Perspective.
The North Penn Knights certainly appear to have found a way to keep theirs in the midst of a dazzling 3-0 start.
Even before the final horn had sounded on the Knights’ impressive 28-14 win over St. Joe’s Prep, senior J.D. Dzurko was reminding his teammates to limit their celebration to Saturday night. After that – the senior captain told them – it was time to get back to work.
“(The Prep) is a big team, and this is a great win, but starting next week, it doesn’t mean anything,” Dzurko said after the game. “We have to get back in, watch film, figure out what we did wrong, and we have to practice hard and come out next Friday night and beat whoever we’re playing.
“You have to win one week at a time.”
North Penn’s win over the Prep in a battle of two of the state’s top-ranked teams came two weeks after they had humbled defending state champion Liberty by 32 points.
It would be easy to understand if the Knights were feeling a big self-congratulatory, but they’re not.
“We go out and treat every team like they’re the best – that’s how we play so hard,” said junior linebacker Matt Donovan, whose 46-yard return after a blocked field goal set up the Knights’ first touchdown. “We take every game the same way.
“The three non-conference games – we come out in each one and look for the best. We’re going to forget about this one, come out next week and get ready for our next game against C.B. South.”
Watching the Knights’ roll over their opponents en route to three straight wins, it’s hard to believe that many were using the word ‘rebuilding’ in reference to this season.
“It’s a lot of fun being the underdog,” Donovan said. “No one believes in you, and to go out and prove them wrong is a lot of fun.”
Going into Saturday night’s game, the Knights appeared to be the underdogs. They were minus a pair of starters because of illness, and several other players were under the weather. Then – on the eve of the Prep showdown – they lost Ryan Hessenius to a fluke injury.
“What we have been through – two guys didn’t play, and with Hessenius, we have three starters out,” coach Dick Beck said. “I think the kids really responded.
“This is a good win. We’re happy. Defensively, we were bullets flying around. We were all over the place.”
For the Knights, it was simply a matter of overcoming adversity.
“We had a lot of guys sick, but kids stepped up,” Dzurko said. “We have kids that weren’t necessarily starting, and they could have hung their heads, but they stepped up, they knew their roles, and they did a great job.”
If there was a defining moment in the game, it came after the Prep opened the second half with a 57-yard scoring drive that was capped by a Garrett Compton two-yard touchdown run to make it a 21-7 game.
The Knights – as level-headed in the game as they were after it - answered with a touchdown drive of their own.
“We have to be a resilient team,” senior Todd Smolinsky said. “Teams are going to punch us in the mouth sometimes. We expect that, so we know we have to respond.
“When we played Liberty, it was the same exact thing, and we had to respond, so we pride ourselves on being tough and not losing our composure when things start to go bad. We were able to do that again tonight.”
No one better personifies the mental toughness of this year’s Knight squad than Smolinsky, who patiently waited for his opportunity to shine.
“Justin (Davey) was a great player, so I knew I had to wait,” Smolinsky said of his predecessor at quarterback. “The last two years, I was learning from Justin.
“All the mental stuff – I learned that, so coming out this year, I just have to play my best physically and make all the plays I can. The offensive line – when they get the job done like they did tonight, it makes my job a lot easier. I just go out, get other people the ball and let them make the plays.”
Smolinsky makes it sound easy, and so far, the Knights have made it look easy, but they’re not taking anything or anyone for granted.
“This is a huge win,” Smolinsky said. “They’re a great team, and we’re excited, but now it’s over. We have to prepare ourselves for our conference schedule. There are some good teams we have to play, so we can’t get ahead of ourselves.”
For the defending league and district champion Knights, it wasn’t a matter of rebuilding this season, it was simply a matter of reloading.
“We knew we would have to step up,” junior Dom Taggart said. “We didn’t know we would be where we are, but we’re going to stay level-headed and come out next week and try and do the same thing.”
And that is what is known as keeping your perspective. It may explain at least in part why the Knights have maintained such a high level of excellence under Beck.
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