North Penn defeated Coatesville 42-25 to earn a spot in next week’s District One 6A title game against Garnet Valley. Check back for Keith Clemens’ gallery of game photos...CLICK HERE.
Stats used in the wraps are provided courtesy of Calkins Media. For complete high school football coverage, visit the web sites: http://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school/fall/football/and http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/fall/football/
#1-1 NORTH PENN 42, #1-4 COATESVILLE 25
The final in a long line of postgame interviews was winding down when coach Dick Beck paid his 2016 Knights – perfect after 13 games – an unsolicited compliment.
“This is such a good group of kids,” the veteran coach said. “They have been such a joy to coach.
“I have been so thrilled with our senior leadership. This is a great group of kids, so we enjoyed them, and we get them another week.”
As a result of their 42-25 win, the Knights will return to their 11th district title game in 15 years, and Friday’s ‘de facto district championship game’ – as the North Penn’s game against Coatesville was labeled by some in the media – turned out to be just another in a long line of lopsided wins for the Knights.
“This is big for these guys,” Beck said. “They’ve had pressure, and people have told them ‘Oh, you guys are going to be in the District One title (game).’
“The expectations are so high, so to basically get to this point – you’re competing against Spring-Ford, Haverford and Coatesville. These guys are playoff teams, and to get to this point is so satisfying, but I hope we’re still hungry.”
If there was a defining moment in Friday’s game, it came late in the first half. The Knights – who trailed 6-0 and 13-7 early – had just taken a 14-13 lead after Nick Dillon scored his first of four touchdowns on the night, taking it in from one yard out with 5:05 remaining in the second quarter.
On Coatesville’s ensuing possession, the Raiders – despite some early success running the ball – elected to go to the air on third-and-short. The pass fell incomplete, setting up a punt after a key three-and-out.
The Knights took over at their own 25, and after Dillon picked up seven yards on first down, Reece Udindski found Owen Thomas, who raced 68 yards for a score that – after Kelly Mcnamara’s extra point – sent the Knights into halftime with a 21-13 lead.
“It was a really tight game,” Thomas said. “We had the ball, and we were trying to drive on them.
“We were running a lot of two tights at that time, and we were trying to run the ball a lot. We knew we could get some little pass plays. I sensed man coverage when I was running it, and then I saw the guy that was covering me tried to undercut it, but he slipped and didn’t make the play, so I just caught it and took it to the house.”
The completion put Udinski’s name in the record books as he broke District One’s single season passing yardage record of Downingtown East’s Pat Devlin.
“What a ball (thrown) by Reese, and Owen – he runs like a deer, long legs striding in,” Beck said. “That was huge. A great ball and a great play by Owen.”
Udinski – who threw for 257 yards - tipped his hat to his receiving corp.
“Our receivers have been awesome this year,” the senior quarterback said. “You look at Jake Hubler, Ricky Johns and Justis Henley and then you throw to Owen Thomas – it’s just awesome.
“You can’t cover all of them, so it makes my job a lot easier.”
The Knights opened the second half with a 73-yard scoring drive that included a highlight reel hook-and-ladder that covered 61 yards with Udinski throwing a short pass to Jake Huber, who tossed the ball to Dillon. The junior running back took it in for a TD and a 28-13 Knight lead with 9:24 remaining in the third quarter.
“It was perfect,” Beck said. “Reese threw a great pass, and Hubler caught it, and he paused just enough.
“We were teaching him in practice – Nick Dillon was getting there too quickly, so he was almost throwing it forward. I said, ‘It’s got to be backwards.’ So he really was patient. Jake grabbed it and was real patient with it – held it for a little longer than I thought he would. It was one of those things where it was a look-away pass.”
Beck acknowledged it was the first time in his career he’d called for a hook-and-ladder play.
“I’ve had a lot of sleepless nights,” the Knights’ coach said. “At three o’clock in the morning, I’m laying in bed, and it just comes to me – ‘Hey, we should run it out of this formation, and this is what we should get,’ and there you go.”
The Knights all but buried the Raiders when – on Coatesville’s ensuing possession – senior Andrew Roth picked off a Ricky Ortega pass that resulted in another North Penn TD. Dillon took it in from two yards out, giving the Knights a commanding 35-13 lead. A highlight of the drive was a second-and-long 17-yard completion from Udinski to Henley.
The Raiders returned an interception for a touchdown and added a TD in the closing seconds, sandwiching those two late scores around Dillon’s seven-yard touchdown run.
“Our defense played really well,” said Thomas, who contributed on both sides of the ball. “We held this high-powered Coatesville offense to 25 points, and that says something.
“We all match up well with them, so we could play them in man, we could play them in zone. We did a great job at practice this week, and that helps us in games also.”
The Knights will be looking for redemption when they take on 10th-seeded Garnet Valley next Friday. None of them have forgotten last year’s 46-21 loss to Upper Dublin in the district title game.
“Last year, losing in the district championship – the seniors came together, and we said, ‘We don’t want to do that again,’” Udinski said. “We started off the season well – we beat La Salle, and that was a big win, and we just kept rolling from there. We don’t plan on looking back.”
“We just knew we wanted to get right back to it,” Thomas said. “That was our biggest goal – just getting right back to the District One final. Hopefully, we can pull it out this year.
“We were so depressed last year. This is all we wanted. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”
The District One 6A title game will be held in the friendly confines of Crawford Stadium where the Knights are now a perfect 23-0 in playoff games.
“It’s amazing,” Thomas said of playing in front of the home crowd. “That atmosphere here is amazing. I love it.”
“The night tonight was awesome,” Udinski said. “The atmosphere was great, the weather was awesome, so hopefully we have another week like this – we dream of this.”
EXTRA POINTS: The game was marred by an excessive number of penalties called on both sides, resulting in a contest that lasted close to three hours. “We really just had to keep our cool because we knew we couldn’t lose anybody,” Udinski said. “We just wanted to keep our composure, play our own game and not let anybody else dictate.”…Dillon was a workhorse in the Knights’ backfield, carrying 28 times for 135 yards and four touchdowns in another productive outing…Anthony Andrews scored the Knights’ first TD, taking it in from 18 yards out. Thomas (106 yards) and Henley (104 yards) led the Knight receivers.
Coatesville 6-7-0-12 25
North Penn 0-21-14-7 42
- Log in to post comments
