Check out the recaps for SOL football teams in action Friday. Pennsbury/Neshaminy photos courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. Upper Dublin photo courtesy of Geanine Jamison, Upper Dublin/Upper Moreland photos courtesy of Kathy Leister Photography, and Pennridge/CB East photos courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for photo galleries.
Football stats provided courtesy of the Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier. To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer (https://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school) and Courier Times (https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school) web sites.
SOL National Conference
PENNSBURY 28, NESHAMINY 13
(Statistics provided by Todd Thorpe/Bucks County Courier Times: https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/stats/?site=default&mkt=bucks&Season=2019&tpl=new_Boxscore_MB&Sport=&ID=34194&TeamID=&SearchType=Teams
A title wasn’t at stake when the perennial conference powers met on Friday, but it’s always a high intensity game when these neighboring rivals do battle. Throw in the fact that both teams were still in the mix for a District One 6A playoff berth, and emotions ran high.
“There were a lot of motivating factors,” Pennsbury coach Dan McShane said. “It’s Neshaminy, and we’ve played them with a lot of different circumstances over the years between league titles and high district seedings and all.
“I always say to people – it’s Neshaminy. It doesn’t matter. Of course, we have the potential of a playoff experience this year. We were really disappointed last week with the way we played defense (in a 49-28 loss to Abington).
“We had a great game plan tonight, and we really shut down the run, forced them to throw and then we got some good pass rush going. We mixed up coverages enough to create confusion. Obviously, it’s a big win. One of my coaches said – we’re 6-1 (after an 0-3 start), so there’s a lot to be proud of there, but we’re still waiting for the phone call.”
The Falcons – who accumulated close to 300 rushing yards – received big performances from senior running backs Brad Mickles (19 carries, 144 yards, 2 touchdowns) and JayVon McNeil (23 carries, 133 yards, 2 touchdowns).
“It’s Mickles, McNeil and a host of others, meaning the offensive line,” McShane said. “Neshaminy really loaded the box. We challenged our guys – ‘It doesn’t matter how many guys they have in the box, we’re going to still run the ball.’ They stepped up.
“Both of them were really, really patient runners tonight and physical when they needed to be, but patience was really, really critical because there are so many guys down. If we can get our blocks going, they would make people miss in the hole sometimes too.”
On the flip side, the Redskins’ managed just 66 rushing yards against the Falcons’ defense. Quarterback Brody McAndrew accounted for 42 of those yards.
“Their running back (Chris James) is a really tough player,” McShane said. “I know he’s been dinged up a little bit this year, and their quarterback – I told him after the game, ‘I’m glad I don’t have to see you anymore.’ We’ve had some battles. He went back there and kept slinging it, and we kept on mixing up coverages, pressure, pass rushers. He’s going to do some nice things in college, and he’s a real gentleman and sportsman.
“That’s a credit to the coaches too. Steve (Wilmot), Neil French – they’re just classy people. It’s a great battle. You walk out there and see a couple thousand people. It’s really, really loud. It’s a great atmosphere for two nice communities, despite the records. It was very disappointing last week, so this was a major opportunity for us.”
The Falcons seized the opportunity, although the two teams were deadlocked 7-7 at halftime after exchanging touchdowns. McNeill scored on a one-yard run, and McAndrew found Ian Sheehan with an 11-yard touchdown pass.
Another McNeill one-yard TD capped the opening drive of the second half, giving the Falcons a 14-7 lead. Mickles scored from seven yards out to put the Falcons on top 21-7. McAndrew connected with Gavin O’Connor on a 41-yard touchdown pass, but the Falcons answered with Mickles racing home from 37 yards out to all but ensure the win.
McShane had high praise for the defensive effort of Jake Krefetz.
“A standout on special teams and on defense in setting the edge was Jake Krefetz,” McShane said. “He had an outstanding game of really setting the edge on the run, keeping James penned up.
“He’s been kind of pushed around all season long – in the lineup to out to part-time, and he’s kept on grinding. We’re really happy and proud of him. He was a major part of our success in playing defense as well as we did.”
For the Redskins, McAndrew threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns, and Sheehan hauled in seven passes for 136 yards and a touchdown.
Pennsbury closed out its regular season with a 6-4 record, 5-1 in conference play. Neshaminy was 5-5 overall, 3-3 in conference play.
Neshaminy 0-7-6-0 13
Pennsbury 7-0-14-7 28
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 14, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 7
With the Unity Cup the reward for the winner, this is always high stakes game, and for the fourth time in as many years, Rock South – now with the longest winning streak in series history – emerged the winner and took an 10-8 lead in the series.
“We were really happy for the seniors for them to end on this note,” Rock South assistant head coach Tony Checchia said. “I’ve been saying to the seniors – how do you want to be remembered?
“For all the great years we had – you talk about 2010, 2011 when we were winning, we never had a class that could say they won the North-South game all four years. I said, ‘That’s something special for you guys to shoot for, to be remembered by.’
“You’d have liked to have a little bit more successful of a season, but at the end of the day when these teams come back together down the road, people talk about the North-South game, people talk about it in the community.
“These are guys that played Pop Warner together and have that level of familiarity. To have bragging rights is an important thing. That was kind of our statement all week long – ‘Let’s throw away the other nine games this year, let’s forget it. You have one more chance to put forth how you want to be remembered, and you have 48 minutes to do that,’ and they rallied. The seniors kind of led the way for a game like this, but just like all year long, we’ve been seeing the sophomores grow and become more and more comfortable. It’s one of those things – you have one eye on the future, but you also want those seniors to cement their legacy and get that win.”
Jason Shragher scored back-to-back touchdowns for the Golden Hawks in the second quarter – the first from 19 yards out and the second from eight – to send Rock South into halftime with a 14-0 lead.
“It was a little bit back and forth at first,” Checchia said. “The second or third drive we were able to put a nice drive together and score. Jason Shragher had a really nice run.
“On the kickoff (after the first score), we were able to recover a bobbled return. That gave us an opportunity to score again, which we did. It seemed like we might get rolling, but things slowed down. We went into halftime up 14-0, and North started to come back a little bit. They came up with some stops on defense, they hit a couple of plays and got their passing game going a little bit. We had a couple of drives, but we couldn’t get that next score, and they were hanging around, hanging around.”
In the third quarter, the Indians made it a 14-7 game when Tim Gibson caught a four-yard Jack Owens touchdown pass. Neither team scored the rest of the way.
“It came down to the last drive – we ended up stopping them and taking a couple of knees,” Checchia said.
In a game that saw neither team accumulate 200 total yards of offense, Shragher’s 68 yards and two touchdowns led both teams.
“I think Jason went into the game with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder,” Checchia said. “It’s been a frustrating year for all of us, and I feel as though he felt he had a lot to prove this game and really wanted to end his senior year on a strong note. He was able to do that.
“Defensively, Mike Marcella, another senior of ours, was in on a number of plays. Overall, our offensive line was strong throughout the game. Brandon Berghaier, a senior leader, is a big part of that.”
Both teams closed out their seasons with identical 2-8 records overall. The Golden Hawks were 2-4 in conference play while the Indians were 1-5.
Council Rock North 0-0-7-0 7
Council Rock South 0-14-0-0 14
BENSALEM 15, HARRY S TRUMAN 13
The Owls erupted for 15 points in the fourth quarter to earn their first win since opening the season with back-to-back victories.
“Oh my god, it was wonderful,” coach Ed Cubbage said. “There’s a whole list of things – 1) It was Senior Night, 2) We obviously haven’t won a game in a while, 3) We haven’t beaten Truman in a long time.
“The last time was 2011, and I was coaching at Truman at the time. My last year at Truman was 2012, we beat Bensalem for the first time in a while, and Truman has won every game since then until this year. It’s nice to break that streak. We have a nice rivalry, and this springboards us into the offseason because we start eight sophomores on defense. This win was gigantic for us in so many ways.”
Neither team scored in the first half. A three-yard touchdown run by David Wilson put the Tigers on top 7-0 after one quarter. The Owls scored back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth quarter – the first on a two-yard quarterback sneak by Richard Bardone and the second also by Bardone, this time on a scramble from three yards out. On the first, Bardone found Justin Johnson for a successful two-point conversion that put the Owls on top 8-7. Travis Welsford’s successful PAT after the second gave the Owls a 15-7 advantage.
“We’ve gone through a series of kickers because they’ve been soccer players who keep getting hurt, so our extra point kicker tonight was a senior back-up D-lineman, Travis Welsford,” Cubbage said. “He’s never played football until this year, he’s a big boy – he’s a lineman in every sense of the word. We call him the ‘Kicking Mule,’ and he made the extra point to make it 15-7 which put us up eight.
“He’s been doing it in practice for a couple of weeks now. We just threw him out there, and we got lucky. He’s 1-for-1 in his career. It’s great. It was a senior on Senior Night, and that (point) was such a difference maker because they go down and score and had to try for two. If he misses it, we’re only up seven. If they come down and score and kick the extra point, we go in overtime. It was huge.”
Welsford’s extra point loomed large when Wilson scored on a 10-yard run to pull the Tigers within two, but the pass for the two-point conversion was broken up by the Owls.
Cubbage lauded the efforts of several players in the win.
“Matt Brown on the offensive line has been a four-year kid for us,” the Owls’ coach said. “He played a lot of defense for us too, and he hasn’t done that much. He was great on defense.
“Jalen Smith is our running back and linebacker, and he was incredible on both sides. He ran the ball a lot. I’m not sure how many yards he got, but every yard was big. He was dragging people. Henry Hill also was very good on defense for us tonight.”
Smith led the Owls with 82 yards while TJ Rogers finished with 99 yards for the Tigers.
Bensalem closed out its season with a 3-7 record overall (1-5 SOL) while Harry S Truman was 4-6 overall and 3-3 in conference play.
Harry S Truman 0-0-7-6 13
Bensalem 0-0-0-15 15
SOL Continental Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 24, SOUDERTON 14
There are defining moments in every game, and the defining moment in Friday’s win came early in the second half.
Trailing 10-7, the Indians – on their opening drive of the second half – drove to the Titans’ six-yard line. They would get no further and came up empty when their field goal attempt was blocked after an errant snap.
The Titans took over and marched 80 yards on eight plays – all on the ground. Sean Smith capped the drive with a seven-yard touchdown run that put the Titans on top 17-7. The Indians never cut into that lead.
“That drive at the beginning of that half when we got the ball back was a statement drive for our guys,” coach Tom Hetrick said. “I’ve been on the offensive line the whole season – ‘Guys you gotta play with an attitude,’ and that was definitely an attitude drive.
“We were a couple of first downs into that drive, and I’m like, ‘I’m not going to pass the ball until they stop us.’ To our guys’ credit, they played so hard. That drive was huge.”
As the Titans’ came off the field after that early third-quarter drive, the offensive linemen – Tommy Wood, Justin Williams, Ryan Gibson, Eric Wilson, Dalton Hinkle and Aaron Collachi – were met with enthusiastic praise from their coach.
“I’ve been hard on them – I’m the O-line coach, so I’ve been hard on them,” Hetrick said. “They got me that one. That was unbelievable because that’s a great tough, senior-strong group. I’m just so proud of my guys.”
“They came together so well tonight,” Smith said. “That was just a great performance by them. I’m so proud of them.”
“(Running the ball) has been our bread and butter for the last two weeks. We’re just becoming a much tougher team, and we were just riding the momentum.”
After a three-and-out for the Indians, the Titans marched down the field, once again relying on the run. The drive was capped when Joe McSweeney took it in from three yards out, giving the Titans a 24-7 lead.
With the game out of reach, the Indians tacked on a late touchdown, thanks to a 55-yard Willie Goods run.
“I’m proud of our defense,” Hetrick said. “They have some dynamic football players over there. As a whole, our defense did an outstanding job. They were able to hold that very good team to 14 (points).”
The Titans have won back-to-back games over North Penn (last week) and Souderton after a heartbreaking 16-14 loss that threatened to send their season into a death spiral.
“We should have come out and won that game, but East got us with a couple of trick plays,” Smith said. “We were really disappointed, and we just wanted to prove that we were much better than that.”
There was no scoring in Friday’s game until the Titans got on the board with a field goal. Willie Goods came up with a big return on the ensuing kickoff, and Nick Guthre scored from 40 yards out to put the Eagles on top 7-3. But not for long.
The Titans responded with a drive of their own that was capped with a three-yard Smith touchdown run that sent South into halftime with a 10-7 lead.
“That was huge – we needed that momentum big time,” Smith said. “I just saw one guy outside, so I just took it and ran for the pylon.”
All but lost in the shuffle was a goal line stand by the Titans in the opening half.
“You don’t realize sometimes in the middle of the game how important those types of goal line stands are,” Hetrick said. “That one turned out to be huge.”
Central Bucks South (7-3, 4-2 SOL) – seventh in the power rankings Friday night –awaits its final seed. Souderton (8-2, 4-2), the ninth seed, also is waiting for the final seeding.
Central Bucks South 0-10-7-7 24
Souderton 0-7-0-7 14
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 28, PENNRIDGE 6
The Patriots took care of business, turning a 7-0 halftime lead into a 28-0 advantage after reeling off 21 straight third-quarter points. It was the third consecutive win for the Patriots, who have done all they can to earn a district playoff berth
“Our goal was to win the day, and the chips are going to fall where they fall,” coach John Donnelly said. “I have a call in to Kyle Berger (who keeps the power rankings), and apparently some things have to play out tomorrow. There are a lot of moving parts right now.
“We focused on what we could focus on. We said, ‘We might live to play another week or this might be the final game for the seniors, so we want to be sure we do things the right way.’ We’ve just been playing really good football, and we’ve done it with a lot of adversity this year, with a lot of catastrophic injuries. Our kids have played smart, and they’ve played with a lot of heart. I couldn’t be more proud.”
A three-yard Anthony Giordano touchdown run in the second quarter accounted for the only points of the first half. In the third quarter, Giordano had back-to-back touchdown runs – the first from a yard out and the second from seven.
Giordano capped the Patriots’ offensive outburst when he found Will Silverman with an 18-yard pass.
The Rams only score came in the fourth quarter after the Patriots had built up a 28-0 lead. Quarterback Bobby Croyle connected with Elias Dantzler from 26 yards out.
“The whole defense played extremely well,” Donnelly said. “Coach Ray Riley, our defensive coordinator, had a great scheme, and the guys executed extremely well.
“We had three takeaways and that took us to a double-digit takeaways ratio on the year, which is always good sign that you’re playing good defense. The last three weeks in particular we’ve played very good defense. I have to tip my hat to the entire defense.
“Offensively, I thought we blocked well in the run game. Will Silverman got loose for a few and set the single season record for receptions tonight. Anthony Giordano ran the ball well, which means we’re blocking well on the perimeter and in between the tackle box too.”
Central Bucks East (6-4, 3-3 SOL) will await word from the District One 6A seeding committee on Sunday. Pennridge closed out its season with a 3-7 record, 1-5 in conference play.
Central Bucks East 0-7-21-0 28
Pennridge 0-0-0-6 6
NORTH PENN 54, WILLIAM TENNENT 14
Nate Brown’s nine-yard touchdown run put the Knights on the board early. It marked the beginning of a long night for the Panthers, who had no answer for the high-power Knights. Kolby Barrow – back in the lineup again after being sidelined with an injury – connected for a 62-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Grandy, and before fans had settled in their seats, the Knights led 14-0.
A Thomas Santiago three-yard touchdown run made it a 14-7 game, but a 27-point second-quarter by the Knights put the game completely out of reach. Included in the second quarter offensive surge was an Evan Spann 46-yard rushing touchdown as well as a Grandy punt return for a touchdown.
North Penn (7-3, 4-2 SOL) – 11th in Friday’s power rankings – will await Sunday’s final rankings and will begin playoffs on the road next Friday.
SOL American Conference
CHELTENHAM 35, WISSAHICKON 17
(Statistics by Andrew Robinson/PA Prep Live: https://papreplive.com/football/2019/10/26/cheltenham-finishes-strong-against-wissahickon-for-outright-sol-american-title/)
The Panthers celebrated winning their first solo championship in program history, but coach Ryan Nase wasn’t ready to revel in his team’s perfect conference season just yet.
“When it’s all over, I’ll sit back and enjoy it,” the Panthers’ coach said. “The grind is still on. I want to make a (district) run.
“To be honest, we might have put some more pressure on ourselves because now we’re the one seed, at least I think we are. Now if we don’t make a run, we’ve disappointed ourselves.
“One of the cool things I just found out this week was apparently Cheltenham has never won a championship outright and gone undefeated in their league. That is one thing we definitely talked about this week. We wanted to be the first team to do that. Our motto this whole year has been good to great. We were good last year, we want to be great this year.”
In Friday’s regular season finale, Sam Sykes electrified the crowd with a 72-yard touchdown run, but that might well have been the lone highlight of a quarter that saw the Panthers take a 7-0 lead.
“We did not play well to start,” Nase said. “We turned the ball over three times in the first quarter. I don’t know if that’s us trying to do too much, and we press too hard or if we need to re-evaluate how we open games.
“I think part of it is we had some big hits early and we kept trying to go big when we should have been okay with just checking down, especially in the pass game. We hit them over the top a couple times, and they adjusted because they’re good coaches too. We still tried to hit them over the top when if we had thrown underneath we had openings. I think that hurt.”
The Panthers upped their lead to 14-0 when Adonis Hunter punched it in from one yard out. Aiden DeFeo’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Raejon Benjamin pulled the Trojans within a touchdown at halftime, 14-7.
Wissahickon threatened to make things interesting when Jalen Smalls raced 70 yards for a touchdown that knotted the score 14-14. A Hunter to Nate Edwards seven-yard touchdown pass put the Panthers on top 21-14. Nate DeVincent’s 32-yard field goal pulled the Panthers to within four, but back-to-back Sidiqq Williams touchdown runs – from 22 and six yards – gave the Panthers their final margin of victory.
Sykes led the Panthers with 146 yards on 12 carries while Williams had 80 rushing yards.
“Jamir tweaked his knee a little bit last week, so he didn’t play tonight,” Nase said. “Sam Sykes got most of the carries, and he did a great job.
“He really set the tone running for 72 yards on our first offensive series for a touchdown. He and Sidiqq Williams just grinded the run game out the rest of the game and gave us an opportunity to take some shots with TJ (Harris) and Nate (Edwards). That’s who we are. We think we can run the ball really well with Jamir, Sam and Sidiqq, and if you load the box to stop those guys, we’re going to take it over the top to TJ and Nate, and Adonis (Hunter) usually puts us in the right spot to do that.”
Cheltenham (9-1, 6-0 SOL) will host a District One 5A contest on Friday.
“We will host for at least a couple of weeks,” Nase said. “We’ve gotten so much support. Our new athletic director, Suni Blackwell, has been awesome. We have a new principal, and Dr. (Renato) Lajara has been so supportive of us. Our superintendent, Dr. (Wagner) Marseille, is a Division I athlete. It’s been really cool to see our administrators, our community, our student body rally behind us.”
Wissahickon (1-5 SOL) closed out its season with a 2-8 record.
Wissahickon 0-7-10-0 17
Cheltenham 7-7-7-14 35
UPPER DUBLIN 16, UPPER MORELAND 14
Tristan Cairnes scored a pair of touchdowns to lead the visiting Flying Cardinals to the win. The sophomore quarterback – who stepped in when Mike Slivka went down with a knee injury – was injured in the Quakertown game three weeks ago.
“He’s been working his way back in,” coach Bret Stover said. “He had a nice game – he made some really big throws for us.
“He had a big completion to Micah Bootman, a big completion to John Kohlbrenner and another one to Matt Sharkey.”
Cairnes scored on a quarterback draw in the first quarter to give the Cardinals a 7-0 lead. Owen Carl connected on a 35-yard field goal to make it a 10-0 game. The Golden Bears trimmed that lead to 10-8 by halftime when Dai-Jahn Dukes scored with 46 seconds remaining.
Cairnes capped the opening drive of the second half with a quarterback sneak for a touchdown that put the Cardinals on top 16-8. The Golden Bears made things interesting when – after an interception – John Knight scored a touchdown with 1:11 remaining in the third quarter, but the Cardinals thwarted their two-point play attempt and maintained their 16-14 advantage.
“We drove down to their 20 and they drove to our 20,” Stover said. “We stopped them on fourth down, and we were really able to run the clock out at the point.
“We turned the ball over to them with 30 seconds left in the game, and they had no timeouts. They made two heaves to the end zone, which you always sweat. It was a good high school football game. It’s another one – I’m sad we’re not playing them anymore.”
The Cardinals coach lauded the strong play of Dave Lashner.
“He had a couple of really big plays for us in the fourth quarter on the defensive line,” Stover said. “Logan Heim had an interception in his first game back from an injury, so we got a body back tonight which was nice. He’s a captain, he’s our middle linebacker and our quarterback on defense, so it was nice to get a senior leader back, which was very helpful, especially in a game like that.”
Upper Dublin (5-4, 3-3 SOL) awaits its seed in the District One 5A Tournament. The Cardinals were 10th after Friday’s game. Upper Moreland (5-5, 2-4) is the fifth seed out of six teams in Class 4A.
Upper Dublin 7-3-6-0 16
Upper Moreland 0-8-6-0 14
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 54, HATBORO-HORSHAM 20
(Statistics by Brian Good/PA Prep Live: https://papreplive.com/football/2019/10/25/plymouth-whitemarsh-cruises-past-hatboro-horsham/
PW continued it torrid offensive production in American Conference play.
The Hatters got on the scoreboard first on a three-yard Jordan Collazo run, but the Colonials answered when Brian Dresnin scored from three yards.
“We came back and scored, but they were moving the ball on us,” Chang said. “Phil Taormina, a sophomore who’s in for Chris Pierce, picked off a ball and ran it back 75 yards for a touchdown.
“The next drive he picked another one off and kind of jumpstarted us because we got the ball deep in their territory.”
The Colonials put the game out of reach with a 27-point second quarter to go into halftime with a 41-13 advantage. In the second quarter, Dresnin had a pair of short TD runs, and Christian Pierce returned an interception 12 yards for a touchdown. Ben Felgoise also had a six-yard TD run. The Hatters interrupted the Colonials’ tear with a 38-yard touchdown pass from Colin O’Sullivan to Christian Avery.
“I think we ran nine offensive plays in the first half,” Chang said.
Dresnin – whose third touchdown was the only score in the third quarter – surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season.
“It was great,” Chang said. “He worked so hard in the last offseason and has really put up a lot of his yards in the first half of the season. Then teams started to try and take him away in our option. He’s been patient, and he really deserves hitting that mark.”
In the fourth quarter, PW’s Josh Lynch and Hatboro-Horsham’s Omar Ali exchanged touchdowns.
“Josh Lynch scored his first touchdown of the year,” Chang said of his receiver. “He’s been blocking his butt off all year. I think it’s his first career touchdown.
“We actually put him at running back for Dresnin, and he scored.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh (8-1, 5-1 SOL), 10th in the District One 6A power rankings after Friday’s win, will learn its final seed on Sunday.
“I think our guys are playing well,” Chang said. “They’re very excited. They love the opportunity to play in the postseason and play some of these big schools out there. They’re hungry and ready to get after it.”
Hatboro-Horsham (1-8, 1-5) will await its Thanksgiving Day game against Upper Moreland.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 14-27-7-6 54
Hatboro-Horsham 6-7-0-7 20
Non-league
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 45, ABINGTON 28
The Bucks clinched sole possession of the SOL Continental title, thanks to Central Bucks South’s 24-14 win over Souderton. It is the program’s first title since 2004 and represented a remarkable turnaround from one short year ago when the Bucks were 4-6 overall and 2-4 in conference play.
“It really means a lot and here’s why – our kids and our staff have worked so incredibly hard,” West coach Rob Rowan said. “There’s not a day where we’ve come in and haven’t just worked our tails off to be better than we were yesterday, so to earn that championship – it’s a testament to everybody investing in the program, buying in and believing in each other. This means a lot, there’s no doubt.”
While some considered Friday night’s cross-over game against the Ghosts meaningless, Rowan was definitely not in that number.
“We treated this week as a playoff game, and honestly, we felt like the past three weeks of our season were playoff games,” the Bucks’ coach said. “That’s how we treated it. It was a must-win on our end, and we put all of our effort and focus into executing and doing what we needed to do to take care of business tonight.
“We didn’t make one mention of (the championship) all week because ultimately that was out of our hands. We had an opportunity to do it last week and didn’t do it. For us, it was all about Abington.”
The Ghosts took an early 7-0 lead on a Nasir Jones touchdown run, and the Bucks had an answer. The two teams went into halftime deadlocked 10-10.
“It was an evenly matched half,” Rowan said. “We had three possessions, turned it over on downs once, scored once, and Bailey Moyer had a really, really clutch long field goal at the end of the half.
“They had the ball twice – they scored once, and we held them to a field goal once, so it was a quick half. We were 10-10, and I didn’t feel like we played a great half of football defensively. We made a couple of adjustments at halftime. We challenged the guys all week to play 48 minutes of physical, physical football. In the second half, I thought our guys came out and just played at an extremely physical level extremely well and hung 35 in the second half.”
The Bucks took the suspense out of this one with a 21-point third quarter.
“Nick Olear sparked us,” Rowan said. “On the first drive, he had a big interception, and he had a big return as well. I really felt like that swung the momentum.
“From that point forward, our offensive line just clicked. (Jack) Fallon was the guy that was the major beneficiary. Josh Jackson, a halfback, started because Nick Tumolo was out with an injury this week. He had a tremendous game, and he stepped up and played a huge role.”
The Bucks’ coach also lauded the play of his senior quarterback Jack Neri.
“Jack Neri played tremendous again – he was all over on both sides of the ball,” Rowan said. “Ryan McKenna again on both sides of the ball. We ask a lot of him, and he continues to raise his level of play. He was tremendous.
“Nick Olear is a lockdown guy defensively, and offensively, he always makes big plays at the right time. He had a big catch to get us into field goal range heading into halftime. It was a total team effort.”
Central Bucks West (9-1, 5-1 SOL) will host a District One 6A playoff game next week. The Bucks, who will await their seed when all the calculations are completed, were seeded second behind Downingtown West after Friday’s win.
For the Ghosts, Friday’s loss snapped an eight game winning streak after dropping the first game of the season. Abington (8-2, 6-0 SOL) was seeded sixth in Friday night’s power rankings that are not finalized.
Abington 0-10-0-18 28
Central Bucks West 0-10-21-14 45
ACADEMY PARK 26, QUAKERTOWN 17
Academy Park quarterback Barry Brown threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns, leading the visitors to a hard fought win over the Panthers, who led 7-6 early and still led 14-12 after sophomore quarterback Will Steich found Tim Garlick with a six-yard touchdown pass. Gavin Croissette split the uprights with the extra point.
The Panthers managed just three points in the second half – that came on a 42-yard Croissette field goal.
While Academy Park piled up more than 400 yards of total offense, the Panthers managed just 247 with only 69 of those on the ground.
Steich led the Panthers’ offensively, throwing for 178 yards and a touchdown.
Quakertown (3-7, 3-3 SOL) is off until its Thanksgiving Day game against Pennridge.
Academy Park 6-12-8-0 26
Quakertown 7-7-3-0 17
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