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NEWTOWN – They had read all about Council Rock South’s high-flying offense, and they had heard the tales of quarterback Billy Fleming’s deft fakes that not only fooled opposing teams but also the officials.
The North Penn Knights simply refused to get caught up in any of that pre-game hype, and when it came time to do battle with the second-seeded Golden Hawks in Friday night’s District One Class AAAA semifinal game at Walt Snyder Stadium, they were ready.
The Knights’ defense stymied the Golden Hawks’ offense and – behind the 11-for-11 performance of quarterback Corey Ernst on offense – rolled to a 28-14 win, earning a date against Neshaminy in next week’s all-SOL district title game.If it seems as though this might be old hat to a North Penn squad that has all but had a standing date in the district title game, guess again.
“Oh my god, it’s awesome,” North Penn junior Ralph Reeves said. “I can’t wait. I get chills just thinking about it, and it’s against Neshaminy. It’s going to be a great game. It’s always a big rivalry, one we love playing in.”
One team’s euphoria is another team’s heartbreak, and while the Knights advanced to the district title game, the Golden Hawks were left to bid their tearful farewells as their magical season came to an end.
“It was just an amazing year,” senior captain Hunter Shull said. “I’m not upset because we lost. I’m upset because we won’t be playing together any more.
“This was the best team I have ever been part of. It was great. I love every one of these guys, and I’ll miss them a lot, but if we don’t keep it up every single year from now on, it won’t mean anything.”
The Golden Hawks battled gamely for 48 minutes, but there was no stopping a Knight squad that was operating on all cylinders. Ernst was not only putting on a clinic in the pocket, his receivers were finding holes in the Golden Hawks’ defense while Dom Taggart, Craig Needhammer and Brandon Mercer were picking up important yardage on the ground.
Not to be forgotten was the standout effort of the offensive line that kept an aggressive Rock South defense at bay.
“Every practice we have a 25-minute blitz session, and we go over all the blitzes that the other team runs,” said senior guard Willie Kye. “I think it really shows during the game.
“We communicate with each other, and we end up giving Corey a lot of time. We know if Corey has time, he can be a deadly player.”Ernst certainly was deadly in Friday’s win, connecting on seven-of-seven attempts in the first half and then continuing where he left off in the second half when he completed all four of his attempts.
Seven of his completions were to senior Gerard Wendowski, who was unstoppable, especially on third downs when he converted five of Ernst’s completions into first downs.
“He’s a big target, and he’s a big threat,” Ernst said of Wendowski. “He was running great routes tonight. He was finding the holes in the curls.
“He was doing a great job of getting open and making plays after the catch.”
The Knights were forced to punt after a three-and-out on their first possession of the game, and it looked as though momentum was swinging in the Golden Hawks’ favor when they moved the ball from their own 27 to the Knights’ 17.
Fleming, not surprisingly, was the catalyst, breaking a 32-yard run that took the ball to the Knights’ 35. Back-to-back runs by Ryan Whitely - the first for six yards and the second for seven - gave the Golden Hawks a first down at North Penn’s 22.
That’s when the drive stalled, and when Rock South’s 34-yard field goal attempt failed, the Knights were in business.
Taggart jump started the Knights’ offense with a 42-yard run to Rock South’s 38-yard line. A 14-yard Ernst to Mercer completion took the ball to the 12, and two plays later, Taggart punched it in from a yard out. The Brandon Mandes extra point put the Knights on top 7-0 at the 11:55 mark of the second period.
“I thought our backs ran hard,” North Penn coach Dick Beck said. “This is the first time I thought everybody, especially our skill guys, all had good nights. All our guys played well in the skill positions offensively.”
The Knights’ defense also was on top of its game.After the Golden Hawks took the ball all the way to North Penn’s 30-yard line, the defense came up with a big stop on fourth-and-four.
“We changed up our defensive scheme a little bit for this game,” Reeves said. “We had someone on the quarterback, someone on the pitch back and the fullback, and we thought if everyone did their jobs, they wouldn’t have a chance.”
Buoyed by their team’s defensive effort, the Knights’ offense went to work yet again, eating seven minutes off the clock in a 13-play drive that culminated with Earnst finding Wendowski with a three-yard TD pass that – after the Mandes extra point – sent the Knights into halftime with a 14-0 lead.
“We were just playing blue collar football,” Kye said. “That Billy Fleming kid is really good with faking the handoffs, but we knew if we stayed on our guy and if we tackled who we needed to tackle that our defense could execute.”
“I thought we were very good on defense,” Beck said. “I thought we tackled well. We were in the right spots all night.
“I thought our guys did a nice job on Fleming when he was running the option. We didn’t do a great job when he was sprinting out, but all in all, you’ve got to be happy.”
On their opening drive of the second half, the Knights methodically marched 80 yards on another time-consuming drive. This time it was Taggart taking an Ernst pass six yards for a touchdown that made it a 21-0 game after the extra point at the 5:16 mark of the third period.
Highlights of the drive were an 18-yard pass to Wendowski on a key third down conversion and a 21-yard completion to the senior receiver on another third-down play that took the ball to the Golden Hawks’ nine.
“The line did a great job tonight,” Ernst said. “I had all the time in the world, and that was big on some of the third down plays because the receivers needed more time to find the hole.
“The line did a great job – nobody was coming in, and I had a free shot back there.”
The Golden Hawks mounted their first scoring drive of the game on their first possession of the second half, taking the ball 58 yards for the score. Mark Damirgian got things started with a nine-yard run, and it was the senior running back punching it in from one yard out for a touchdown that – after the Ben Solis extra point – made it a 21-7 game with less than a minute to play in the third quarter.Any thoughts of a Rock South comeback were put to rest when the Knights scored on their ensuing drive. Taggart ran for nine yards on first down, and three plays later, Mercer took the ball on a reverse and sprinted 47 yards down the far sidelines for the score and – after the Mandes extra point – a 28-7 North Penn lead at the 10:33 mark of the fourth quarter.
The Golden Hawks, benefitting from a pass interference call, scored the game’s final touchdown when Fleming – who had a game-high 133 yards on the ground - took it in from eight yards out with 13 seconds remaining.
It was too little too late for a Golden Hawk squad that put its name in the school record books.
“Hats off to them – they did a great job,” Rock South coach Vince Bedesem said. “Obviously, they’re a class program.
“I’m real proud of our kids. They fought for 48 minutes, and I’ve been real proud of them all year. You’re blessed when you have guys like this with the chemistry they had. You only hope when you go into the following year that you’re going to get that, but you don’t know until it starts developing. We’re really, really blessed with the kids we’ve had.”
“They played a great game,” Shull said of the Knights. “We came out, and we gave it our all. We definitely thought we had the edge coming in, but it just didn’t work out I guess.”
The win was the 12th in a row for the streaking Knights, who passed their latest test with flying colors.
“It was definitely a big test,” Reeves said. “We had an offense coming in that runs the wishbone that we hadn’t seen all year.
“Everyone was at the right place at the right time doing their own jobs, and if we keep getting that, we’re going to be successful.”
NORTH PENN 28, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 14
North Penn 0 14 7 7-28
Council Rock South 0 0 7 7-14
NP-Dom Taggart 1 run (Brandon Mandes kick)
NP-Gerard Wendowski 3 pass from Corey Ernst (Brandon Mandes kick)
NP-Dom Taggart 6 pass from Corey Ernst (Brandon Mandes kick)
CRS-Mark Damirgian 1 run (Ben Solis kick)
NP-Brandon Mercer 47 run (Brandon Mandes kick)
CRS-Billy Fleming 8 run (Ben Solis kick)
NP CRS
First Downs 17 11
Rushing Yards 195 244
Passing Yards 136 10
Total Yards 331 254
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Passing (A-C-I) 11-11-0 2-6-0
Penalties-Yds. 8-90 6-48
Punts-Avg. 2-43.0 1-49.0
RUSHING:
North Penn – Dom Taggart, 15-86, 1 TD; Brandon Mercer, 4-69, 1 TD; Craig Needhammer, 16-40; Corey Ernst, 5-0.
Council Rock South – Billy Fleming, 21-133, 1 TD; Ryan Whitely, 7-68; Mark Damirgian, 9-33, 1 TD; Ryan Hickey, 2-6; Brian Donnelly, 3-4.
PASSING:
North Penn – Corey Ernst, 11-11-136, 2 TDs.
Council Rock South – Billy Fleming, 2-6-10.
RECEIVING:
North Penn – Gerard Wendowski, 7-82, 1 TD; Ryan Hessenius, 1-20; Brandon Mercer, 1-14; Dom Taggart, 1-13, 1 TD; Craig Needhammer, 1-7.
Council Rock South – Ryan Hickey, 1-14; Matt Emilius, 1-(-4).
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