happened was quite simple. The Indians ran the ball for 12 straight plays with Tyler Sholl and Joe McNamara getting most of the touches. Allem didn’t throw a pass on the drive until less than a minute remained and the Indians had the ball on the Rams’ 36-yard line.
“It came down to us having to go back to basics and getting a little bit of a running game going,” Gallagher said. “Once we got it over midfield, we had a shot.”
A nine-yard Allem completion to Alex Sowhangar was followed by a 10-yard pass to Clint Passarella, and with 21 seconds remaining, the Indians were on the Rams’ 11.
On first down, Anthony Fecondo met Sholl in the backfield and threw the Indians’ leading ground gainer for a four-yard loss. Allem’s pass on second down was knocked down at the six – a completion could have ended the game since the Indians were out of timeouts.As it was, Allem and the Indians had one last chance. They made it count as Yozallinas hauled in a 15-yard TD pass that saved the day for Souderton.
“That felt so good,” said the Indians’ junior tight end, who had five catches for 82 yards. “That was probably the best feeling all season so far.”
“Tanner has a lot of composure,” Gallagher said. “He threw his first two interceptions of the year tonight, and he could have kept his head down, but he came back and showed everyone what he can do. He’s given us a chance and given our season new life. I’m very proud of him.
“We’ve had some long drives this year, and we couldn’t pick a better time to do it than against a rival who really outplayed us all night. I give them credit. I thought Randy (Cuthbert) and (assistant coach) Bob Rosenberger came up with great schemes to neutralize the things we do well on both sides of the ball.”
In a poignant moment, Allem leaned over and patted Cope on the helmet as he picked himself off the turf after connecting for the game winner.
“I know him from track, and he’s an FCA guy,” the Indians’ junior quarterback said. “I just told him – (heck) of a game. I have a lot of respect for him. He is the best linebacker in the league.
“That exact same play happened earlier in the game where I threw it, he landed on top of me, and it was an interception. This was the other way around.”
And on this night, that was the difference between winning and losing.
NOTES: While Sholl led the Indians with 70 yards on the ground, Jesse Knepp was the top Ram rusher but managed just 39 yards on 15 carries against a stingy Indian defense. “Barry Benfield does a great job,” Gallagher said of his defensive coordinator. “It’s tough to shut down all of their weapons. I can’t believe we held them to seven points. Barry did an excellent job scheming for them, and our kids came up and made plays. We got enough stops to get that last chance, but wow, I still can’t believe we won.”
SOUDERTON 10, PENNRIDGE 7
Pennridge 0 0 7 0-7
Souderton 0 3 0 7-10
S-Wolf 49 field goal
P-Peters 1 run (Caya kick)
S-Yozallinas 15 pass from Allem (Wolf kick)
P S
First Downs 11 13
Rushing Yards 90 119
Passing Yards 105 114
Total Yards 195 233
Passing (A-C-I) 6-9-0 10-19-2
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 0-0
Penalties-Yards 7-53 4-35
Punts-Avg. 5-39.0 3-44.7
RUSHING:
Pennridge: Jesse Knepp, 15-39; Kyle Peters, 11-17, 1 TD; Brandon Cope, 11-13; James Marrero, 2-8; Kyle McCabe, 2-8; MacKenzie Crawford, 1-3; Carter Peters, 2-2.
Souderton: Tyler Scholl, 16-70; Joe McNamara, 8-38; Javon White, 7-16; Tanner Allem, 3-(-5).
PASSING:
Pennridge: Kyle Peters, 6-9-105.
Souderton: Tanner Allem, 10-19-114, 1 TD, 2 INTs.
RECEIVING:
Pennridge: Brandon Cope, 3-56; Rocky Ferrier, 1-30; Kyle McCabe, 1-13; Jesse Knepp, 1-6.
Souderton: Ry Yozallinas, 5-82; Alex Sowhangar, 2-16; Clint Passarella, 1-10; Joe McNamara, 1-4; Tyler Scholl, 1-2.
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