Council Rock North’s defense allowed just 128 yards of total offense in the Indians’ 17-0 win over William Tennent on Friday night. To view game action photos, please visit the Photo Gallery. To read the complete game story, please click on the following PhillyBurbs.com link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/high_school/courier/cr-north-blanks-tennent/article_2204193b-e05a-5581-ac6b-20a8a3c0eed5.html’
By Mary Jane Souder
NEWTOWN – There’s no place like home.
Council Rock North can vouch for that. The Indians– in the friendly confines of Walt Snyder Stadium - made their first home appearance of the season a memorable one on Friday night, shutting out William Tennent 17-0 in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd.
“It was awesome,” senior Pat Krimm said. “Seeing all your family and friends in the crowd was great.”
“We didn’t have to travel on a 45-minutes bus ride,” teammate Nate English added. “This was big because we lost last week, a game we knew we should have won and could have won, but it slipped away.
“We knew we had to recover. We didn’t want that game to define our season. It’s all about how you bounce back.”
‘That game’ was a 19-17 loss to Abington a week earlier, and the Indians displayed their resiliency by bouncing back with a big win.
“Last week was real tough,” Krimm said. “We were winning at halftime, but we had turnovers. This week we got it together. We practiced well, we practiced hard, and we took it to William Tennent.”
With the loss to Abington and their team’s disappointing 1-3 start serving as motivation, the Indians practiced with a renewed sense of urgency.
“That game’s been gnawing at us all week,” Rock North coach Adam Collachi said. “Not taking anything away from Abington – they forced us into a lot of bad situations, and they were opportunistic.
“All week long it was eating at the kids, and to their credit, they were very resilient. They had a great week of practice, probably one of the best weeks we’ve had in a while, and it showed (Friday night). They knew the intensity they needed to bring tonight.
“Tennent was coming off a big win over Neshaminy the week before and looked really good on tape. We wanted to make sure we took care of business tonight, and we did.”
The Indians emerged victorious because they refused to let the Panthers get their spread-option offense in gear. The Panthers, minus a pair of starters on their offensive line, managed just 24 yards on the ground and 104 in the air for a total of 128 yards. In their win over Neshaminy a week earlier, they came close to doubling that total.
“Our defense challenged themselves after our game against CB South,” Collachi said of his team’s 58-21 loss in week two to a Titan squad that is 5-0. “I think all of us, to a certain extent, were not happy and were pretty embarrassed with how we played against a very good CB South team.
“We said, ‘Now is the time. We have a lot of guys playing three years. It’s time to show what we can do.’ The last three weeks I thought they played much better defensively. There are still some things we’re going to critique and get better at because I think we can play better across the board, but it’s good when you can post a shutout – you’re doing something right.”
Preparation, according to senior inside linebackers English and Krimm, was a key.
“We watched a lot of film during the week,” English said. “Our coaches prepared us really well. They put us in good positions to do the job.
“No one was trying to be a hero. Everyone had a gap, and we shut them down.”
The shutout was the second of the season for the Indians, who defeated Hatboro-Horsham 37-0 in week three. This one, however, was a bit more special.
“It means our defense is what we think it is,” English said. “When we’re on, we think we’re the best defense around.”
“This is a real big confidence builder,” Krimm added. “(Tennent) beat Neshaminy, and we want to beat Neshaminy, so that builds our confidence.
“We’re doing the little things better like turnovers, bad tackling and people not getting in their gaps – that will kill any team, and it killed us.”
With the win, the Indians are 1-1 in National Conference play (2-3 overall).
“We lost a couple of games we should have won,” English said. “I know I feel and everyone feels we should have beat Haverford the first week of the season. You’re going to lose some games, but I feel we should have won those.”
On the other side of the field, Tennent coach Biz Keeny didn’t need a whole lot of words to describe his team’s performance.
“Awful, awful,” the Panthers’ coach said. “We never got in any rhythm. Our play calling wasn’t very good, and you can’t catch for the kids.
“We had (eight) penalties, and we’re just not good enough. Our good players have to play well every night. We had no continuity offensively.”
Looking ahead, the Indians will travel to Neshaminy on Friday while the Panthers will host Bensalem.
*Stats used in this article were provided courtesy of PhillyBurbs.com, a media partner of SuburbanOneSports.com.
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