Photos used on the slide and in the story are courtesy of The Reporter and staff photographer Mark Psoras. To view the WNVP Overtimer video recap of the game, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/videos/all/109
TOWAMENCIN - Right from the start, North Penn seemed anxious to prove a point.
And St. Joseph’s Prep was going to be the one who felt two weeks worth of rage for the Knights loss to La Salle at home two weeks ago.
“We wanted to come out here and show that we’ve got a good team,” junior quarterback Corey Ernst said. “We know what happened two weeks ago, and we wanted to show that wasn’t our real team out there that night.”If the real North Penn was the one at Crawford Stadium on Saturday night, the rest of the state better take notice.
The Knights gave a dominating performance on both sides of the ball, rolling to a 38-7 victory over the Hawks in the final non-league tune-up for the start of the Suburban One League Continental Conference season.
North Penn (2-1) scored on its first five possessions of the game and held the vaunted Prep passing game to just 65 yards on the night. Hawks quarterback Skylar Mornhinweg — who has already committed to Stanford — was running around all night.
“We knew they were going to throw against us all night because they thought we were weak in the secondary after the La Salle game,” said wide receiver Gerard Wendowski.
“But we wanted to show that we’re good in the secondary and good everywhere else as well. And I think we did that.”
It was a subtle change that North Penn coach Dick Beck and his staff made that perhaps was the biggest difference. He moved Craig Needhammer — one of his best running backs — into the safety spot while pushing Dan Gevirtz back to corner.
“I thought both of those guys had great nights,” Beck said. “These are the guys that we’re planning on sticking with for the rest of the season.”
On offense, no player seemed to improve more from his Week 1 performance than Ernst, the first-year starter who saw his debut marred by mistakes and misreads.Ernst was 11-for-18 for 135 yards passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions on the evening. More impressively, he seemed in complete control.
“There was a point where I felt a little nervous the first two games,” Ernst said. “But I felt a lot more comfortable out there in looking for guys and making my reads.”
Wendowski was the first recipient of Ernst’s improvement, catching a five-yard TD pass on the first Knights’ drive of the night. On the next possession, Needhammer scored from 24 yards out.
After a botched snap on a Prep punt gave the Knights the ball in positive territory, Ernst connected on his second TD pass of the night — this one to Ryan Hessenius from 11 yards out.
Dom Taggart and Brandon Mercer would also add TDs later to salt the game away.
NORTH PENN 38, ST. JOSEPH’S PREP 7
St. Joseph's Prep 0 7 0 0
North Penn 14 17 7 0
NP- Wendowski 5 pass from Ernst (Mandes kick)
NP- Needhammer 24 run (Mandes kick)
NP- Hessenius 11 pass from Ernst (Mandes kick)
SJP- McGann 67 run (Kardish kick)
NP- Taggart 1 run (Mandes kick)
NP- FG Mandes 23
NP- Mercer 24 run (Mandes kick)
Team Statistics
St. Joseph's Prep North Penn
First Downs 13 19
Yards Rushing 187 239
Yards Passing 64 141
Total Offense 251 380
Comp. Passes, Int 6-15-1 12-19-0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 2-20 5-41
Punts-Avg. 2-32.0 1-27.0
Sacked-Yds. Lost 1-5 0-0
RUSHING:
St. Joseph's Prep 0 7 0 0
North Penn 14 17 7 0
NP- Wendowski 5 pass from Ernst (Mandes kick)
NP- Needhammer 24 run (Mandes kick)
NP- Hessenius 11 pass from Ernst (Mandes kick)
SJP- McGann 67 run (Kardish kick)
NP- Taggart 1 run (Mandes kick)
NP- FG Mandes 23
NP- Mercer 24 run (Mandes kick)
Team Statistics
St. Joseph's Prep North Penn
First Downs 13 19
Yards Rushing 187 239
Yards Passing 64 141
Total Offense 251 380
Comp. Passes, Int 6-15-1 12-19-0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 2-20 5-41
Punts-Avg. 2-32.0 1-27.0
Sacked-Yds. Lost 1-5 0-0
RUSHING:
St. Joseph’s Prep: Casale 21-175, TD; DeFeo 6-40; Mornhinweg 2-(-3); Center Snap 1-(-25)
North Penn: Rushing: Needhammer 13-82,TD; Taggart 8-28, TD; Ernst 4-19; Mercer 3-80, TD; Fielder 2-17; Mayfield 2-12; Everett 1-3; Gozur 2-(-6)
PASSING:
St. Joseph’s Prep: Mornhinweg 6-15-64, 1 INT
PASSING:
St. Joseph’s Prep: Mornhinweg 6-15-64, 1 INT
North Penn: Ernst 11-18-135, 2 TD; Gozur 1-1-8
RECEIVING:
St. Joseph’s Prep: Casale 2-44; Johnson 1-9; Hurley 1-7; McGann 1-8; J. Heath 1-(-4)
North Penn: Gevirtz 3-24; Mercer 3-30; Needhammer 2-52; Wendowski 2-16, TD; Hesseenius 1-11, TD; Keightley 1-8;
Interceptions: Gevirtz
RECEIVING:
St. Joseph’s Prep: Casale 2-44; Johnson 1-9; Hurley 1-7; McGann 1-8; J. Heath 1-(-4)
North Penn: Gevirtz 3-24; Mercer 3-30; Needhammer 2-52; Wendowski 2-16, TD; Hesseenius 1-11, TD; Keightley 1-8;
Interceptions: Gevirtz
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