Check out the recaps for SOL football teams in action Friday. Souderton/UD photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison Photography. William Tennent/PW photos courtesy of Kim Supko Photography. Check back for galleries of both games.
For additional football stats and coverage, visit the Intelligencer (https://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school) and Courier Times (https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/)
SOL National Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 49, PENNSBURY 35
Coach Tom Hetrick and his coaching staff had a simple point of emphasis this week.
“We said, ‘Let’s not cruise into this thing, let’s put the pedal down early’ because we’ve started not as fast as we wanted to the past couple of weeks,” the Titans’ coach said.
To say his players responded would be an understatement. The Titans raced out of the gate to a commanding 35-7 halftime lead, accumulating 327 yards of total offense in the first two quarters en route to the big win. They finished the night with 515 yards in a contest that saw the two teams combine for 974 total yards.
“We say we’re in a race to score as many points as we can as fast as we can,” Hetrick said. “It’s fun when it works, and in that first half it was working.”
The fun started early for the Titans, who scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns – the first on an 18-yard TD pass from Hallgren to Zak Fischer and the second on a Jason Christiansen 39-yard touchdown run. It was 21-0 early in the second quarter when Tommy Donnelly caught a six-yard Hallgren touchdown pass.
The Falcons interrupted the Titans’ early tear with a touchdown of their own when Galamama Mulbah punched it in from one yard out. The Titans answered with back-to-back touchdowns to go into halftime with their 28-point advantage.
“In the first two games, we were on the little-slow-to-start side of the fence,” Hetrick said. “We definitely got it going early tonight, so that was a positive.
“We play a fast-paced, up-tempo offense. They play a fast-paced, up-tempo offense. You can score points quick, and you can wear teams down. We got the best of them in the first half, and then they started to climb back. I give them a lot of credit. They did not quit. They kept playing and playing and made it a little closer than I was hoping.”
The Falcons – who had 459 yards of total offense – scored 21 points in the fourth quarter when the outcome had already been decided.
“On defense in the first half, we were sound, we were keeping them in front of us because they run a very wide open offense,” Hetrick said. “They made some plays in the second half. They have some pretty good athletes. To their credit, they didn’t give up. It was a good game.”
The list of offensive stars for the Titans is a lengthy one. Quarterback Carter Hallgren was 12-for-19 for 165 yards and three touchdowns. Ryan Schaub was his favorite target, pulling in six passes for 100 yards. Jason Christiansen ran for 125 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries. Ben Wenzke had 12 carries for 97 yards.
Playing no small role in the Titans’ big night was the offensive line.
“The O-line is definitely coming together,” Hetrick said. “They’ve put together a couple of pretty good games, going back last week to East and tonight.
“Pennsbury has tough kids. Those Lower Bucks kids are always a tough brand of kid. They line up, and they’re willing to punch you in the nose, so I was very happy with the offensive line.”
The Titans’ coach lauded the play of one of the team’s unsung heroes.
“My center Tommy Wood is a two-year starter, and I think he’s on a track to hopefully be a first team all-league guy,” Hetrick said. “He’s just so solid, so smart and so strong, and he really has come into his own on that offensive line.”
The Titans suffered a setback when Adam Collachi – a standout lineman on both sides of the football – left the game with an injury.
“We were still able to get push,” Hetrick said. “Christiansen runs the ball very, very hard. Wenzke had some nice runs tonight. Any time you get the run game going, especially when you play an up-tempo offense, part of the hope is you start to wear on them a little bit.
“To our guys’ credit, they definitely were able to get push and move the ball on the ground.”
The Titans’ coach acknowledged the strong play of linebacker Owen Petrich.
“Cole Sensi was our first team all-league linebacker, and he dislocated his shoulder in the second quarter of the Abington game week one, so we’ve been without him the last couple of weeks,” Hetrick said. “Owen Petrich was a kid coming out for the team for the first time since he was a freshman, and he’s a very, very good athlete.
“Especially these last couple of weeks, we’ve put a lot on his shoulders because we were down a couple of linebackers. He had a great game tonight, and he was the one that had the pick six late in the game when we were only up by two scores. They got the ball and had 95 yards to go. We’re like, ‘Can we get a stop:’ (Petrich) is tall with a long wingspan and pick sixed it, which was cool. I was so happy for him. He’s really come up big for us the past couple of weeks.”
Leading the Falcons’ offensively was quarterback Patrick Kirk, who threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 78 rushing yards and one TD. CJ Kohler caught five passes for 106 yards.
The night, however, belonged to the Titans.
“Coaches say this all the time, but literally this year when you say it’s a series of one-week seasons, it’s real,” Hetrick said. “It’s never been more real. Every week is a blessing. When you live to fight and play another week, you’re thankful and so you have to take advantage of the opportunities.”
Central Bucks South (2-1 SOL) will be on the road at Pennridge Friday, and Pennsbury (0-3) will travel to Abington Friday.
Pennsbury 0-7-7-21 35
Central Bucks South 14-21-7-7 49
NORTH PENN 53, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 28
Khalani Eaton, Ryan Zeltt and Ethan Spann pose a triple threat for North Penn opponents. The Bucks can certainly attest to that as the trio took turns finding the end zone, combining for eight touchdowns.
No one did it better than Eaton on this night. The junior standout was – in a word – unstoppable, rushing for 264 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries in a dazzling performance.
“I feel like we’re balanced – we can throw the ball as well as we can run the ball,” North Penn coach Dick Beck said. “Obviously, Khalani is very explosive, but it’s not just Khalani, it’s the O-line, it’s the blocking downfield, it’s the fullback playing well.
“And the play action – they’ve got to respect the play action. If they don’t respect play action, we’re going to be throwing over their heads.”
Providing the blocking up front for the Knights are DJ Miller at right tackle, Cam McQueen at right guard, Colin Davis at center, John Derkits at left guard, Dan Hicks at left tackle, Mike Darcy at tight end and Andrew Berry at fullback. Miller, Derkits and McQueen are returning starters on the O-line with McQueen earning first team all-league last year. That veteran leadership, according to Beck, is significant.
“It’s a safety net for us,” the Knights’ coach said. “When things get tough, it’s pretty easy to line up and hand the ball off.
“Tonight it was really obvious Khalani’s vision is getting better and better. He was tough.”
While Eaton and company stole the spotlight, Jack Fileppo gave the Bucks an early lead when he ran the kickoff back for a touchdown. The Knights answered with three straight touchdowns – including the first of two touchdown connections from Ryan Zeltt to Malik Staten, this one for 32 yards. Then Eaton had back-to-back touchdown runs of 47 and 13 yards.
North Penn took a 25-14 lead into halftime and put the game completely out of reach with a pair of TDs – the first a 49-yard touchdown pass from Zeltt to Staten and then an 8-yard TD run by Spann that put the Knights on top 39-14 en route to their convincing win.
Zeltt threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns.
For the Bucks, Eli Boehm had 143 rushing yards while Donte Mancini had 127 and three touchdowns.
“We’re struggling a little bit on defense, so that’s frustrating for us,” Beck said. “The opening kickoff – a touchdown. That was brutal.
“Our first three plays were a kick return against us, then we roughed the kicker, and on the kickoff return we were called for pushing a guy in the back. I’m like, ‘This is going to be a great night.’”
Although it started on a shaky note, it was a great night for the host Knights.
North Penn (2-1 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks East next Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest. Central Bucks West (0-3) will host Neshaminy on Friday.
Central Bucks West 7-7-7-7 28
North Penn 13-12-21-7 53
SOL Continental Conference
SOUDERTON 28, UPPER DUBLIN 7
Jalen White – after sitting out last week’s game against Council Rock North – was ecstatic to be back on the gridiron.
“It felt amazing,” the Indians’ senior running back said. “Watching the guys last week, they looked great, but it just hurt deep inside that I couldn’t be out there with them.”
White would certainly have been excused if he opted out of playing in Friday’s showdown with Upper Dublin. After all, he has a broken thumb, and his right hand is encased in something resembling a cast, but sitting out another week was not a consideration.
“In mid-July and early August, no one really thought we were going to have a season,” White said. “When we were able to come out for practices, that gave us hope.
“People complain about a five-game season, but we take what we can get. We’re playing football. A lot of kids around the country aren’t able to play football because of COVID. I’m just blessed. The injury got me down, but I tried to do everything I could to come back and help the team. ”
White certainly did his part in Friday’s important win. The workhorse out of the Indians backfield, he had 25 carries for 87 yards and two touchdowns. Both TDs – one of two and the other of four yards – came in a first half that saw the Indians open up a 21-7 halftime lead.
“It was so nice to have Jalen back,” Souderton coach Ed Gallagher said. “I think he got a little frustrated tonight because there were times when things were bottled up.
“I said, ‘Jalen, they know you’re back, they’re going to try and stop you because that’s what they’re going to do to the team’s best back.’ He still had a really good game and ran hard. It’s so nice to have him back and doing what he does well.”
The Indians scored on their opening possession after a kickoff return to midfield by sophomore Winday Dawson.
“We executed well on offense,” said Souderton coach Ed Gallagher. “We took the opening kickoff and just went right now the field and scored.”
Evan Kutzler, who had a four-yard TD run in the opening half, also was an integral part of the Indians’ success in Friday’s win. 
His clutch 28-yard pass to teammate Kyle Bob on fourth-and-14 from the UD 42-yard line in the third quarter set up the Indians’ final touchdown that all but sealed the Cardinals’ fate.
“Coach Gallagher does call a lot of fourth down plays, and I have full faith that I can execute them and the wide receivers can catch them,” said Kutzler, who capped the drive with an eight-yard TD pass to sophomore Shaun Purvy. “I really give credit to the wide receivers on that one. I kind of threw it up for them to get it. He got it, and he made a play. That’s really props to Kyle Bob and the rest of the receiving group.”
“Evan makes plays,” Gallagher said. “He’s just a super athlete, and he makes plays.
“I’m proud of this effort because Upper Dublin is a very good program. They’ll still qualify, I’m sure, for the District 5A playoffs, and they could make a run. They’ve got some young talent, I know Bret is an outstanding coach. He’s got a great staff, and they’re going to get those kids ready to finish out the schedule and hopefully get to the playoffs. That’s our goal also. We took one step in that direction tonight.”
Kutzler, who threw for 79 yards, also had an interception in the second half of a must-win game if the Indians entertained thoughts of winning a division title.
“Last year we beat CB West in a great game, and we had an opportunity to get that championship against South, and we 
dropped the ball,” Kutzler said of a loss that cost the Indians the title. “This year we had that fire coming in from last year, and we knew we had to get this one to get the championship. I think we were all really well prepared.”
“This meant everything to us,” White said. “Everyone knew this was the best team we’d play all season, and we’d have to treat it like the North Penn game.
“We knew they were going to come out and give it everything they had. We were both 2-0. One of us had to come out with a ‘W.’”
Kutzler came into the season knowing he had big shoes to fill, stepping into the quarterback role occupied by Andrew Vince the past three years.
“I didn’t really feel any pressure,” the senior QB said. “AV has been such a great mentor to me, and he prepared me for this moment. All the coaches prepared me for this season.
“I definitely feel a responsibility to get things right and lead the team, but Andrew Vince was a really good role model for me.”
Upper Dublin’s lone score came in the second quarter to make it a 14-7 game. Jake Rossman took it in from one yard out, a TD that was set up by an end-around by Micah Bootman.
Souderton (3-0 SOL) will travel to Hatboro-Horsham Friday, and Upper Dublin (2-1, 1-1) is scheduled to host Council Rock North Friday.
Upper Dublin 0-7-0-0 7
Souderton 14-7-7-0 28
Thursday, Oct. 15
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 30, BENSALEM 6
Keeping things simple.
That was the objective of the Rock South coach staff entering Thursday night’s game at Bensalem, a decision consciously made after the Golden Hawks’ 42-7 loss to Quakertown in week two.
“Obviously so many things went wrong at Quakertown, but I think at the core of what went wrong was we tried to do too much, we over-complicated things too much,” Rock South assistant head coach Tony Checchia said. “So the goal was to keep it simple – line up to play defense, line up to play offense.
“At Quakertown, we were the ones getting punched in the mouth. We’ve got to be the aggressor again, we’ve got to be the ones that are attacking rather than reacting to the other side. For the most part, we did that.”
In the opening half, the Golden Hawks found themselves locked in a battle and took just a 7-0 lead into the intermission.
“It was a sloppy game, an extremely sloppy game,” Checchia said. “I think 30-6 was deceiving because it was 7-0 at the half, and the first half was really tight.
“We had a couple opportunities to get another score, and we didn’t. Bensalem had a couple opportunities where they were marching and we came up with some stops at the goal line, but it really was a tight game.”
Brady Beres, who had a pair of rushing touchdowns, scored the game’s only touchdown in the first half.
“Brady Beres ran hard all night,” Checchia said.
The Golden Hawks got a huge lift when Jack O’Neill returned the opening kickoff of the second half 85 yards for the score on the opening possession.
“It was right up the middle, got some blocks, and he used his speed,” Checchia said. “That was big time after getting through halftime where we said, ‘We’ve got to be perfect defensively, and we’ve got to get going offensively to get that pressure off of you.’
“You never want to let a team hang around where they feel – hey, one big play and we’re in this, so to get that second score was big, but it got more and more sloppy on both sides. We were off-sides, we were undisciplined, and we had a couple of personal fouls.
“It wasn’t a pretty win by any means, and it just was uncharacteristic of us. Some penalties are going to happen, but so many of ours were unlike us – undisciplined, just not sound football.”
The Golden Hawks took advantage of several Owl turnovers.
“Our special teams forced two turnovers – one on the opening kickoff at the very beginning of the game,” Checchia said. “In the second half, there was a muffed punt, and we had a final interception near the end of the game.”
Quarterback Matt Striffolino had a good night for the Hawks.
“Striffolino had a couple of nice runs throughout the game,” Checchia said. “He had a long touchdown run that was called back on a penalty. He also had a touchdown pass to Damon Culver for about 20 yards in the second half.
“Defensively, Aiden Geist, senior captain, had a few big hits throughout the night and a really big sack in the second half where he actually ran through the blocker that was trying to block him and just tackled the quarterback.
“Brendan Malone also had a pretty good day defensively. He had a couple of pass breakups, several tackles and an interception at the end of the game.”
Thursday’s win loomed large for the Golden Hawks after their lopsided loss to the Panthers a week earlier.
“This is huge, especially in this condensed season,” Checchia said. “Everything’s magnified a little bit more, and right now more than anything, in addition to cleaning up the execution and cleaning up some of the discipline stuff, this team has got to get confidence. It’s really hard to fabricate that or fake it.
“Coach (Vince) Bedesem calls it an ‘inner swagger.’ Our teams that have had some success – that was the common characteristic. They had a little bounce in their step, they had a little bit of swagger. With these guys, it’s not a talent thing. It’s about finding our way again in such a unique circumstance.”
Wins and losses aside, getting back on the field, according to Checchia, is what matters most.
“That’s 100 percent the thing, and we do have to take a step back and keep that perspective because I remember back in the summer – I woke up some days feeling good and some days thinking no way in heck would we have a game,” the Golden Hawks’ assistant head coach said. “We still have four more games coming up on schedule. We were able to get those provisional games after the (Council Rock) North game, so pretty much since the school first opened, we don’t end our (regular) season against North.”
Council Rock South (2-1) will travel to Springfield Township next Friday, and Bensalem (0-3) will be on the road at Quakertown Friday.
QUAKERTOWN 48, HATBORO-HORSHAM 0
The Panthers had a not-so-little score to settle when they faced the visiting Hatters Friday night.
“We felt we had something to prove after last year,” Quakertown coach George Banas said in reference to his team’s 49-24 loss to the Hatters. “We went down there and thought it was going to be a little bit of a cakewalk, and they pretty much took us behind the woodshed.
“A lot of these kids remember that. Pregame tonight they did their plyos and came across the 50 on our side. It was a little disrespectful so our kids were hungry. We had something to play for emotionally, and I think that drove them tonight, and things went our way.”
Whatever their motivation, the Panthers took it to the Hatters, opening up a 35-0 lead by halftime on their way to the mercy rule win.
Banas had praise to go around when it was over.
“Tyler Woodman had a really good game – he returned a punt for a touchdown, he ran for a touchdown, he had a bunch of big runs, and he really played well defensively at corner as well,” Banas said. “Micah Kunkle had a nice interception. I thought Kaden Roesner, a junior, played really well. Bryan Sherry at D-end, and Aidan Sylsberry played well on both sides of the ball, and he had a long touchdown run.
Also earning high marks was an offensive line that was the foundation for the Panthers’ onslaught.
“They really played well tonight,” Banas said of a group that included James Lacy, Vinny Pellegrini, Fred Retter, Blake Griesemer and Anthony Schiller. Four are underclassmen.
Quakertown (2-1 SOL) will host Bensalem Friday. Hatboro-Horsham (0-3) will host Souderton Friday.
Hatboro-Horsham 0-0-0-0 0
Quakertown 14-21-13-0 48
SOL American Conference
WILLIAM TENNENT 17, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 14
(Stats courtesy of Ed Morlock/PA Prep Live. To read Morlock’s complete game story, click on the following link: https://papreplive.com/2020/10/16/turnovers-doom-plymouth-whitemarsh-in-loss-to-william-tennent/)
Friday’s game seemed to be following an all-too-familiar script for the Panthers, who led 6-0 at the intermission only to find themselves trailing 14-9 in the third quarter.
It was the third game the Panthers led at halftime. They lost the first two but changed that trend by rallying to win Friday’s conference game over the Colonials.
“I think this win means a lot for Tennent going forward,” Tennent acting coach Cordero Newkirk said. “Just trying to build the culture of trying to make it a winning program. I think we can build on that, and hopefully, we can start a little win streak and get this thing going.”
The Panthers took a 6-0 lead when Matt Miller scored on a quarterback sneak from the one. The drive was highlighted by a 24-yard completion from Miller to Derrik Cosenza. A field goal sent Tennent into halftime with a 9-0 lead, but that advantage disappeared.
Aidan O’Brien pulled the Colonials within two after a 69-yard touchdown run. A costly Tennent turnover set up a 20-yard touchdown run by PW quarterback Chris McLaughlin that put the Colonials on top 14-9.
The Panthers answered with a 91-yard scoring drive that was capped with Miller finding Ryan Emmerich with a 38-yard touchdown pass. A successful Miller to Cosenza two-point conversion put the Panthers on top 17-14 in the third quarter, and they successfully defended their lead.
“Our quarterback, Matt Miller, is so resilient,” Newkirk said. “He didn’t let the turnovers get to him. We said we wanted to go down and score, and that’s what they did.
“He completed a couple of balls. He did a great job of coordinating the offense.”
According to Newkirk, the entire Panther squad is resilient, a trait that was evident after Tennent dropped its first two games.
“They wanted to come in and work,” Newkirk said. “They’ve been working hard at practice, they never took a day off. They’ve been really tough. It’s not the same Tennent kids as usual. It’s a turnaround. These kids are really tough this year.”
The Panthers’ coach lauded the efforts of several players in the win.
“Derrik Cosenza coming back tonight was big,” Newkirk said. “We haven’t had him the first two games, so he was a huge help on defense tonight. He had some big catches tonight, so he was huge getting back.
“Fernando Delgado played a big part on defense tonight, along with Rob Emig at linebacker and Ryan Marinucci.”
Newkirk, filling in for coach Rich Clemens, had high praise for another group – his fellow coaches.
“Everyone is in new positions, and they did an amazing job with these guys,” the Panthers’ coach said.
William Tennent (1-2) will host Wissahickon on Friday, and Plymouth Whitemarsh (1-2, 0-1) will travel to Upper Moreland Friday.
William Tennent 0-6-11-0 17
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0-0-14-0 14
UPPER MORELAND 47, SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 28
The visiting Golden Bears trailed by one heading into the fourth quarter when they turned on the afterburners, outscoring the Spartans 20-0 to win going away.
“That’s how we do things – we don’t make it easy for ourselves, that’s for sure,” said UM coach CJ Szydlik, whose team rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat William Tennent a week earlier. “We were missing three or four kids – some with grades and some with injuries. We had some really young kids in today that played on the offensive line and played really well – learned a little bit on the fly.
“Like we’ve been saying the last couple of weeks, we have a depth, and it showed tonight.”
That depth was underscored in the Golden Bears’ fourth quarter tear that began with a 16-yard touchdown run by sophomore Hassan Johnson, the younger brother of senior Jahaire Johnson.
“We’ve been looking to find spots to put him on the field and where to put him,” Szydlik said. “We talked about it during the week as coaches, and we put him in as a running back like a fullback. He took the position and ran with it. He’s a big, strong tough kid.”
Senior Anthony Broderick took it in from 25 yards out to give the Golden Bears a 40-28 lead with just under four minutes remaining.
“Anthony’s been a two-year starter for us, kind of like the Mr. do-it-all for us,” Szydlik said. “He runs hard, he catches the football. He does everything you ask.
“We have a lot of depth, so in the fourth quarter, we could go to different places to kids who still had a lot of juice left. We kind of ran away from them at the end.”
Cameryn Jackson’s nine-yard touchdown run put an exclamation point on the win and a brilliant individual effort. Jackson finished the game with 223 yards on 19 carries. Broderick added 88 rushing yards in a contest that saw the Bears rush for 407 yards. Broderick also had two catches for 57 yards and a TD.
UM quarterback Byron Hopkins threw for 131 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another.
Szydlik credited the efforts of several players.
“On the defensive line, Ben Helsinger, who’s been a two-year starter for us at defensive end, really played well,” the UM coach said. “Colin Hogan came in and played outside linebacker for us and played a really strong game.
“And then our regular kids – our Jahaire Johnsons and Jon Knights – they rise to another level. Jon made a catch in the corner of the end zone to put us up one that we’ll probably watch a thousand times. They’re just those kind of kids.”
The Spartans were led by senior quarterback Gabe Franczyk, who threw for 171 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another. It was Franczyk’s 38-yard pass to Nate Dennis that put the Spartans on top 28-27 early in the third quarter.
The win upped the Golden Bears’ record to 3-0 with two league games remaining.
“With everything going on in the world, we keep telling the kids, ‘Take care of yourselves, stay away from each other, and let’s just play football,’” Szydlik said. “We have a lot of talent. Honestly, we kind of expected to have a good year, and the kids have lived up to it so far.”
Upper Moreland (3-0 SOL) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh Friday, and Springfield Township (1-2) will host Council Rock South in a non-league game Friday.
Upper Moreland 14-7-6-20 47
Springfield Twp 7-7-14-0 28
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