Pennridge rallied to defeat Quakertown 21-14 in the annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry game. Photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
PENNRIDGE 21, QUAKERTOWN 14
Bobby Croyle – whose long scoring strike to Joey Kacerik late in the fourth quarter proved to be the game-winner - had an immediate response when a reporter offered a ‘nice game’ compliment after Thursday’s come-from-behind win over the Panthers.
“Well, it turned out to be,” said the Rams’ senior quarterback.
And that pretty much summed up a game that wasn’t exactly going the Rams’ way after the Panthers – who trailed 7-0 at halftime - scored 14 unanswered points in the third quarter. The Rams returned the favor in the fourth quarter, capitalizing on a pair of Panther miscues to score 14 points of their own.
“The one thing I talked to our kids about at the very end – I’m proud of them because they didn’t stop, they didn’t quit,” Pennridge coach Cody Muller said. “Quakertown did a nice job of driving the ball on us, and they were taking advantage of some of the things we were messing up, but our kids didn’t flinch, they didn’t put their heads down, they just kept going. That’s kind of been the story of this whole year.”
The game-winner came with 2:08 remaining in regulation when Croyle found Kacerik wide open in the middle of the field with a 59-yard touchdown pass.
“I owed them one,” said Croyle, whose interception at the goal line late in the second quarter capped a frustrating drive that saw the Rams with a first-and-goal from the two end up with third-and-goal from the 19, thanks to a pair of costly penalties.
Tyler Merwarth came up with the interception and returned it to the 32. Although the Panthers came up empty, it kept them within striking distance and trailing by just a touchdown at the intermission.
“We were moving the ball, we were at the two-yard line, and we were shooting ourselves in the foot,” Croyle said. “It ended up being third-and-20, and I kind of just threw it up in the end zone. Tyler made a great play on it.
“We knew what we had to do – stop shooting ourselves in the foot, (eliminate) a lot of personal fouls.”
The Panthers came out of the locker room and needed just three plays to find the end zone. A nine-yard completion from quarterback Will Steich to Brady Williams was followed by a five-yard run by Tyler Woodman for a first down. That set the stage for a gadget play that saw Woodman hook up with Zach Fondl for a 46-yard TD reception that knotted the score 7-7.
After a three-and-out for the Rams, the Panthers marched 65 yards on 15 plays with Steich connecting with Merwarth on a 16-yard touchdown pass to put Quakertown on top 14-7 with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Merwarth’s second interception of the game gave the Panthers possession on their own 16. Four plays later, a high snap on a punt attempt resulted in a Pennridge touchdown that knotted the score 14-14 when Jake Tarburton fell on the loose ball in the end zone.
“I saw the high snap, and the punter was just running around trying to find the ball,” Tarburton said. “I knew I had a chance to run in there, make a hit and get the ball. I ended up with it. It was my first touchdown in a while – since back in peewee.”
“We had zero momentum at that point,” Croyle said. “They were loud, getting what they wanted. When that happened, we were like, ‘All right, it’s our game now. Defense go out and get the ball back, and we’ll be fine.’ That was the turning point.”
For a while, it looked as though the Panthers had regained momentum as – on their ensuing possession - they moved downfield to the Rams’ four-yard line. The Rams, however, came up with another big play when Jack Ferguson recovered a fumble on his team’s own two with 6:14 remaining. Pennridge ate some time off the clock with an effective running game, and Croyle got the redemption he was looking for when he delivered the clutch TD pass to Kacerik.
“Joey (made a) great catch – that was a great route,” Croyle said. “He was open on some of those during the game, but I didn’t really have any time. That was the one play I had some time and I was able to get it out to him.”
“I always have confidence in Bobby,” Muller said. “He’s so calm cool and collected to a point where it makes you mad sometimes because you want to light a fire under him, but that’s just Bobby. That’s his attitude and his mentality.
“The nice thing is – Joey Kacerik, who caught that pass, came off to the sidelines about two series before that and said, ‘Coach, the poco route is open. I’m there, I’ll be able to beat them’ so we just kept that in the back of our minds. Luckily, it was there when we needed it.”
“We stepped up to the occasion,” Hartzell said. “We had that (fumble recovery on the punt), and that gave us a lot of momentum.
“We stopped them on the goal line, and that was huge, got the ball back and really took down the clock. Bobby on that throw and Joey on that catch – that’s just good football.”
Banas was asked about playing the annual rivalry game that always packs the house in front of limited spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the beginning of the year in July, if you had told me we could play eight games, I would have taken it with no fans, so how can you be greedy?” the Panthers’ coach said. “I’m happy that their families were able to see them play.
“The atmosphere at Quakertown is like nowhere else. The (fans) are right on top of you. Our student section and band are phenomenal. Cheerleaders, everybody – when we travel, we usually outnumber the home team, so that was definitely different. We had a hard time traveling this year because of the energy level, but a lot to build on, a lot to be positive about.”
EXTRA POINTS: All but lost in the shuffle of Pennridge’s comeback was the team’s second series of the game that saw the Rams take the ball 52 yards for a touchdown. Capping the drive was a nine-yard touchdown run by Hartzell. Setting up the TD were a pair of Dillon Powles runs – the first for 10 yards and the second 30 yards…Senior Joey Kacerik had the unique distinction of scoring Pennridge's first and last touchdowns of the 2020 season - the first on an 83-yard kickoff return for a TD in the Rams' 35-14 win over CB West and the second on Thursday's 59-yard touchdown reception.
Pennridge 7-0-0-14 21
Quakertown 0-0-14-0 14
The big turnaround – The trophy awarded to the winning team after the annual Pennridge-Quakertown rivalry game is a massive one. Dillon Powles, however, didn’t mind a bit that he found himself carrying the trophy – the Rams’ to keep for another year - in the direction of the team bus.
“My turkey’s going to taste good, I promise you that,” Powles said.
Powles – who led the Rams’ ground game with 98 yards – was a key contributor to Pennridge’s success this season after seeing most of his playing time last year on the junior varsity.
“Varsity and jayvee is a whole different story,” Powles said. “This is so much more intense, but it’s the same mentality.
“When you’re on jayvee, you’re still a family because you’re growing with all the kids you play jayvee with.”
The Rams closed out the year with a 7-1 record and an undefeated 5-0 mark en route to the SOL National Conference crown.
“Overall, we all know we had a great season,” Bobby Croyle said. “From going 3-8 last year to 7-1 this year, going undefeated in the regular season. That’s huge.”
What changed?
“We’re running a whole different offense this year,” Croyle said. “Obviously, we had Shane (Hartzell) back, and he was hurt all of last year.
“Not only Shane coming back, but almost all of our starters returned. When it’s your second year, you get a lot more confident. Everything slows down that second year.”
The team camaraderie, according to Jake Tarburton, also was key.
“Just being together – we’re all a family, we put in the work every day, and we trust each other,” the Rams’ senior lineman said.
Special season for special seniors – Cody Muller took over the helm of the Pennridge program the same year this senior class was entering high school.
“I told them yesterday when we walked off the field together – I came in with these guys,” Muller said. “I taught some of these guys when I was student teaching at South Middle School – Shane (Hartzell) and Ferg (Jack Ferguson) and those guys.
“To start my career with them - we built this thing together, and I couldn’t be more proud of that group. The seniors the way they were leaders – I said that before the season even started that we have such a close-knit senior class that really ties this team together and is a great example for the underclassmen to be able to follow.”
Thursday’s win was the fifth straight for the Rams in the Thanksgiving Day rivalry. It came two weeks after Pennridge – in its only loss of the season - fell to Souderton in the District One 6A title game.
“We’re lucky,” Croyle said. “We’re one of a handful of teams that after the regular season we have another game. Most teams end with a loss – it’s either a loss or you win the state championship.
“We didn’t get that far, but we had the opportunity to come out and set things straight and go out the way we wanted to. Obviously, Souderton was a letdown. We knew we could win that game. We just picked the wrong game to not play well.”
“For me, this is my fifth time playing Quakertown,” senior Shane Hartzell said. “I wanted to go unbeaten against them.
“To come back from a loss (to Souderton), coach Muller’s dad, Chuck, was talking about redemption. We just needed to redeem ourselves, and I think we did.”
There’s no overstating the significance of a game that saw fans – unable to attend because of COVID-19 restrictions – show up hours before game time to get a parking spot with a view through the fence.
“This feels so good,” Jake Tarburton said of the win. “This senior class has been working four years since our head coach got here. We just trusted the process and got it done.”
“This means the world to me,” Hartzell said. “Growing up with all these guys since playing Green Jackets football when I was eight. To finish with these guys – I wouldn’t want it any other way. I wouldn’t want it to be with anybody else.”
“This just means more because we’re the first senior class in a while to never lose to Quakertown,” senior Dillon Powles said. “I’m sure it’s inspirational to all the younger kids too because they’re the next Pennridge Rams.”
Panthers oh so close – The record will show that Quakertown lost three games in this abbreviated season. What it won’t show it that the Panthers had the lead in all three.
“Three games that we were in tight ones – we have to find a way to win,” coach George Banas said. “We’re young, and we have to find a way to push through.
“We played all three division champs. Souderton – (we had) four turnovers. Otherwise, we come out on the other end of that one. Today some mistakes (or) we come out on top in this one, and then we beat Upper Moreland. When you sit back and look at it, we lost those tight games, but we’ll find a way, we’ll get better. We’re very young.”
Thursday’s loss was particularly heartbreaking for the Panthers, who had a 14-7 lead and later were four yards away from going on top 21-14.
“We had them, we outplayed them,” Banas said. “There’s no surprise. We took it to them, we were more physical, and we ground it out.
“In the first half, we couldn’t run the ball inside the tackles, and in the second half, we wore them down. We were able to move the ball in between the tackles, we threw the ball on them, but you make some mistakes, and that’s a killer.”
Quakertown finished its season 5-3 overall (3-1 SOL).
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