Check out the recaps for SOL football teams in action Friday. Pennsbury/CB South photos provided courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. Pennridge/Quakertown photos courtesy of Kim Supko, Upper Moreland/Sun Valley provided courtesy of Kathy Leister Photography and North Penn/Haverford provided by Keith Clemens Photography. Check back for game action photos…CLICK HERE to go directly to th SOS FOOTBALL GALLERY.
Stats used in the wraps are provided courtesy of the Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier. For complete high school football coverage, visit the web sites: http://www.theintell.com/sports/ and http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/
CLASS 6A
#1-7 PENNRIDGE 24, #1-10 QUAKERTOWN 0
There’s nothing better, according to Pennridge senior Kyle Schetter, than playing a home Friday night game under the lights.
Except for perhaps one thing.
“There’s nothing better than getting a shutout, especially against Quakertown, our big rival,” Schetter said. “We were beyond excited to play Quakertown. We were more excited for this game than any game this year.”
Perhaps that excitement had something to do with the Rams’ struggle to put points on the board in the first half. The only points of the half came after Oliver Jervis blocked a punt and returned it to the Panthers’ 13-yard line.
“We worked on it all week – go on the edge, drop my shoulder and just have everyone else push everyone back,” said Jervis, who had a pair of blocks. “We worked on it all week, and it worked out perfectly for us.”
Three plays later, Schetter punched it in from a yard out. The Rams missed the extra point and took a 6-0 lead into halftime.
The Rams led 12-0 after quarterback Zak Kantor found Tucker Chaikin with a 20-yard touchdown pass, and after the Panthers fumbled the kickoff, Pennridge upped that lead to 18-0 when Nick Tarburton took it in from four yards out. Schetter’s 14-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter gave the Rams their final margin of victory.
“We definitely may have choked a few times (in the first half),” said Schetter, who finished with 103 yards and two touchdowns. “We made some mistakes – we almost got a touchdown and then gave it up.
“Definitely in the second half we corrected the mistakes, put points on the board, got the shutout and got the win.”
While the Rams’ offense sputtered in the first half, their defense stood tall for four quarters.
“It starts at practice,” said Jervis, a key member of the defensive line. “We work really hard in practice. Our scout teams gives us a great look, go hard at film, and we just work at it all week.”
“We just played another great defensive game,” coach Jeff Hollenbach said. “We came with a lot of power, a lot of different stunts inside. Overall, I’m super proud of how our kids played.
“Even though there was adversity, they certainly hung in there. A credit to Quakertown – they did some really great things.”
Hollenbach acknowledged that the game was a mixed bag for the Rams.
“I said to my coaches at the end of the game, ‘So what do you think I should say about this game?’” the Rams’ coach said. “They came up with the word gritty, so I’m going to give coach (Marquise) Stokes credit for that – I like gritty.
“I’m disappointed that we couldn’t convert. We had a lot of chances early to put up more points, dropped the ball in the end zone and some fumbles hurt us. The blocked punts by Oliver (Jervis) were just outstanding.”
Tarburton led a balanced Rams’ ground game with 106 yards.
Pennridge (9-2, 5-1 SOL) will be on the road at second-seeded Perkiomen Valley next Friday. Perk Valley rallied for a 38-30 come-from-behind win over 15th-seeded Penn Wood.
“This is absolutely awesome – we hear all the things about the 2012 team,” Jervis said of a Pennridge squad that advanced to the district semifinals. “We want to be the 2017 team, we want to be known.”
Quakertown 0-0-0-0 0
Pennridge 0-6-12-6 24
#1-8 PENNSBURY 17, #1-9 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 0
What a difference a year makes.
Last year this time coach Dan McShane – whose Falcons missed out on the playoffs – was on what he jokingly called “the loser’s tour” with several of his coaches.
“We watched all the playoff games and tried to figure out how we could get back in,” the Falcons’ coach said. “We won a lot of football games a lot of years, and last year was a down year. We had to replace 18 starters basically. It was an investment, a two-year investment, and it’s finally paying dividends. The kids are having a great time with it.”
The Falcons are back in the thick of the District One 6A playoff hunt this season, making their return to the postseason memorable with a shutout of the Titans. McShane, for one, is not surprised by the turnaround.
“We knew we had a very experienced team,” the Falcons’ coach said. “We put a ton of work in during the offseason – the quarterback (Zach Demarchis) and the offensive line and our receivers.
“We played pretty good defense over the years, and we thought that would transition as usual. We knew the defense would be good, and offensively, we were trying to find ways to simplify things and still let our kids play fast.”
The Falcons got on the scoreboard in a hurry on a safety.
“The MVP of the game might have been Chris Knop,” McShane said of his senior kicker. “In pretty stiff breezes, the kicking game is a big part of it.
“He had a real good kickoff. He had a couple of punts that he kicked nice and low below the wind, and the ball pierced the wind, and it really created field position for us.
“In that particular situation, he just bombed the ball – we had the wind at our backs, and the kid slipped, fell on the ball at the one.”
Two plays later, the Falcons had a safety when they sacked quarterback Ryan Shoch. The Titans looked as though they were going to get right back in it when they blocked a punt and took over on the Falcons’ five-yard line, but a fumble into the end zone gave Pennsbury possession at their own 20.
A Falcon touchdown drive that included a whole lot of Zach Demarchis was capped when the senior quarterback found Austin Palmer wide open in the end one from six yards out. Andrew Basalyaga took it in for the two-point conversion, and the Falcons led 10-0 after one quarter.
An interception gave the Falcons possession at the six-yard line, and Demarchis did the rest, taking it into the end zone for a touchdown and – after the Knop extra point – a 17-0 halftime lead that stood the rest of the way.
“We had some opportunities,” McShane said. “A bunch of penalties kept putting us backwards. It was pretty disappointing, but the defense never really wavered.”
The Titans finished with negative rushing yardage and less than a hundred yards of total offense.
“It always starts with our people up front like Mike Gabora, Diante Wiggins and Andrew Basalyga, and we got (Jared) Troyano back – he’s starting to give Matt Rosso more breaks on defense so Matt can focus on offense,” McShane said. “It’s always our front six.”
Pennsbury (9-2, 5-1 SOL) will travel to Heartbreak Ridge next Friday for a rematch with archrival Neshaminy in a second round game.
Central Bucks South 0-0-0-0 0
Pennsbury 10-7-0-0 17
#1-1 NESHAMINY 42, #16 SPRING-FORD 21
The Rams trailed by just a touchdown late in the third quarter, but the Redskins finished strong in Friday’s district opener to win going away.
Joel Stills scored his first of three touchdowns in the first quarter, this one from 21 yards to knot the score 7-7. Oleh Manzyk’s one-yard touchdown gave the Redskins their first lead, and after Cory Joyce came up with an interception, Mike Crescenzo’s 12-yard TD run put the ‘Skins on top 21-7. The Rams pulled to within a touchdown at the intermission.
Another Stills TD run early in the third quarter – this one from 32 yards – gave the Redskins a 28-14 lead. The Rams made it a 28-21 game when Justin Defrancesco scored. That would be their last hurrah as the Redskins closed out the game with a pair of touchdowns – the first on a Brody McAndrew to Cory Joyce hook-up and the second on a touchdown run by Stills.
Stills – continuing his late season surge – shredded the Rams’ defense for 234 rushing yards.
Neshaminy (10-1, 6-0 SOL) will host Pennsbury in a rematch of the classic battle between the two teams in the regular season finale.
Spring-Ford 7-7-7-0 21
Neshaminy 7-14-14-7 42
#1-6 NORTH PENN 41, #11 HAVERFORD 26
KJ Cartwright was all but unstoppable in Friday night’s district opener. The senior running back finished a stellar outing with 249 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Knights, who accumulated 469 yards on the ground.
An 80-yard Cartwright touchdown run broke a 14-14 tie, but the Fords wouldn’t go away, answering with a Jake Ruane to Jordan Mosely touchdown pass. Cartwright blocked the extra point, allowing the Knights to maintain a 21-20 advantage. A nine-yard touchdown run by Cartwright sent North Penn into halftime with a 28-20 lead.
The Fords pulled to within two (28-26), but the Knights closed it out with a pair of touchdowns – the first on a 12-yard run by Khan Jamal and the second on a 76-yard run by Justis Henley.
The Knights’ defense got into the act as well, sacking Ruane five times. The Fords’ quarterback threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
North Penn (9-2, 6-0 SOL) will travel to Garnet Valley for a second round game next Friday.
#1-3 GARNET VALLEY 32, #14 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 13
The Jaguars accumulated 330 yards on the ground, and the Bucks had no answer. Garnet Valley scored on two of its first three possessions and took an 18-0 lead into halftime. The Jaguars added a pair of touchdowns on their first two drives of the second half, opening up a 32-0 lead after three quarters.
The Bucks scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to avert the shutout. Josh Crecca scored from two yards out, and then – after the Bucks recovered an on-sides kick – Crecca found Riccardo Washington with a 24-yard TD pass in the closing minute of the game.
Central Bucks West closed out its season with an overall record of 6-5. They were 2-4 in SOL play.
Central Bucks West 0-0-0-13 13
Garnet Valley 8-10-14-0 32
#1-4 COATESVILLE 51, #1-13 HARRY S TRUMAN 22
Truman’s first ever trip to districts came to an end at the hands of a Coatesville squad picked by some to win the district crown.
A 53-yard kickoff return by Javeer Peterson set up a 32-yard touchdown run by Sayyid Saunders, and the Tigers had an early 6-0 lead. The rest of the half belonged to the Raiders, who took a commanding 37-8 lead into halftime. In the half, sophomore quarterback Ricky Ortega threw for 245 yards, and the Raiders had 406 yards of total offense.
In the second half, Dylan Snelling scored on a 15-yard run, and Terrence Rogers also had a TD run.
Harry S Truman closed out its season with a 7-4 record overall, 3-3 SOL National.
Harry S Truman 8-0-7-7 22
Coatesville 12-25-14-0 51
CLASS 5A
#1-2 UPPER MORELAND 57, #1-15 SUN VALLEY 30
The Golden Bears exploded for 29 third-quarter points, taking away any suspense there may have been in Friday’s District One Class 5A opener.
A 60-yard punt return by Sterlen Barr set the stage for the Bears’ first score that saw quarterback Brendan 
Olexa find Caleb Mead with a six-yard touchdown pass. A 36-yard touchdown run by Billy McKenna gave the Bears a 14-0 lead after one quarter. Barr took it in from 46 yards out to spot the Bears a 21-0 lead before the Vanguards got on the scoreboard. A 29-yard touchdown run by Mead put the Bears on top 28-7, but the Vanguards cut that lead to 28-14 by halftime.
The third quarter featured Mead’s third TD of the game, an Olexa to Cole Kitchen six-yard touchdown pass, another McKenna touchdown run, and Bryan Mowery returning a fumble for a touchdown. The Golden Bears led 57-14 at the end of three quarters.
Upper Moreland (10-0, 6-0 SOL) will host seventh-seeded Marple Newtown in a second round game next Friday. Marple Newtown – a 42-13 winner over 10th-seeded Oxford – defeated UM 35-7 in last year’s district opener.
Sun Valley 0-14-0-16 30
Upper Moreland 14-14-29-0 57
#1-5 UPPER DUBLIN 27, #1-12 RADNOR 21
There was nothing easy about the Flying Cardinals opening round win that featured its share of ups and downs.
The Cardinals ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown only to see it waved off for a penalty. They appeared to be in command when they opened up a 14-0, thanks to a Julian Gimbel touchdown pass and Malik Bootman’s seven-yard TD run, but the visiting Red Raiders rallied to knot the score with a pair of second quarter touchdowns.
“To their credit, they came back into the wind, put up a touchdown to make it 14-7 and then scored right before halftime on the last play of the second quarter,” Stover said. “Their quarterback made a really nice play, scrambled around and found a guy in the back of the end zone.”
The Flying Cardinals kicked off into the wind to open the second half.
“They literally within three minutes were in the end zone, and we were down 21-14,” Stover said. “They kick off and we don’t field the kickoff, and they tackle us at the two, so now it’s like everything is starting to pile on.
“Third-and-eight from the four and Julian Gimbel bails us out, scrambles for 12 yards for a first down. After that, everything kind of slowed down and settled in, and we went 98 yards for a touchdown into the wind and ate up five to six minutes of the clock, which was big.”
Selvin Haynes had a big play on the TD drive.
“He caught a little sit route for us, turned and ran about 50 yards,” Stover said. “I swore he got in, but they marked it at the two. That was a big play for us.”
Bootman punched it in from the two, knotting the score 21-21. With 10 minutes remaining in the game, Bootman took it in from 15 yards out to put the Cardinals on top 27-21.
“Bootman was a beast,” said Stover, going on to credit a pair of players on the defensive side of the ball. “Max Winebrake, on defense, was everywhere. Chris Smith on the defensive line had a really, really big sack on a third-and-10 for them with about six minutes left. That was huge.”
The Cardinals’ coach was pleased with his team’s response to adversity.
“I told them – it’s easy to let things slip away, but everyone grabbed the rope, as we like to say, and held on,” Stover said. “Julien’s (third down play) was the big play offensively in the second half.
“At the end of the game, we had to get a couple of fourth downs to run it out. We were fourth-and-one from midfield. We went out and called what we call ‘no play,’ and we were able to draw them off-sides, and that was really the end of the game at that point.”
Stover went on to credit his coaching staff.
“This game could have gotten away from us,” he said. “You look at my staff and their experience with playoff football. Nobody panicked, we made our adjustments at halftime. We had really good input from everyone. It’s really not one voice, it’s many voices.
“I give a lot of credit to the guys I work with because they really do their job Monday through Thursday, and Friday night they make the adjustments and put the kids in positions to make plays. That worked out for us.”
Upper Dublin (7-3, 4-2 SOL) will travel to fourth-seeded Academy Park for a second round game next Friday. Academy Park defeated Chichester 39-12 in an opening round game.
Radnor 0-14-7-0 21
Upper Dublin 14-0-7-6 27
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