'See, believe and win.’
That’s the motto of this year’s Central Bucks West football team, and it could well be the motto of William Tennent’s squad as well.
Winning - and believing - aren’t something these two programs have known a whole lot about in recent years, but both are hoping that last week’s big wins are an omen of things to come.
While Tennent stunned Wissahickon by rallying from a 13-0 halftime deficit to earn a 20-13 win, Central Bucks West – despite losing star running back Rashaad Williams to an injury in the second quarter – rolled to a 42-28 win over Upper Dublin.
“This was my fourth win at CB West,” senior Tyler Maconaghy said. “And just winning this one game – I knew it had to take a team effort from everyone. Even some of the sophomores had to step up and play a great game, and they did.
“Just to win and put up that many points, it felt great to everyone, and seeing everyone in the stands – it was just a different feeling.”
Different seemed to sum up the feelings on both squads.
“It was a totally different atmosphere at practice,” Tennent senior Hunter Wuensche said. “It’s a totally different attitude between the whole team.
“It was very liberating actually. It definitely started the season on the right foot, but that week is done with. We have to remember it, but we can’t live in the past. There was a different energy, and hopefully, it will carry over into this week.”
Last year, the two programs were a combined 2-19 as each won just one game. It would have been easy to throw in the towel, but Wuensche and Maconaghy considered that option.
“It’s hard,” Wuensche said. “In the face of adversity, people tend to wilt and not want to play, but I enjoy the game of football. I love playing. It’s such a fun sport.”
The coaching staff, according to Maconaghy, kept West’s players positive during the offseason workouts.
“It was hard last year,” Maconaghy said. “But once we went into camp this year, and seeing everyone on the team was hard working and seeing how many people came out for the team this year, I got encouraged right away.
“I knew we were going to have a good season.”
Eighty players showed up the first day of practice at West – a far cry from the 38 players on the roster at the close of the 2008 season, and Friday’s win suggested the start of a new era.
“I’m proud of their efforts,” West coach Brian Hensel said. “We have a lot of kids starting this year that have been two or three-year starters, and they have taken their lumps over the last few years.
“They basically pulled themselves together during the offseason, and we had a real frank sit-down conversation about where they wanted to be when they walked out the door at CB West. They said, ‘It’s our turn,’ and they’re seeing that their hard work and efforts are going to pay off for them.”
Both West and Tennent boast storied pasts, but both had fallen on hard times in recent years.
“We just weren’t very good,” said coach Biz Keeny, who was at helm when Tennent was experiencing life at the top of the standings as recently as four years ago. “The difference this year is we have more skilled and more athletic kids than what we have had in two or three years. Give me better athletes, and we’ll play better. I’m not a genius, but I’m realistic about where we are.”
This year, both squads boast their share of talent, and that talent was on display in the face of adversity last Friday night.
The Bucks lost Williams – who already had amassed over 100 yards – to an injury in the second quarter. Jake Poeske stepped in and had 75 yards on 12 carries. Back-up fullback Jon King had five carries for 38 yards.
And quarterback Ward Udinski – who ran for a pair of touchdowns and rushed for a pair – was unstoppable.
“He’s the straw that stirs the drink,” Hensel said of Udinski. “He’s like a coach on the field, and he’s without a question the hardest working guy on the team.”
Anchored by Maconaghy, West’s offensive line, a question mark at the beginning of the season, came up big in the win.
“Tyler has a couple of guys rallying around him saying, ‘We’re going to make this happen,’” Hensel said. “It was a nice balanced attack with different weapons. With Williams getting hurt, we were able to discover that guys that we’re carrying to play roles for us can play those roles.”
At Wissahickon last Friday, the Panthers appeared to be on their way to another defeat when they went into halftime staring at a 13-0 deficit, but they came out of the intermission a different team.
So what happened?
“The coaches started getting on guys, and that’s what really needed to be done,” Wuensche said. “You can’t beat around the bush.
“As a team, we realized we needed to go out and we still had another half of football to play.”
A turnover early in the third quarter swung momentum in the Panthers’ favor. They responded by scoring 20 unanswered points. Connor Geiger finished the night with 95 yards on 16 carries. Quarterback Shak Kova had 79 yards
“We have guys that fire to the ball, and they aren’t afraid to make hits,” said Wuensche, who anchors both the offensive and defensive lines. “Offensively, we spread things around, and defensively, we shut down their running game pretty well.
“The attitude change – that’s what won us the game basically. Play after play it carries over to the rest of the game, and before you know it, there’s five minutes left on the clock, and you’re up seven points.”
Keeny credited his players for turning things around on a night that – in the first half - had an all-too-familiar feeling about it.
“We really struggled in the first half, but to come from behind and get a win – there’s something to be said about our kids,” Keeny said. “I really don’t know where we’re at yet, but I think we’ll find out Friday. I think C.B. West is pretty good.
“Right now I have to convince our kids that we can be pretty good too. When you struggle, it’s almost like you’re waiting for something bad to happen. It wasn’t until our kids started to think, ‘This is what football is. This is what you’re supposed to do.’ From that point on, we were an entirely different football team.
“This is uncharted territory. Convincing ourselves we can do that week in and week out – that’s obviously the next step. We’ll get tested Friday night, and we’ll get tested good. I fully think we can play with them. I just don’t know if our kids believe it yet.”
On Friday night, either Tennent or West will improve to 2-0 on the young season.
“We have very high expectations,” Maconaghy said. “Every game is important, and we can’t take any opponent not seriously. We have to go in knowing we’re going to win and just be confident.”
“It’s one game at a time,” Hensel added. “Our goal is to go 16-0. If you don’t think about winning every game you play, then you’re not going to win every game you play. Our mentality going into every game is, ‘We’re winning this game.’ It’s just a question of how we’re going to do it.”
Central Bucks West at William Tennent
Friday, Sept. 10, 2010, 7 p.m.
Record: Central Bucks West 1-0 (Central Bucks West defeated Upper Dublin 42-28), William Tennent 1-0 (Tennent defeated Wissahickon 20-13)
Last year’s meeting: Central Bucks West 8, William Tennent 7
Players to watch:
Central Bucks West – Ward Udinski (Sr., QB), Tyler Maconaghy (Sr., OL/DL), Rashaad Williams (Sr. RB/DB),Max Stella (Sr., TE), Bill Bell (Sr., WR),Matt Emery (Sr., TE/WR), Jake Poeskie(Jr., RB), Dan Sergeyev (Jr., OL/DE), Anthony Ponente (Jr., OL/DL)
William Tennent – Sha Kova (Sr., QB), Hunter Wuensche (Sr., OL/DL), Manny Gamboa (Sr., WR), Nick Check (Sr., OL), Brenden Shirley (Sr., DE), Steve Petri (Sr., DB), Jon King (Sr., RB), Connor Geiger (Jr., RB), Andrew DeColli (Jr., OL), Keith Frogattt (Jr., OL), Garrett Pettyjohn (Sr., LB), Matt McKenna (Jr., LB),
CB West coach Brian Hensel’s keys to the game:
1) Contain their quarterback (Sha Kova). He’s a talent, he’ll make guys miss – he’s crafty. They ran some sets against Wissahickon, basically the wildcat set, where they spread you out say, ‘Okay, how are you going to stop our best weapon?’ He’s a threat to break it any time. Connor Geiger is also another threat at the tailback position. He’s a physical runner who – given space – will do good things. We’re going to have to contain those two guys in their running game.
2) Offensively, we’re going to have to not only get to our blocks but maintain sustained contact on our blocks. With Williams being out on Friday, it’s going to be very difficult for us to pull our full offensive playbook out, but we have young guys that are ready to step up and play the game.
Tennent coach Biz Keeny’s keys to the game:
1) Slowing CB West down and handling their throwing game with Ward Udanski because he’s good. We’ve got to find ways to get some pressure on him. If he throws the ball around like he did last week, we’re in trouble.
2) Can we sustain some drives offensively against them?
3) For both teams, it’s going to come down to who handles the ebbs and flows of the game.
Friday night’s Pennsbury/Harrisburg game will be broadcast live on WBCB 1490 AM at 7 p.m., preceded by the pregame show at 6 p.m. The Neshaminy/Hatboro-Horsham game will be broadcast live on the web site www.wbcb1490.com, beginning with a pregame show at 6:45 p.m. The North Penn/Lansdale Catholic game will be broadcast live at 7:30 p.m. on WNPV 1440 AM as well as on the internet at www.wnpv1440.com.
- Log in to post comments
0
