Check out the recaps for SOL football teams in action Friday, and check back for a wrap with those games not included in tonight’s recaps. Pennsbury/Neshaminy photos courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography, CB West/CB East photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko, Upper Moreland/Hatboro-Horsham photos courtesy of Rimas Gaver, PW/Tennent photos courtesy of Kadi Schenk & Springfield/Wissahickon photo by Michael Rice Photography. CLICK HERE to view Suburban One Sports’ FOOTBALL GALLERIES. (CB South team photo courtesy of Kathy Leister)
SOL National Conference
PENNSBURY 22, NESHAMINY 21
Should we, or shouldn’t we? That was the big question facing the Falcons.
With 2:47 remaining on clock in the fourth quarter, the Falcons – trailing 21-14 – pulled their two-minute drill out of moth balls and marched down the field 63 yards for a touchdown when Jordan Brensinger raced into the end zone on a 23-yard run.
“We haven’t used it much, but we worked on it,” Snyder said of his team’s effective two-minute drill. “The guys protected up front. (Quarterback) David (Kane) threw a couple of good balls, and we made some nice catches on the sideline, and we kept the drive going.
“We were able to mix some run plays in with it. We did a nice job.”
Then came the big question – whether to go for one and the tie or two for the win.
“We went back and forth a few times deciding if we wanted to do it or not,” Snyder said. “We called timeout, they called timeout. I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do this.”
And do it they did, taking a 22-21 lead when Walker Murray powered his way into the end zone for the successful two-point conversion.
“We gave Walker his first carry of the year,” Snyder said. “We only did (the play) three times at practice, but it worked all three times.
“This was a total team effort. It was great to see Walker get the two at the end.”
Earlier in the game, Neshaminy scored on its opening drive when quarterback Michael Eckart faked the handoff and raced 21 yards for a touchdown and an early 7-0 Redskin lead. Pennsbury answered with a touchdown drive capped with a two-yard touchdown by Kaiden Brown.
A pattern was developing as the Falcons answered each of Neshaminy’s three touchdowns with one of their own.
“We did respond, which was good to see,” Snyder said. “We had a tough break down by the goal line (late in the first half) – we had third-and-a foot.”
A penalty moved the ball back to the six-yard line, and on third down, the Falcons managed just three, yards so they elected to go for a 20-yard field goal that was blocked by the Redskins, and the two teams were deadlocked 7-7 at halftime.
Neshaminy turned an interception early in the second half into a touchdown when Lucas Stewart hauled in an Eckart pass in stride for a 35-yard touchdown strike and a 14-7 lead.
Pennsbury got that back in a hurry when Jordan Brensinger took it 18 yards into the end zone, knotting the score 14-14.
A nine-yard touchdown run by Eckart gave Neshaminy a 21-14 lead with 2:55 remaining in the fourth quarter. That lead turned out to be anything but secure as the Falcons had the final word in this one, marching down the field and notching the win to lock up a spot in the District 1 6A Tournament.
“Credit to Neshaminy – they played a great game too,” Snyder said. “But we did keep battling back. We’ve seen a lot of adversity this year, and that’s just another example.
“We knew we could play with most teams and beat most teams. We just have to keep going. We’re starting to play our best ball now.
“It’s a credit to everyone on the game – the offense, defense, our scout team players this week and all the coaches. Everybody did a great job.”
Pennsbury (5-5, 3-4 SOL) – on the bubble at 16 when the night started – has moved up to the 14th seed in the latest rankings. The tournament spots will be confirmed this weekend, but one thing is certain – the Falcons are going to the district tournament.
“It’s great for the team obviously,” Snyder said. “It’s great for all the seniors who’ve really worked hard. The majority of our kids have worked their tails off as most of the teams in our league do.
“It’s a battle every week, and if you can come up with a great win like this it’s worthwhile.”
Neshaminy (6-4, 3-4) will also compete in the district tournament. The Redskins are 10th in the latest tentative rankings.
Pennsbury 0-7-7-8 22
Neshaminy 7-0-7-7 21
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 35, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 7
This is always a spirited rivalry, and in Friday’s latest edition, Central Bucks West had the better of play from the outset.
The Bucks took the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown with quarterback Noah Miller taking it in from 15 yards out. They never relinquished their lead on the way to the convincing win over their neighboring rival.
“We respect them, and we respect their program and everything they do,” West coach Rob Rowan said. “Obviously, the competition is always fierce. Any time you can beat your rival, it’s a great thing. Our kids deserve it. They work incredibly hard. We’re proud of them, and the work our staff puts in in a weekly basis is just second to none. It’s just a great program win.”
The Patriots – using Mike Price and Joey Craig at quarterback – got off to a good start with a sustained drive down the field but fumbled the ball on the Bucks’ three-yard line. The Bucks recovered the fumble.
“A turnover at that point in the game at that position in the field – those things are difficult to overcome,” Rowan said. “We had that happen to us last week against North Penn, going in to win the game, and we fumbled on the three-yard line. Our kids responded really well last week (in a 17-14 win).
“We have a motto defensively, and we say it every week. We tell our guys – ‘make them snap it again, make them snap it again.’ We never, ever, ever give up a drive. We’re always fighting and playing the next play. A situation like that occurred, and our guy was there to recover the fumble. It’s a big momentum swing there.”
West capitalized, driving 92 yards for the score when Ryan Clemens scored from the two-yard line for a 14-0 lead.
“It’s the ‘next play’ mentality,” Rowan said. “We really try to emphasize that, and our guys – to their credit – really do play the next play.
“East came out, and they were throwing some things at us that we weren’t going to be able to prepare for because they’ve never shown them before. They put their running backs at quarterback and did a lot of formational stuff that we hadn’t seen.
“After that first drive, I felt we were able to make a couple adjustments, get our guys to settle in a little bit in terms of what we were seeing. I’m really proud of the way we responded on that side of the ball along with offensively being able to move the ball pretty consistently.”
Late in the second quarter, West had a 50-yard touchdown drive to go into halftime with a 21-0 lead.
Early in the second half, East saw its field goal attempt go off the post, and the Bucks followed that with a touchdown drive that saw Miller connect with Devin McGowan. A failed fake punt by the Patriots gave the Bucks possession, and again it was Miller connecting with McGowan for a 19-yard touchdown and a 35-0 lead.
“Devin was electric tonight,” Rowan said. “He had three touchdowns. He’s a guy who’s been battling injuries throughout the year.
“The past two weeks he’s really, really elevated his play. He’s an explosive part of our offense that makes all the other pieces of the offense that much more dangerous. To get him involved in different ways really completes what we’re trying to do offensively.”
The Patriots scored a late touchdown when Mike Price took it in from 32 yards for the 35-7 final.
Central Bucks West (8-2, 6-1 SOL) will have a home game in next week’s opening round of the District 1 6A Tournament. Central Bucks East closed out its season with a 4-6 record, 2-5 SOL.
Central Bucks East 0-0-0-7 7
Central Bucks West 7-14-0-14 35
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 34, PENNRIDGE 6
(Stats provided by CB South football)
The Titans put the finishing touches on a perfect regular season with a convincing win over the visiting Rams – it was their 10th win in 10 games and clinched sole possession of the SOL National crown.
“It’s crazy – I told the players, ‘It’s not easy to do,’” South coach Tom Hetrick said. “Our conference is very competitive. There’s never really a down week, so to be able to be consistent, refocus and re-obsess over the next team and the next week and just grind and just keep winning, it’s not easy to do.
“It doesn’t happen that often, so we’ll take it, and I’m proud of them. CB South has had 21 football teams, and this is only the second time in the school’s history where we had an undefeated season and a conference championship outright. It was 2017 that was undefeated and won their conference outright.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the Titans came up with a stop on fourth and short. The got on the scoreboard when Jimmy Wade took it to the house on a 44-yard run. Wade also accounted for the Titans’ second touchdown with a pick six, returning it 28 yards for a touchdown.
Noah Keating put the Rams on the board when the junior quarterback broke off a 62-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion was unsuccessful.
“It was a weird start,” Hetrick said. “They popped off a long run. Their quarterback – Noah Keating – is a very good player. He’s a big boy, he can throw a football, and he can run.
“We were a little slow to get ourselves going. During the course of the season, we have been a pretty good second quarter team. We scored half of our total points this season in the second quarter. I don’t know why that is.”
The Titans added another touchdown before halftime when Owen Pinkerton connected with Danny Gies for a three-yard touchdown, sending South into halftime with a 21-6 lead.
In the third quarter, Piinkerton scored on an 18-yard touchdown run, and then Braylen Cape had a five-yard TD run for the 34-6 final.
The Titans received contributions up and down their lineup in the win, including some regulars in new positions.
For the better part of the season, Jimmy Wade has been leaving his mark on the defensive side of the football. He’s recently been integrated into the offense, giving the Titans yet another weapon.
“Jimmy Wade was doing some good things tonight,” Hetrick said. “He had a really nice touchdown run. He had a pick six in the second quarter that was just an unbelievable play.
“At the beginning of the year, he was involved in the running game, but then he got hurt at Souderton, and he lost a game and didn’t play in the (CB) West game. He came back, and he was dealing with a shoulder thing, so we pulled him out of the offensive equation, but now as we finish off the season and push into the playoffs, you have to win or there’s no tomorrow. You’re getting the ball to the guys you think can make the plays. He’s definitely one of those guys. He made some nice plays on offense, and again, the pick six was a great football play. He popped tonight, he did some good things.”
The Titans’ coach also credited Matt Harmon for assuming a new role.
“Our kicker, Addis Formelio, had his appendix taken out Sunday night, so we’re down a kicker,” Hetrick said. “So, Matt Harmon, who is all-everything to us – plays receiver, plays defensive back. Literally, the kid never comes off the field, and he says, ‘I can kick.’
“We’ve been repping him, and we know he can kick the ball, but that kid just rolled out tonight – he’s kicking the PATs, he’s kicking off, and he literally just never came off the field, and he was so solid. I just respect and appreciate what he did. It’s that kind of thing – gamers are just gamers, and he’s a gamer. I was just proud and how he just stepped in and said, ‘I’ll do that for you too’”
Pinkerton threw for 74 yards and a touchdown and ran for 66 more and a touchdown. Cape’s 80 yards on 10 carries led the Titans, who had 335 yards total offense.
For the Rams, Keating threw for 74 yards and rushed for 66.
Defensively, Jack Bartolillo led the way with 10 tackles, seven solo, with one tackle for loss. Eddie Bowen had nine tackles, five solo. Nick Micewski had the Titans’ only sack.
Central Bucks South (10-0, 7-0 SOL) is the top seed in the upcoming District 1 6A Tournament and awaits final word on their opening round opponent. Pennridge (4-6, 2-5) is off until its Thanksgiving Day game at Quakertown.
Pennridge 6-0 6
Central Bucks South 14-20 34
NORTH PENN 44, ABINGTON 7
(Check back for a complete recap of the game.)
SOL Continental Conference
QUAKERTOWN 29, CHELTENHAM 28
They are indeed the ‘Cardiac Cats.’
That’s what the Panthers were lightheartedly dubbed after their heart stopping come-from -behind win over Souderton. But that turned to be on the beginning of the nerveracking endings for the Panthers, who added another one to their 2024 resume, rallying from behind to edge the host Panthers when they executed a successful two-point conversion with 2:45 remaining and then survived a late drive by Cheltenham to escape with the win.
“It sure seems like we’ve got nine lives,” Quakertown coach George Banas said, going on to recount the Panthers’ final drive. “We were driving, and we were on the 40-yard line going in. The coaches were like – ‘You’ve got make a decision. What do you want to do if we score?
“I thought about it a little bit, and I said, ‘Get your two-point conversion ready because we’re going to go for two when we score.’”
Kyler Roesener scored on a five-yard run, setting the stage for Brady Martin’s successful two-point carry that put Quakertown on top 29-28.
“This team scores, and all of a sudden, they think they’re in it,” Banas said of his resilient squad. “As soon as we score a touchdown, it’s like – ‘All right, we can roll.’ It’s a crazy personality with this team, but they don’t put their heads down, and they don’t call it quits.
“Even at the end of the game (after Quakertown went on top 29-28), Cheltenham drove all the way down to our one-yard line. Kyler Roesener decked a kid in the backfield for a five-yard loss on a blitz. Then on the very next play – we locked everybody down, their quarterback was scrambling, and Brady came up and made a stick from the safety position at the one.
“The ball came out, there was a big scrum for it. They ended up retaining the ball with five seconds to go – they ran the clock, and they couldn’t get a play off. It was a lot more dramatic than we just went for two at the end.”
Banas credited his squad for coming through when it mattered most.
“Everybody on that field had a gut check moment,” the Panthers’ coach said. “Even when Cheltenham did get down to the one-yard line, we could have hung our heads and left them score, and they didn’t. They fought for those next couple of plays to keep them out of the end zone from the one.
“That’s not giving up. I’ve got to give everybody that played tonight a whole lot of props.”
Quakertown – after taking a 7-0 lead on a seven-yard Gavin Carroll touchdown run – spent most of the game playing catchup. The host Panthers evened the score when they returned a fumble for a touchdown early in the second quarter.
Cheltenham took its first lead when sophomore quarterback Kendall Jackson connected with Carsen Giddiens on an 11-yard touchdown pass. Giddiens caught his second TD pass from Jackson, this one from 50+ yards, and the home team took that 14-7 lead into halftime.
“They’re athletic, and that quarterback (Jackson) is phenomenal,” Banas said. “Don’t get me wrong – we were playing with a little chip on our shoulder with being one of the upset picks (in Scott Huff’s SOL Football Forecast), that’s for sure, but we just shot ourselves in the foot in the first half.
“We went up 7-0, and we were in control of the game. We stuffed them on the opening series, got the ball, drove down and scored. They got the ball, we stuffed them, we got the ball back, and we’re driving to score, and then we get a holding penalty, and we ended up fumbling the ball on a strip sack and they scooped and scored and made it 7-7. It was like self-inflected wounds. We threw a pick, we fumbled the kickoff return. There were three holding penalties against us, which is uncharacteristic, and we started dropping balls. Everything that could go wrong in the first three quarters did. We just couldn’t get out of our own way.”
In the closing seconds of the third quarter, Carroll scored his second touchdown of the game, this one on a 33-yard run to make it a 21-14 game.
Jackson hooked up with AJ Gordon for a touchdown of 60-plus yards to put the home team on top 28-14.
“Even when we got it to within one score, it’s 21-14 – we had a check-in, and we checked late, and we didn’t have a kid covered, and they scored a big touchdown to go up 28-14,” Banas said of a play with 8:18 remaining in regulation.
A 50-yard touchdown pass from Quakertown quarterback Brady Martin to Aidan Burgy for a touchdown made it a 28-21 game with 8:18 remaining. The stage was set for the dramatic ending.
“All of a sudden, things started clicking, and (Cheltenham) started going down left and right,” Banas said. “They were cramping up all over the field.
“Our conditioning is pretty good. Four quarters we were able to wear them down, and we were actually running the ball instead of throwing the ball to make this great comeback. We actually ran it down the field twice – just gashing them for 8, 10, 13 yards. We were opening up big gaping holes. Our running backs had some really nice cuts and made some big plays.”
With the win and Souderton’s win over Upper Dublin, Quakertown will share the Colonials Division title with those two squads.
“With the way that we three all play each other every year – it’s typically the three of us with some exceptions from year to year,” Banas said. “(Souderton coach) Ed (Gallagher) is a great dude, and (UD coach) Bret (Stover) is phenomenal. I respect the (heck) out of both of those guys, and to share a title with them – obviously, you sit there, and it’s woulda, shoulda, couldas, but when push comes to shove, you still say – ‘Hey, we’ll still take the championship.’”
Quakertown (6-4, 6-2 SOL) will await its final seed in the upcoming District 1 6A Tournament. Cheltenham closed out its season with a 3-7 record, 3-4 SOL.
Quakertown 7-0-7-15 29
Cheltenham 0-14-7-7 28
SOUDERTON 47, UPPER DUBLIN 21
(By Andrew Robinson for SuburbanOneSports.com)
Souderton coach Ed Gallagher knew early on that he was going to have a different-looking offense this season.
Sure, the Indians still run their trademark Wing-T, but there’s a lot more throwing involved and for good reason. With a quarterback like Ben Walsh and a stable of playmakers around him, Gallagher wanted to unleash them in whatever ways he could.
Souderton’s offense was certainly explosive, Walsh hitting all the right reads and his playmakers thriving in space as the Indians clinched a share of the SOL Continental crown.
“We are usually a ball control offense, but we’ve got weapons,” Gallagher said. “All the guys that have coached around me for years know I’d rather just run the football between the tackles and run my base Wing -T stuff, but when I have receivers like this and a quarterback that can sling it and get it to them, I’d be stupid not to be doing what I’m doing.”
The offensive numbers, from both a team and an individual perspective, were staggering for Souderton. Walsh was a maestro, connecting on 16-of-26 passes for 330 yards and five touchdowns, and the team rushed 51 times for 332 yards, picking up 26 first downs along the way.
Junior Elijah Hampton was a favored target, catching seven balls for 116 yards plus three scores and rushing seven times for 79 yards. Senior Jack Potson caught the other two touchdowns for Walsh, who also ran in a score, with the other score coming from senior Houston Marshall, who carried 12 times for 119 yards and added three catches for 78 yards.
Fullback Michael McCormick gained 66 yards on 11 rushes and while he didn’t find the endzone, the hard-running junior was not overlooked by his teammates.
“He was the one getting us a lot of those first downs and moving the ball,” Walsh said. “Great game for him tonight.”
Marshall’s 51-yard touchdown run with 9:08 left in the first quarter opened the scoring and set the stage for how the night was going to go.
“It builds a lot of trust, when there’s a play called, I don’t feel like I need to be the one to carry that ball in order to score, I can trust all my other guys can go and make a play so I’m really proud to say we have that,” Marshall said. “Last year, it felt like we might have only had two or three dudes that made plays but this year, we feel like we have six or seven and I’m really proud of that because we worked at it.”
Gallagher was encouraged by the run as well, not just for the early points but also in the way Marshall pulled away once he got in the clear.
“Houston had a little burst again tonight,” Gallagher said. “He seemed like he was wearing down a little bit the last couple of weeks. He had ACL surgery two years ago and came back last year where he wasn’t at full speed, but this year we saw those bursts of speed early in the year. That burst was back again tonight.”
Upper Dublin, which dropped its first conference game of the season and had to settle for a three-way split of the title with Souderton and Quakertown, fell further behind when it fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Souderton recovered on a short field. It took four plays for Walsh to find Potson for an eight-yard score with 7:32 left in the period.
About the only thing the Indians struggled with Friday was the point after. They missed the kick on their first score, then had mixed success going for two on their scores the rest of the first half.
Souderton’s third possession ended with a turnover on downs, but the Indians had established they could move the ball on the ground in the short passing game and vertically down the field.
“We opened up pretty much the whole playbook tonight,” Gallagher said. “I thought we executed really well, took care of the ball and got it in the endzone. Our offensive efficiency was great, and I’m thrilled with the effort.”
Upper Dublin got on the board when senior Kevin Etkin found senior Ryan O’Sullivan, who slipped a tackle and went 73 yards and cut the lead to 12-7 with 32 seconds left in the quarter. That was plenty of time to fit a few more scores in.
On the very next snap from scrimmage, Walsh hit Hampton on a short pass to the left and Hampton broke free to go 80 yards as an answer. The track meet continued when UD’s Jordan Fields ran the ensuing kickoff back 75 yards, making it 20-14 with :08 on the quarter clock.
Souderton needed what felt like an eternity, at least after the end to that first quarter, to score again when Walsh and Potson connected on a 14-yard hit with 9:12 left in the half. Potson also added a pair of sacks defensively.
While it may have gotten buried under all the yardage and scoring plays the offense was producing, Souderton’s defense had a solid game. The Indians got a crucial stop on a 4th-and-1 while defending at their own 20 with 5:26 left in the first half to hold a 26-14 lead and held UD’s offense to two scoring drives and 188 yards of offense.
“For us to hold Upper Dublin to two offensive touchdowns, I’m pretty happy because that’s a good offensive team,” Gallagher said.
The offense went right back to work, buoyed when Hunter Smeltz made a tremendous leaping catch to pick up 28 yards on a 3rd-and-19 and Marshall picked up 45 yards on a screen pass to set up a one-yard keeper run by Walsh. Smeltz had three grabs for 65 yards, 30 of them coming on a gorgeous deep ball by Walsh on the team’s first scoring drive after halftime.
“Our offensive line is a big part of that, I barely had pressure in my face at all,” Walsh said. “Elijah made a bunch of good plays, Hunter Smeltz had some big plays.”
“Listen, Ben has come such a long way,” Marshall said. “He came up with us as a freshman and I’ve gotten to see him develop and as I’ve seen him develop, we just built more and more trust. I know he can make any of those throws.”
Upper Dublin started the third quarter with a scoring drive, Fields covering the final 38 yards on three consecutive runs to give the home crowd some life.
Late in the first half, the Indians lost senior offensive lineman Jayden Bergey to an injury. Bergey, who missed his junior year with a knee injury, is one of the team’s most respected players and leaders so both Walsh and Marshall said they were motivated to win the game for him. After taking the Cardinals’ shot to start the second half, the offense punched back.
After the big pass to Smeltz, Walsh and Hampton connected again, the junior taking a short pass 48 yards to the house.
“We’ve been doing it since summer in seven-on-seven where we built that chemistry up,” Hampton said. “So I know when Ben puts it up, one of us is going to go make a play.
“I know when the ball’s in the air, it’s going to be a good ball. It’s up to one of us to go make a play, and if it’s me, Hunter, Houston, anybody, I believe in all of our guys we have on offense.”
A third Walsh to Hampton connection capped the night’s scoring, the playmaking junior again turning what looked like a short game into a dynamic 15-yard touchdown.
“Elijah is so electric when he has the ball,” Gallagher said. “Every time he touches the ball, there’s a chance he’s taking it to the house.”
Souderton finished the regular season on a five-game win streak and will play in the first round of the District 1 6A playoffs next week. They’ll be on the road, but this group doesn’t mind that one bit.
After their collapse in the second half against Quakertown, there weren’t many picking them to have a shot at a conference title at all, so Souderton is ok if they aren’t a favorite to win their playoff opener either.
“We feel good, obviously this builds a lot of confidence in us, being league champions,” Walsh said. “I don’t know if a lot of people outside of us have faith in us, but we know what we have.”
“We’ve done it all season, so we want to keep proving the doubters wrong,” Hampton added. “I love being an underdog.”
Souderton (7-3, 6-1 SOL) – ninth in the latest rankings – will await its final seed for the District 1 6A Tournament. Upper Dublin (7-3, 6-1) is tentatively sixth in the District 1 5A Tournament.
Souderton 20-12-8-7 47
Upper Dublin 14-0-7-0 21
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 28, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 6
Rock South defended a Rock Cup it owned, winning the coveted Unity Trophy for the second straight year.
“It was really important for the program,” Rock South coach CJ Szydlik said of the win. “I think it was important for the seniors who have worked so hard to go out on the note that obviously they deserved.
“They’ve sacrificed a lot. There were a lot of young kids that played well for us this year, and sometimes some of the seniors had to take the brunt of ihat and didn’t get to play probably as much as they would have liked. Not one left – they were all there all year and all battled and then got to play basically the whole second half of the game, which was very nice. It was big for our program.”
The Golden Hawks opened up a 21-0 halftime lead with Nate Szydlik, Gavin Lacey and Pat Malone each collecting a TD.
“Most importantly tonight, the moment wasn’t too big for us, especially early,” Szydlik said. “I thought we probably played our best half. We’ve played really well the last couple of weeks, so it was trending in this direction.
“For it to continue was a huge thing. Next year, these kids have all been through this. They’ve all played in these types of games, which will be huge for us when you’re hoping to have a really successful year.”
Ryan Small scored a touchdown in the second half to put the Golden Hawks on top 28-0 before the Indians scored a late touchdown.
“I thought our offensive line was huge – we were able to run the football,” Szydlik said,
Comprising the Hawks’ offensive line were Kyle Grasso, Anthony Cimino, Anthony Contoudis, Michael Smith and Micky Trammpe. All are juniors except for sophomore center Michael Smith.
“We started out, and we ran the ball,” Szydlik said. “Nate (Szydlik) went about 65 yards and then got tackled at the five. We’re one of those teams that have kind of been snakebitten. You’re still nervous even though you’re down there, and then we plunge it in, and you’re like, ‘Oh, thank god.’ We just sometimes can’t catch a break so that was a break for us.
“We also played really well defensively. We started playing well in the second half of Souderton. I think it finally just clicked, and obviously, the defense led us – so many three and outs, so many opportunities. When you know you’re going to get off the field on defense, you can trust that you can just run the football, and that’s how teams win, and honestly, this was a total team win.”
Council Rock South closed out its season with a 4-6 record overall, 3-4 in the SOL, and Council Rock North had a 1-9 record, 1-6 in the SOL.
Council Rock North 0-6 6
Council Rock South 21-7 28
BENSALEM 42, HARRY S TRUMAN 13
The Owls ended their season on a decidedly high note.
Not only did they earn a convincing win over their rivals, but the win also evened the team’s record at 5-5 on the heels of back-to-back 2-8 years.
“We were playing a lot of young guys – freshman and sophomores,” Bensalem coach Alex Houston said of the two-win seasons. “So, this year, we thought we had a chance to be pretty good. We didn’t ultimately get to our goal of getting into the playoffs, but we took another step. We return a good number of players, and we’re excited.
“I was really able to mold these guys and work with these guys and really want them to experience success. The next class of seniors coming up – we’ve been working with them as a staff for three years. A lot of these guys played when they were freshmen, and they got hammered, so for them to be able to experience some success, that’s huge for our program because the year before I got here, they were 0-10.”
Junior Aidan Mayfield – who had four touchdowns – reached a personal milestone, surpassing the 1,000-yard mark and highlighting a 42-point explosion by the offense.
“I’m really pleased that our guys bounced back from a tough loss last week against Upper Dublin,” Houston said of his team’s 17-10 loss to the Cardinals. “I was glad we played hard, I was glad these seniors were able to experience this and get a win.
“I thought our offensive line played well.”
Comprising the Owls O-line that paved the way for a big night for Mayfield and company were Joey Ott, Joe Dougherty, Kyree Sanders, Jake Quinlan and freshman Wesley Cook
Houston also had high praise for players on the defensive side of the ball.
“Defensively, Jaden George, Evan Varallo, Kenley Silaire and Demarcus Burke – I thought they played really, really well,” Houston said. “We gave up some points toward the end of the game, but I’ll give it up to Truman. It was their Senior Night, and we knew they would play hard. I was just glad our guys could experience this.
“Our guys work hard, our coaches work hard. We need a few more players. Our roster – by the end of the season – gets a little small.
“If we can have a good offseason, graduate our guys, try to get them in good places and come back and work hard and do it again.”
Bensalem closed out its season with a 5-5 record overall (3-4 SOL), and Harry S Truman closed out its season with a 1-9 record overall, 0-7 SOL.
SOL American Conference
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 35, WILLIAM TENNENT 2
The Colonials took care of business in a hurry, opening up a 35-0 halftime lead on their way to the big win that clinched sole possession of the SOL American Conference title.
“It was all-around efficiency on all sides of the ball,” PW coach Dan Chang said. “I thought we played well defensively. We only ran 15 offensive plays with our first group, so there was a lot of scoring on defense and special teams, which is nice to have.”
Andrew Ianozzi put the Colonials on the board with a two-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. The Colonials blew the game wide open in the second quarter with a 28-point outburst. Everett Baker – a running back who is also the team’s punter – got the ball rolling.
“We were punting, and he saw the edge, and he ran for a 50-yard touchdown on our first punt,” Chang said. “He thought he could get a first (down), and he ended up getting a touchdown.
“Then Ev Baker returned a punt for a 52-yard touchdown, and Baker followed that with a one-yard touchdown. Then Christian Diciurcio returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown.”
The PW coach credited the strong play of Jaden Josph on the defensive side of the ball
“Another shoutout to Jaden Josph on our defensive line,” Chang said. “He’s the guy teams have to know where he is all the time.
“Our kicker Max Peterson was pretty good in our kickoff game, and he was 5-for-5 on extra points.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh (8-2, 5-0 SOL) will await its final seeding in the District 1 6A Tournament while William Tennent closed out it season with a 3-7 record overall (1-4 SOL).
Plymouth Whitemarsh 7-28-0-0 35
William Tennent 0-0-0-2 2
SPRINGFIELD TWP 50, WISSAHICKON 49
(Check back for a complete recap of the game.)
UPPER MORELAND 28, HATBORO-HORSHAM 0
(Check back for a complete recap of the game)
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