CB West defeated North Penn in a wild District 1 6A quarterfinal contest while Upper Dublin & Plymouth Whitemarsh were winners in Class 5A. CB West/NP photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko, and PW/Chester photos courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for galleries of both games: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f745224687
District 1 6A second round
#1-11 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 44, #1-14 NORTH PENN 35
In the game’s biggest moments, Eli Boehm wants the ball in his hands.
“Definitely, I know my (offensive) line’s going to get it done,” West’s senior running back said. “I know they’re going to get the push I need, and I know I’m going to get the first down.”
Boehm’s number was called 26 times in Friday’s showdown against the Knights. None bigger than when coach Rob Rowan opted to go for it on a fourth-and-three play on the Bucks’ 42-yard line late
in the third quarter with the score deadlocked 35-35.
“I knew punting into the wind – you just got to go for it there,” the Bucks’ coach said.
Boehm was hit behind the line of scrimmage but dragged every would-be tackler – and there was more than one – with him for four yards and a huge first down in a remarkable display of determination and effort, setting the stage for a 25-yard Ryan Clemens field goal that gave the Bucks a lead they would not lose.
“It’s the second round of the playoffs,” Boehm said. “You can’t go down on one or two tackles. It’s the second round – you can’t go down.
“For the game, I’ll do anything. This is my senior year. I don’t want this thing to end. I’m having too much fun.”
Boehm certainly did his part to ensure the Bucks’ season wouldn’t end. His four-yard fourth down carry was one of the shortest of a dazzling performance that saw him rush for 329 yards and three touchdowns. He also had a 27-yard touchdown reception.
“He’s an animal – he just never stops,” said junior Hayden Mulligan, who at 6-4, 270 pounds, was a key member of an offensive line that controlled the line of scrimmage. “I don’t think he gets tired. He just keeps going.”
“It was just an incredible performance,” Rowan said. “I don’t really know what to say other than it’s an incredible performance.
“I’m not surprised. He’s an unbelievable football player. He’s been doing it for three years now, but I think he was on a mission, like a solo mission – we’re not losing. He’s so tough. Coaches lose games, players win games. Players won the game tonight.”
Boehm wasn’t the only West player to turn in a highlight reel performance. Conor McFadden had his share of big moments as well with the biggest coming on the kickoff after the Clemens field goal. The junior speedster recovered a fumble on the North Penn four-yard line of a squib kick that proved to be all kinds of trouble for the Knights. Two plays later West quarterback Ganz Cooper punched it in from a yard out, and the Bucks led 44-35 with 7:35 remaining.
“This has been our problem all year on kickoffs – when the ball gets squibbed, we don’t jump on it,” North Penn coach Dick Beck said. “What happened – I was saying before the kickoff, ‘Now watch, he’s going to kick this, the wind’s going to blow it off (the tee) halfway there, he’s going to squib it down, and they’re going to recover it,’ and doesn’t that happen.
“Their kids wanted the ball a little more than ours. Their guys ran, just jumped on the ball and ripped it out of our guy’s hands. Give them credit, they wanted the ball more than us.”
After falling behind by nine (44-35), the Knights needed to score quickly and were moving the ball downfield. They made it as far as West’s 39-yard line when McFadden came up with an interception that sealed their fate.
“That was just a really unbelievable play by him,” Rowan said. “We’re just playing a zone coverage, he had his eyes on the quarterback and saw a front shoulder, drove on it and made an unbelievable play. It changed the game, it changed the entire game. He’s unbelievable.”
Boehm also pointed to that big stop by the defense.
“The score was always close,” the senior running back said. “I knew it was going to be an offensive battle. We knew our defense had to step up and make a play. Once they did, we could just end the game. They made the pick, and we ended the game.”
It didn’t take long to figure out this could be a high-scoring affair as the two teams exchanged touchdowns, scoring on all three possessions of the first quarter. The Knights marched 80 yards in six plays on the opening drive of the game without throwing a
pass. Amir Major had four carries for 27 yards, and senior Michai Cuffie had two runs – the first for 39 yards to the West 20 and the second – a 14-yard touchdown run. The Knights’ who saw the extra point blocked, led 6-0, but not for long.
After a 15-yard return to their own 42, Boehm bolted 36 yards on the first play from scrimmage, and not even back-to-back five-yard penalties could slow them down. On third and long, Ganz Cooper connected with Bohm for a 27-yard touchdown reception and a 7-6 advantage.
The Knights answered with another 80-yard scoring drive. This one included a 47-yard hookup from quarterback Ryan Zeltt to Luke Cody and was capped with Cuffie’s second TD run of the half – this one from three yards. Another blocked extra point forced the Knights to settle for a 12-7 lead.
Then came a wild second quarter. There wasn’t anything particularly unusual about the first two drives – the first a 65-yard drive by West included a whole lot of Boehm, who finished off the drive with a five-yard touchdown run that – after a successful extra point – put the Bucks on top 14-12. The Knights answered with a 55-yard drive that saw Zeltt connect with Xavier Bryan for a 29-yard TD and an 18-14 lead with 4:21 remaining.
That was followed by a remarkable offensive sequence that saw the teams combined for three touchdowns in a 24-second span. It began with Conor McFadden turning a pass near the line of scrimmage into an 81-yard touchdown and a 21-18 West advantage.
“He’s unbelievable,” Mulligan said of his teammate. “I don’t know how to describe it – he’s just unbelievable.”
On the Knights’ first play from scrimmage, Cuffie raced 65 yards for a touchdown and – after the extra point – a 25-21 North Penn lead. Boehm returned the favor, taking it 80 yards to the house on West’s first play from scrimmage, and the Bucks’ led 28-25.
With 1:21 remaining in the half, Zeltt connected with Cody for a 52-yard touchdown that sent the Knights into the intermission with a 32-28 lead.
On the Bucks’ opening drive of the second half, Boehm scored on a 39-yards touchdown run that – after a successful Clemens extra point – put the Bucks on top 35-32. The Knights answered with a 25-yard Ryan Bocklet field goal that knotted the score, but they might have had more had it not been for a fumbled snap on third-and-goal from the four.
“We get down there, we get a pretty good play call on third down, and we get a mental error on the offense, and that’s why we fumbled,” Beck said. “Then we only got three out of it.
“When you don’t play great defense like we weren’t playing and you don’t get stops, you make one mistake on offense, and now it’s like a tennis match – who’s holding serve.
“Then we don’t hold serve and you’ve got to throw the ball on (third down) – three things happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad. That’s tough. We like to throw on aggression, not when we’re down because we have to.”
On their ensuing drive, the Bucks settled for a 25-yard Clemens field goal that put them on top 38-35. Then came the kickoff and fumble recovery by McFadden that changed the course of the game. And what a game it was.
“This has gotta be number one,” Mulligan said when asked where Friday’s game ranked. “Everyone was firing on all cylinders. It was a great game to play.”
Mulligan was part of an offensive line that included Sam Heath, Danny Gannon, Christian Pudlo, Carter Charran and tight end Jack Williams.
“We just never give up,” Mulligan said of the Bucks. “We have highs, we have lows, and we just keep going.”
Cuffie – who had 127 yards in the first half – led the Knights’ ground game with 152 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Major had 62 yards on the ground in the first half but was unable to play in the second half due to a quad injury.
“I think we could have run like this all season, but when you have skill guys like us, let’s take advantage of everything,” Beck said. “I don’t think that was our problem – not running the ball all year. It was more one mistake here, one mistake there. It cost us big.”
Also for the Knights, Cody caught five passes for 118 yards.
Central Bucks West (8-4, 5-2 SOL) will travel to second-seeded Perkiomen Valley for a District 1 6A semifinal game Friday. Not bad for a team that was 1-3 after four games.
“We knew that we were making mistakes we shouldn’t be making,” Boehm said. “When we were 1-3, we were one bad play away from winning some of those games. We knew we had to make those plays, and it all started in practice. We fixed what we had to fix, we got it done, and we completely flipped our season.”
North Penn closed out its season with a 6-6 record overall, 4-3 in the SOL.
North Penn 12-20-3-0 35
Central Bucks West 7-21-7-9 44
District 1 5A quarterfinals
#1-1 UPPER DUBLIN 35, #1-8 GREAT VALLEY 0
(Stats provided by Kev Hunter/PAPrepLive: https://papreplive.com/2022/11/11/district-1-5a-quarterfinals-upper-dublin-flies-high-in-win-over-great-valley/)
It was another Friday night, another district playoff game and another 35-0 win for the Flying Cardinals, who defeated Academy Park by an identical score in an opening round district contest a week ago.
Quarterback Colin O’Sullivan once again played a starring role, throwing for 279 yards and three touchdowns, while Nyfise McIntyre ran for 125 yards and two TDs.
“One of my coaches said that yesterday was probably our best practice we had all year,” UD coach Bret Stover said. “Then I challenged the kids. I said, ‘Hey, this is great, but it means nothing if you don’t go out tonight and back it up,‘ and they went out and backed it up.
“I’m hoping that we’re hitting our stride. When you’re in the sweet 16 here and you’re in the state playoffs, all that’s great, but we got other goals yet in front of us. We’re certainly not satisfied. We’re happy with the outcome, and we’re excited about next week.”
The Flying Cardinals didn’t really need any help, but if they did, they got it in the first quarter when they had the wind in their favor. They took full advantage, erupting for 21 points and putting the game out of reach early.
McIntyre capped UD’s opening drive of the game with a 14-yard touchdown run. On their next possession, DJ Cerisier turned a short Colin O’Sullivan pass into a 62-yard touchdown.
“Cerisier caught a 10-yard out and turned it into a 60-yard touchdown run,” Stover said. “We had a lot of catch-and-run tonight, which is good.”
O’Sullivan closed out the quarter by connecting with Starling Reaves for a 22-yard touchdown strike.
The Cardinals proved that not even the wind could stop them on this night, and they scored into the wind when O’Sullivan hit Chris Kohlbrenner with a 62-yard touchdown pass to cap a perfectly executed 2-minute drill that sent the Cardinals into halftime with a 28-0 lead.
“The wind was a factor,” Stover said. “Then we scored one into the wind right before halftime, and we’re up 28-0, and we’re okay.
“We played our kids for conditioning purposes because we haven’t played into the fourth quarter in a couple of weeks. We scored one late to get the clock running, and we got out of there injury free, which is huge for us.”
The Cardinals put an exclamation point on the no-doubt-about-it win when McIntyre punched it in from three yards out in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.
For the Cardinals’ defense, it was their second shutout in as many weeks. Great Valley managed just 136 total yards.
“Great Valley moved the ball in spots, but our defense – Dave (Sowers) did a great job having us in the right places,” Stover said of his defensive coordinator. “Our kids have bought in. They really believe what he’s teaching and what the defensive guys are teaching. They’re flying to the ball, and they’re making plays. It’s kind of reminiscent of some of our other teams that we finally have gotten that level. We just need to keep going.”
Upper Dublin (12-0, 6-0 SOL) will host #4 Plymouth Whitemarsh in Friday’s district semifinal. The Colonials sent Upper Dublin packing in the second round of last year’s district tournament, thanks to a 42-36 win in overtime.
“I expect this one to be a barnburner,” Stover said. “I expect this one to come down to the last quarter, if not the last play like it did last year.
“They’re good, they’re really good, and they have a great staff too.”
Great Valley 0-0-0-0 0
Upper Dublin 21-7-0-7 35
#1-4 PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 30, #1-5 CHESTER 12
(Stats provided courtesy of Ed Morlock/PAPrepLive: https://papreplive.com/2022/11/12/fourth-down-stops-send-plymouth-whitemarsh-past-chester/ )
Points weren’t as easy to come by as they’d been in recent outings for a PW squad that averaged close to 40 points a game for the season and three times surpassed the 50-point mark in its five preceding games.
The Colonials led by just a 10-6 score at halftime before putting the game away in the second half, and it was the defense that stole the spotlight in this win.
“We had a lot of good plays – I thought we played ‘D’ really well,” PW coach Dan Chang said. “We had a penalty on one drive they scored, and then they returned a fumble for a touchdown, so our defense gave up one score. Our ‘D’ played really well, for the most part, and took away their big plays.
“Offensively, I thought we dominated the line of scrimmage to the point where we were moving, and they were going down with injuries after every play, not keeping up with the tempo, so I was proud of how our guys were pushing that tempo, keeping the pace up and how physical we were.”
A nine-yard touchdown run by Nazye Boggs put the Colonials on the scoreboard midway through the first quarter. Chase Smith came up with a timely interception when the Clippers were threatening, and the Colonials led 10-0 when Steve Spruill split the uprights with a 28-yard field goal. The Clippers put a touchdown on the board right before halftime to make it a 10-6 game.
In the third quarter, a 17-yard run by Greg Feinberg set up a one-yard TD run by Tommy Hannon to put the Colonials on top 16-6. Early in the fourth quarter, Hannon scored from six yards out to give PW a 23-6 lead.
Chester returned a fumble for a touchdown with 6:46 remaining to make it a 23-12 game, but Hannon’s 11-yard touchdown run three minutes later sealed the Clippers’ fate. Hannon’s 123 yards on 23 carries led PW’s ground game.
“That kid runs hard, he runs so hard,” Chang said of Hannon. “He was really tough running the ball for us.”
The PW coach had plenty of praise to go around.
“Seve Spruill filled in for Anthony Iannozzi at free safety today, and I thought – at first look – he played pretty well,” Chang said. “I thought our D-line held up really well against them, and I’m always pleased with our linebacker play. I thought we played pretty good team defense. We rely on each other, and those guys really play well off of each other.”
Aiden O’Brien also had an interception for the Colonials.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (10-2, 5-0 SOL) will travel to top-seeded Upper Dublin for a showdown with their neighboring rival in a District 1 5A semifinal Friday.
“They are loaded – they bring back everybody, they got a couple of new guys who are playing for them now, and they are good,” Chang said. “That’s why they’re the number one team in the state, but this is why we play Friday nights.
“We’re excited. We were always hoping for this matchup again. They’re crosstown, we’re very familiar with each other. It’s always an exciting game. We’re going to get prepared the best that we can.”
Chester 0-6-0-6 12
Plymouth Whitemarsh 7-3-6-14 30
Thursday, Nov. 10
District 1 6A second round
#1-2 PERKIOMEN VALLEY 27, #1-6 SOUDERTON 14
A 19-yard touchdown pass from Jared Zimmerman to Danny Dyches with 6:21 remaining in the first half put the Indians on top 7-6. It was their first and only lead of the night. The Vikings answered two minutes later with a 46-yard TD run by Patrick MacDonald to take a lead they would not lose.
“Our kids played hard for four quarters tonight,” Souderton coach Ed Gallagher said. “Nothing to be ashamed of – this group of seniors made the playoffs for three straight years, won a district championship as sophomores, and got to the second round as seniors.”
The Indians hurt themselves with several costly turnovers. Shortly after PV went on top 13-7, the Vikings came up with an interception that led to a touchdown and a 20-7 lead. They took that lead into halftime.
The Vikings had the ball to start the second half, but the Indians’ defense forced a punt, but a fumbled snap recovered by Perk Valley halted the Indians’ ensuing drive. Once again, the Indians’ defense held, but it was three-and-out for the offense, and this time the Vikings capitalized with MacDonald scoring his second touchdown of the night – this one from 32 yards – to give the Vikings a 27-7 lead with 2:16 remaining in the third quarter.
The Indians narrowed the gap to 27-14 early in the fourth quarter when Zimmerman connected with Dyches for a 61-yard touchdown. The Vikings recovered the Indians’ on-sides kick attempt, and Souderton would get no closer the rest of the way.
Souderton closed out its season with a 9-3 record overall, 5-1 in the SOL Continental Conference.
Souderton 0-7-0-7 14
Perkiomen Valley 6-14-7-0 27
About the Author
