Pennridge rallied from a 10-0 halftime deficit to defeat Quakertown 19-13 in the 90th Thanksgiving Day meeting between the neighboring schools. Photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos.
PENNRIDGE 19, QUAKERTOWN 13
Phil Long – clutching the game ball he’d earned for leading the Rams’ offensive/defensive lines – made no attempt to hide his emotions after his team’s gutsy come-from-behind win over the Panthers.
“I certainly shed some tears today, and I’m sure I will again,” Long said. “It’s a bittersweet ending – senior year on Thanksgiving with a win knowing it’s your last high school game and possibly the last game ever for a lot of these guys.
“I’ve played varsity the past two years and I’ve been through it all with my guys here, and just playing both sides of the ball and giving everything I’ve got and with the way the season turned out – I’m just so happy we got a win on Thanksgiving. That’s all that mattered to me.”
The Rams brought a 2-8 record into Thursday’s annual rivalry game, and with one win all but erased memories of disappointments past.
“Especially when you have only two games won – it feels great,” Pennridge senior Taj Utsey said. “Thanksgiving Day – everybody in the community looks forward to this. Even in the beginning of the season, they talk about it. It was cool that we had the radio (94 WIP Turkey Day Bowl and WNPV1440) and everybody out. It was amazing.”
Utsey and the Rams didn’t have a whole lot to cheer about in a first half that belonged to the Panthers, who took a 3-0 lead when Gavin
Croissette connected on a 30-yard field goal on the game’s opening drive.
The Panthers led 10-0 when sophomore quarterback Will Steich punched it in from a yard out. Tyler Merwarth had the big play on the drive – a 43-yard run on a reverse to the Rams’ one-yard line. Quakertown took that 10-0 lead into halftime.
“We got in the locker room, we didn’t yell at each other, we weren’t against each other, but we got in each other’s faces a little bit and held each other responsible,” Long said. “We got our attitude turned around, and we came out and we were determined to win. We weren’t going to let anything stop us.”
“We just realized we were hurting ourselves in the first half by all the penalties and everything,” Utsey said. “We realized that we were thinking too much. We just needed to have fun and play football because that’s what we do best, and that’s how we make progress by going down the field, having fun playing football and everybody doing their jobs.”
The Panthers came up with a defensive stop on the Rams’ opening possession of the second half, but the Rams recovered a fumble on the Panthers’ punt. Things were never the same for either side.
“It felt like, ‘Yes, we finally have a chance. Let’s go score now, this is our only chance,’” Utsey said.
The Rams took advantage of the Panthers’ miscue. Utsey, the workhorse on the drive, took it in from three yards out to make it a 10-6 game with 7:22 remaining in the third quarter.
The Rams’ defense forced the Panthers to punt, and a 37-yard return by Fabian Padin to the Panthers’ 10 set up a one-yard touchdown by
quarterback Bobby Croyle that gave the Rams a 12-10 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Alex Lelii recovered his own on-sides kick, and the Rams had all the momentum.
“That’s what football is – it’s so much momentum,” Muller said. “Especially high school football, it goes back and forth so many times throughout a game. It’s crazy. You ride the roller coaster of emotion, and our kids did a great job of not getting too high or two low and stayed the course.”
Utsey capped a 45-yard drive when he raced in from eight yards out, and after a successful extra point, the Rams led 19-10 with 11:31 remaining in the final quarter.
“That on-sides kick gave a lot of motivation to our team,” Utsey said. “That’s what we needed to keep going and keep driving.”
The Panthers made it a one-score game when Croissette connected on a 33-yard field goal, but they would get no closer as the Rams’ defense held.
Utsey led the Rams’ offense with 104 yards on 25 carries – with many of those yards coming in the pivotal second half.
“I realized that me and my team – we were hurting ourselves,” Utsey said. “I realized that all my nerves and anger because of the calls – I just needed to focus on what I was doing and what my job was, and that was to score a touchdown and gain yards.
“It’s crazy that this is our last game because I’ve been playing Pennridge all my life, and it’s just crazy that this is our last game. I’m glad it was 
on a win.”
Muller, for one, was not surprised to see Utsey turn in his best performance on the biggest stage Thursday.
“I would say week six on – all that kid did was look at me and said, ‘I got you coach,’ and every time we needed some yards, every time we needed a score, whatever it may be, he always rose to the challenge,” Muller said. “That kid plays with so much heart.”
Muller – a history teacher – may have given his team inspiration with a little history lesson prior to Thursday’s game.
“We talked about burning the ships,” Muller said, referring to the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés. “We talked about whatever fears you have, whatever nerves you have – leave it in the past. There’s no retreat, no surrender.
“When I went in at halftime, I reminded them of that. I told the seniors it was all on them. We’re riding them until the wheels fall off. They took this team where it wanted to go.”
Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day game – played in front of a packed house – was the 90th meeting between the neighboring schools.
“It’s 90 years of tradition,” Long said. “This is the biggest game of the year for us. Obviously, our regular season is important and trying to make playoffs, but after that’s all said and done – it’s the team up north. We have a huge rivalry with them. There’s nothing that compares to this game – it’s the best game of the year by far, 100 percent and especially this year.
“At the end of the year, no matter what your record is, if you win Thanksgiving, it was a successful season.”
Both teams closed out their seasons with identical 3-8 records.
“We finished off the season at 3-8 with this win, which is nowhere near where we wanted to be,” Muller said. “The nice thing is for these seniors to go out with a victory – it’s kind of like a last ride for them. We sent them off on a good note.”
Quakertown 3-7-0-3 13
Pennridge 0-0-12-7 19
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