Check out the recaps for SOL football teams in action Friday. Pennsbury/CR South photos provided courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. Pennridge/Tennent photos courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos.
Stats used in the wraps are provided courtesy of the Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times. For complete high school football coverage, visit the web sites: http://www.theintell.com/sports and http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports.
SOL National Conference
PENNSBURY 22, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 19
Trailing 19-15 with time winding down, the Falcons – stonewalled by a Golden Hawks’ goal line stand – looked as though Friday’s conference showdown just might be a rerun of last week’s heartbreaking loss to Truman.
This time, however, the Falcons re-wrote the ending, putting together a gutsy 42-yard drive in the game’s closing minutes to eke out the crucial win.
“We were due for some good things to happen late in games,” said coach Dan McShane, whose team trailed 19-7 at halftime. “We’ve had some issues late in games, losing late. We finally caught somebody else.”
The tide began to turn in the Falcons’ favor when – after Jayvon McNeill scored his sixth rushing touchdown of the season to make it a 19-15 game – Pennsbury recovered the ensuing kickoff on the Golden Hawks’ 32-yard line.
“We just had a squib kick – it wasn’t an on-sides, but the ball’s a strange shape, and it starts bouncing around lots of different ways, and we jumped on it,” McShane said.
Six plays later, the Falcons had first-and-goal at the three-yard line, but the Golden Hawks’ defense held, thanks to big plays by Nick Gallo and Eric Woloshyn, who both had tackles for losses.
The Golden Hawks took over on downs, but the Falcons forced a punt after a three-and-out and took over on Rock South’s 42-yard line. Twice Drew Hensor, who threw for 140 yards, connected with Jason Cook on huge plays – the first a 14-yard completion on fourth-and-long that included a tough catch by Cook.
“We threw a pick right before halftime that led to a score – the corner kind of faded a little bit, and we probably should have thrown the ball in the ground,” McShane said. “That throw (to Cook) was low and outside where only our guy could catch it.”
Three plays later the duo hooked up for an eight-yard completion on third-and-long. The drive was capped with Hensor finding Josh Boyda from 16 yards out for a TD that proved to be the game-winner.
“There were a lot of ups and downs, a lot of downs for a while too,” McShane said. “We’ve led most time at the half except for the one game against North Penn.
“I just told the kids – ‘This is kind of where Truman was last week, and we told you guys we were going to find out a lot about yourselves in the next couple of weeks in the games we’re playing. Now it’s even more of a sense of urgency because now you have a half to find out.’”
After the Falcons’ go-ahead TD, the Golden Hawks had a minute to get the ball downfield, but a sack and fumble recovered by the Falcons’ defense iced the win. The play put an exclamation point on a standout defensive effort by the Falcons, who shut out the Golden Hawks in the second half.
“We challenged the defense that we would have to shut them out,” McShane said. “There weren’t a whole lot of adjustments. We stayed within our system.
“Maybe we played a little more man coverage and challenged them – okay, if you want to run the ball, we’re going to load the box, thinking they had a lead and maybe they’d go a little more conservative.”
Earlier, the Golden Hawks opened up a 13-0 lead. Chase Patterson scored his first of two rushing touchdowns, and Andrew Vera found Dawson Fresses with a 32-yard pass. A four-yard touchdown run by Brad Mickles made it a 13-6 game, but the Golden Hawks capitalized on an interception when Patterson – who had 95 rushing yards – took it in from seven yards out for a 19-6 halftime lead that turned out to be anything but secure.
“This one definitely feels like you let them off the hook,” Rock South assistant head coach Tony Checchia said. “Ultimately, we didn’t make enough plays on offense or defense. Special teams had a miscue here and there that added up.
“Pennsbury kept the pressure up all day long. To their credit, they hung in the whole time, played us really, really tough, and by the end of it, they stayed committed to the run game. A credit to them, I think over the course of the game they wore us down a little bit. We had some really nice stands, but we gave them too many chances. They made some big plays in big moments.
“Even in the moment, on certain plays they had to keep the drive going, it was good pressure, it was good coverage. It wasn’t that we did anything wrong necessarily. They just were making those plays. You just tip your hat at that point. We just have to regroup now.”
The Falcons’ win creates a logjam atop the conference standings – Pennsbury, Rock South, Neshaminy and Truman all have just one loss with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
“We have a young team that’s trying to learn how to play the game and learning how to compete under adverse conditions,” McShane said. “We’ve fallen behind almost every game 7-0, and that happened right away. Now it’s the classic – ‘We have them right where we want them.’
“We’d play some pretty good football in between and then we’d give up the lead in the last four minutes. It’s very frustrating. We tell the kids – the greatest compliment you can pay an athlete is that they’re mentally tough. When things aren’t going your way, what are you going to do?”
McShane credited his offensive line for once again allowing the Falcons to run the ball – they came into the game averaging five yards a carry. Defensively, the Falcons’ coach pointed to the play of his defensive line and gave props to linebackers Jake Krefetz, Jake Schilling and Sam Burke.
“We had a couple of kids dinged up – (John) Irvine and (Mike) Wallick, and they just stayed in the game and pushed through,” McShane said. “Our defense was huge in the second half. Our front four had a lot to do with that.
“Kevitz, Schilling and Burke – our back three guys behind our defensive line did a real good job.”
Pennsbury (4-4, 3-1 SOL) will host Abington Friday, and Council Rock South (5-3, 3-1) will travel to Neshaminy for another conference showdown on Friday.
“Obviously, there’s no bigger game than the upcoming Neshaminy game,” Checchia said. “It would have been nice to go in with a little leeway if we had a win tonight. Now we’re still in that position where we can control what we need to control and still have the opportunity to control our destiny.”
Pennsbury 0-7-0-15 22
Council Rock South 7-12-0-0 19
HARRY S TRUMAN 42, ABINGTON 27
The Tigers opened up an early lead and never looked back on their way to yet another convincing win, although the Ghosts kept it interesting for a while.
"I can't say enough about it being a team effort," coach Mike LaPalombara said. "To beat these kind of teams, you can't beat them with one person. Yout have to have enough pieces to beat them."
Only a win over Bensalem in the final week of the regular season separates the Tigers from at least a share of the conference crown.
"That's a game we have to win, and we have a share of the league title unless everything falls in our favor all the way through and we win the league title," LaPalombara said.
TJ Rodgers set the tone for another big offensive night for the Tigers when he scored on the opening drive of the game. An Enzo Poulson touchdown capped a drive that included a Dylan Snelling to Gabe Gipli pass as well as a big run by Javeer Peterson. The Tigers led 14-0 after one quarter. Snelling hooked up with Peterson for a touchdown that put the Tigers on top 21-0 before the Ghosts got on the scoreboard to make it a 21-7 game at halftime.
Another Abington touchdown pulled the Ghosts within seven (21-14), but a long TD run by Peterson gave the Tigers a two-score lead. The Ghosts would get no closer the rest of the way.
"We thought we could move the ball on them offensively, but we just had that little stretch where we had a fumble and some penalties," LaPalombara said. "It seemed like we were going backwards, and then we had to punt and they got some momentum.
"They had a nice drive in the second half, so they climbed back in the game. Coach (Galen) Snyder is calling the plays, and he's had so much experience doing that. That's a big plus for us. We have a lot of kids that can play football, a lot of playmakers, and eventually somebody is going to do something."
The Tigers' coach pointed to Peterson's long TD run as key.
"Abington had a nice drive, and they scored, and when they kicked off to us, (Deondre) Winton got the ball and did a nice job getting us good field position," LaPalombara said. "On the very first play, we gave the ball to Javeer Peterson, and bam – he took off, ran through a couple of tackles and ran all the way to the end zone, probably about a 60-yard run.
"That was a big for us because they just had that big momentous drive down the field. It was a long drive, and then first play – touchdown. That was really big. He did step up like a D-1 player and made a play like we needed him to."
James Koliyah also had a TD run for the Tigers, and Winton’s pick six gave the Tigers a 42-21 advantage."
"DD had a big pick that he ran back for a touchdown," LaPalombara said. "They threw an out pattern, and the kid was on an island by himself, and DD sat and baited him. They threw it, he came running up, took the ball and just kept going."
Harry S Truman (7-1, 4-1 SOL) will host Pennridge in a non-league game Friday, and Abington (4-4, 2-3) will travel to Pennsbury
Harry S Truman 14-7-7-14 42
Abington 0-7-7-13 27
SOL Continental Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 23, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 18
Check winning the CB Cup off the Patriots’ list of goals for the season. Their win over the Titans on their home turf gave East the coveted trophy.
“It just was a great team win,” coach John Donnelly said. “It was for the CB Cup – our guys were really hungry for it and were able to secure it tonight.”
If there was a key to the win, it was the Patriots’ four takeaways – two came on interceptions with one each from Drew Bethke and Michael Smigley. The other two takeaways were compliments of the special teams who twice recovered pooched kickoffs.
“For three quarters, we had them shut out,” Donnelly said. “We came out and got a really important stop to start the second half.
“We had four takeaways, and that was huge. When you take the ball away that many times, you’re in a good position to win. We said all week – ‘It’s on the defense. The defense has to win the game this week,’ and that’s what happened. CB South is explosive and dynamic on offense, and I thought for three quarters of the game we did a really good job. They battled back, and we hung tough at the end when we needed to.”
It was a pair of recovered kickoffs that helped propel the Patriots to a 16-0 halftime lead.
“Our special teams coach, Tim Barno, does a fantastic job, and our guys went out and executed,” Donnelly said.
East got its first-half points from three Michael Smigley field goals and a touchdown connection from Will Silverman to Anthony Giordano.
An Evan O’Donnell run put the Patriots on top 23-0 in the third quarter, but the Titans refused to go down quietly. Touchdown runs by Matt Tobey and Connor DiLissio sandwiched around a TD pass from Josh Consoletti to Sean Smith made it a 23-18 game.
Donnelly acknowledged the efforts of several players in the win.
“I’ve got to believe Otto Maeglin at inside linebacker made a ton of plays,” the Patriots’ coach said. “David Moyer – who wore number five tonight in honor of Connor Bednarzyk –had some really big plays as well.
“Offensively, Jake Ventresca ran the ball hard. I thought Evan McDonald made some really great decisions with the ball, lived to play another down.”
Central Bucks East (4-4, 2-2 SOL) will travel to William Tennent on Friday, and Central Bucks South (3-5, 2-2) will be on the road at North Penn Friday.
Central Bucks East 10-6-7-0 23
Central Bucks South 0-0-6-12 18
NORTH PENN 20, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 6
The Knights bring out the best in every team they face, and while wins haven’t come easily in recent weeks, the Knights are 8-0 with just two regular season games remaining.
A Julian White one-yard run gave the Knights a 6-0 first-quarter lead, and they still led by six when – with less than a minute remaining in the half – West’s Jack Fallon came up with a clutch interception, giving the Bucks the ball on the Knights’ 42-yard line. The Bucks capitalized when Jack Neri found Connor Levant with a one-yard TD pass, knotting the score 6-6 at halftime.
In the third quarter, a failed fourth-and-15 by the Bucks gave the Knights possession, and they marched downfield. Jon Haynes capped the drive by snaring a 29-yard pass from Solomon Robinson in the end zone. Julian White – after a 12-yard run to West’s one-yard line – punched it in from a yard out for the 20-6 final.
Shamar Edwards led the Knights with 119 rushing yards.
North Penn (8-0, 4-0 SOL) will host Central Bucks South on Friday, and Central Bucks West (2-6, 1-4) will host Souderton on Friday.
Central Bucks West 0-6-0-0 6
North Penn 6-0-7-7 20
PENNRIDGE 55, WILLIAM TENNENT 20
Fans at Helman Field might have had an idea they might be in a for a long night when the two teams 
combined for 48 points in the first quarter. They were right, although the scoring slowed down considerably after that in a marathon that saw the two teams combine for 75 points.
In the first quarter, Zak Kantor ran for a touchdown and threw for another to Jon Post, his first of three TD receptions. Shane Hartzell had a pair of touchdown runs, and Cooper Chaikin returned an interception 42 yards for the score.
For the Panthers in the opening frame, Jason Schweizerhof connected with Dan Goodz for a 58-yard touchdown, and Derrick Cosenza hauled in a 19-yard Kip Mooney TD pass.
The Rams led 34-14 at the end of one quarter, and at the end of the third, they had stretched that lead to 48-14.
Kantor threw for 236 yards and three touchdowns with Post finishing with 114 receiving yards. Mooney threw for 148 yards.
Pennridge (4-4, 3-2 SOL) will travel to Harry S Truman for a non-league game Friday, and William Tennent (2-6, 0-5) will host Central Bucks East on Friday.
William Tennent 14-0-0-6 20
Pennridge 34-0-14-7 55
SOL American Conference
HATBORO-HORSHAM 7, CHELTENHAM 6
The Hatters have made late-game heroics seem all but routine, eking out wins over both Souderton and Upper Moreland with late scores. They were back at it again on Friday, using a late touchdown drive to defeat the Panthers.
“It’s been interesting,” coach Mike Kapusta said.
The game-winning drive came with five minutes remaining in regulation, relatively early by Hatter standards.
“Jordan Collazo was really running the ball well the whole game,” Kapusta said, going on to describe the game-winning sequence. “We ran a toss sweep to him, and he takes it probably 30 yards and then tacked on a 15-yard penalty.
“We had the ball in the red zone, and we saw some things that were setting up for us throughout the game. We knew we were going to have an open receiver on a play action pass, so we ran the play action pass. Our receiver (Ismael Collazo) was wide open and our quarterback, Will Reimenschneider, put it right on him and we scored.”
Collazo finished with over 200 yards rushing in a marvelous individual effort.
“We only scored seven points, but we moved the ball really effectively,” Kapusta said. “We had three turnovers in the first half, four total. We almost scored several times.”
The Panthers lone score came in the third quarter
The Hatters’ defense – the unsung heroes of Friday’s win – delivered a goal line stand late in the third quarter.
“Our defense played great,” Kapusta said. “We stuffed them on first and goal at the one and then stuffed them again, forced a fumble and got the ball back.”
That stand – which came with the Panthers on top 6-0 – was a game saver and set the stage for the Hatters’ fourth-quarter comeback.
“The defensive line played awesome,” Kapusta said. “We have two really good defensive ends – Jake Schalki is a really, really dominant player, and Mark Custer is a defensive end.
The Hatters rotate three players in the remaining two spots, including siblings Ismael and Jordan Collazo and Logan Flynn.
“Logan Flynn plays both defensive tackle and end and is having a heck of a season and also had a heck of game,” Kapusta said.
The Hatters’ coach went on to acknowledge his linebacker core that includes outside linebackers Nahji Logan and Will Reimenschneider, inside linebackers Ryley Robinson and Patrick Chapman as well as Nick Fisicaro. The defensive backfield – comprised of Charles Crothamel, Isaiah Beauchamp, Cameron Broaddus and N’Gianni Cerisier – also drew props from the Hatters’ coach.
“Cheltenham has some major league speed, and their quarterback (Adonis Hunter) has been lighting it up all season, so he’s a really good player,” Kapusta said. “The tight end is a really good player, and it seems like every guy they put out there at a split-out receiver position can run really fast and catch well. They’re a dangerous team. They’re a well-coached team.
“Their running backs ran the ball well, and their line is gigantic. It was just an awesome, awesome team effort from the inside out. It starts at the line, but all of our kids put all the chips on the table. We’re using the analogy – the dam will break eventually, and it did.”
Hatboro-Horsham (4-3, 3-1 SOL) will travel to Quakertown on Friday, and Cheltenham (5-3, 2-2) will be on the road at Upper Moreland.
Hatboro-Horsham 0-0-0-7 7
Cheltenham 0-0-6-0 6
QUAKERTOWN 17, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 14
The Panthers bounced back from last week’s loss to Upper Dublin with a win over the Colonials that was anything but easy.
The Colonials led 7-0 after one quarter, thanks to a 25-yard Christopher Pierce touchdown run. A 29-yard Gavin Croissette field goal put the Panthers on the board, but they still trailed 7-3 at the intermission. Christian Patrick’s six-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter gave the Panthers a lead they would not lose, and they went on top 17-7 when Patrick took it in from five yards out with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter.
A Michael Paciello touchdown run pulled the visitors within three, but that’s as close as they would get.
Quakertown (6-2, 3-2 SOL) will host Hatboro-Horsham on Friday, and Plymouth Whitemarsh (1-6, 1-3) will host Upper Dublin on Friday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 7-0-0-7 14
Quakertown 0-3-14-0 17
UPPER DUBLIN 47, WISSAHICKON 12
The Flying Cardinals maintained their stronghold on first place in the conference standings with a no-doubt-about-it win over the visiting Trojans.
Everyone, it seemed, got a piece of the action in a first half that saw the Cardinals open up a 40-0 lead. Quarterback Mike Slivka twice punched it in for touchdowns – the first from one yard out and the second from three yards. Lucas Roselli had touchdown receptions of 24 and 32 yards, and his first TD catch gave the Cardinals a 7-0 lead, effectively setting the tone for an explosive first half. Christopher Barbera split the uprights for field goals of 16 and 37 yards.
John Kohlbrenner ignited the Cardinal faithful by returning the opening kick off the second half 80 yards for a touchdown.
Upper Dublin (6-1, 4-0 SOL) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh on Friday, and Wissahickon (0-8, 0-5) will travel to Eastern York for a non-league game.
Wissahickon 0-0-6-6 12
Upper Dublin 17-23-7-0 47
Non-league
SOUDERTON 39, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 6
Souderton took a commanding 25-0 lead into the halftime locker room, and they added to that in the second half.
Highlights of the first half included a pair of DeAndre Wakefield touchdowna. The first – an eight-yard TD run – spotted the hosts a 7-0 lead. The second – a 45-yard kickoff return – sent the Indians into halftime with their 25-point advantage. Also in the first half, Tre Samuels returned a fumble recovery for a TD, and William Leyland had a 35-yard field goal.
In the second half, Jalen White – who led the Indians with 126 rushing yards – had an 85-yard touchdown run and Ethan Moyer punched it in from one yard out. Nick Guthre came up with an interception on defense.
Rock North’s only score came on a 19-yard run by Tim Gibson.
Souderton (4-4, 3-1 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks West on Friday, and Council Rock North (1-7, 0-4) will be on the road at Bensalem next Saturday.
Council Rock North 0-0-6-0 6
Souderton 13-12-7-7 39
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