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SOL American Conference
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 50, WILLIAM TENNENT 24
It was the Dylan McKenzie show.
To say the Springfield senior did it all would not be an overstatement. McKenzie not only carried the ball 33 times for a program record 354 yards and six touchdowns, he also handled the kicking duties on kickoffs and played safety on defense.
“Unbelievable game – never been done,” Spartans’ coach Chris Shelly said. “I’ve been around – I played in the 80s, and we’ve never had a kid do that. We had a quarterback account for six touchdowns – three or four passes and two runs, but this has never been done.
“We knew coming in – this was playoffs on the line, do or die, and we wanted to put the ball in the hands of our best dude. He’s just come so far.”
Friday’s win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Spartans, who punched their ticket to the District 1 4A Tournament.
“We went through a tough stretch playing PW, Cheltenham and we felt like we outplayed Upper Moreland (in a 14-12 loss),” Shelly said. “We tried Dylan at quarterback, but we really felt that limited him. Everyone knew where he was, so we moved him back to our A back position. We can move him around and get him more involved in the passing game.
“We knew Tennent was struggling, but they’re hard-nosed kids, they play hard. I give credit to their kids, but we knew they’d have some struggles in the run game, so we just kept pounding Dylan, we just kept coming after it. I knew he had a lot of carries. As a staff, we were trying to take a guess how many yards he had.”
The fun started early for McKenzie but not before the Panthers got on the scoreboard with an early touchdown. The senior running back answered with a pair of first-quarter touchdowns – the first from two yards out and the second on an 18-yard run.
“On the first drive, he had a 20-yard catch and then he scored from two yards,” said Shelly, whose team led 15-7 after one quarter. “He also had consecutive 12-yard, 18-yard runs. We were really feeling out their defense a little bit.”
In the second quarter, McKenzie scored on a five-yard run, sending the Spartans into halftime with a 23-10 lead. The senior standout bolted 67 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
His fifth TD in the fourth quarter was on a 14-yard run and his sixth and final was on a 15-yard run.
“I was happy for Dylan because he’s such a humble kid,” Shelly said. “And our offensive line – we challenged them. We said, ‘Listen, we could have some opportunities here in the run game. so we’re going to put it on Dylan,’ but we really put it on the offensive line.
“He’d be the first to tell you that our O-line consisting of a lot of seniors did a tremendous job up front.”
Comprising the Spartans’ offensive line were Will Shapley (a captain), Colby Sabin, center Cole Rumer, Frankie Willman, Jason Morrissey and tight end Ian O’Malley. All are seniors except Willman.
“They just got it done,” Shelly said. “It wasn’t all 67-yard runs, but when you’re gashing teams for 10, 12 yard runs a carry, it adds up.
“I didn’t even realize – Dylan was tired. He played both ways, he’s kicking for us now. He scores on the long run, and I have to have him come back out as a kicker on our kickoff team. It’s unbelievable. We knew he was doing a lot for us, but when I look at the game, it’s unbelievable how much the kid’s doing for us. We try and get him off when we can, but we just can’t.”
Part of the reason for McKenzie’s heavy workload is the fact that the Spartans have 15 players on the injured reserve list.
“It’s been one of those years,” Shelly said. “We lost seven starters. We knew coming into the season that we had a pretty good shot at competing with some of those teams like PW and Cheltenham, but we had to stay healthy, and we couldn’t.
“Football is what it is. We have 15 kids on the IR. Some of the guys are freshmen but still – 15 kids when we have a 60-man roster. I turn around, and we have 30 kids that can play. We’re not feeling sorry for ourselves. It is what it is. You only put 11 on the field, so we’ll put our best 11 on the field, but we’re clearly not the team we were week one.”
The Spartans’ final touchdown was scored by Ryan Gibbons.
“He had a 24-yard run to the one-yard line, and we got him in from the one,” Shelly said.
Springfield Township (5-4, 2-3 SOL) is third in the District 1 4A power rankings with four teams advancing to the tournament.
“When we won, we knew we were in,” Shelly said. “It was win and get in.”
Springfield Township 15-8-7-20 50
William Tennent 7-3-14-0 24
SOL National Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 21, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 14
This was high school football at its very, very best.
And as debuts go, the first East-West game under the lights at East was a special one.
“It was an epic night,” West coach Rob Rowan said. “It was everything you’d want in a high school football game. You had two really well-coached, highly motivated teams.
“The atmosphere was incredible. I don’t think there was a seat in the house open, standing room only around the fence line. It was everything you’d want in a high school football game.”
Vinny Cherubini’s 23-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter broke a 14-14 halftime tie and proved to be the difference in Friday’s rivalry game. Churbini finished with a team-high 100 yards on 11 carries.
“It was just a focal point for us going into this week to try and get him more involved,” Rowan said of his senior running back. “Just get him some more touches because he’s a pretty dynamic kid, and he’s had – prior to this year – two years of really strong success.
“Throughout the season we have really tried to tweak things and really get our guys in the best position possible to be successful, so we’ve asked them to do some different things this year. Him getting the call last night and seeing a bit more touches than he usually does on a weekly basis – he rose to the occasion. He ran really hard, he ran like he had fresh legs. He found holes, and he hit them. It was definitely just a really cool thing to see him be able to experience that success because he’s worked so hard this year doing what we’ve asked him to do. I’m just really happy for him.”
Although Cherubini’s TD gave the Bucks a lead, the game was far from over, but their defense rose to the occasion.
“Offensively, I don’t know what they were averaging coming into the game, but it had to be near the 30s,” Rowan said. “We knew the challenge we were up against. They have a fantastic offensive line, they have a veteran quarterback (Pat Keller) who makes really good decisions, and they have a plethora of tight ends and receivers that are available options on any give play. Of course, they have (Ethan) Shine.
“For us, it was really about a collective effort of trying to not give up big plays and really forcing them to have to earn it – keeping things in front of us. I thought in the second half it was like a bend but don’t break type of situation where they got in our red zone a couple times, and we ended up turning them over twice in the second half – once on a fumble and another on a fourth-and-one QB sneak.
“At the end of the game, they had the ball on the 16 (of West), and our guys just stepped up. Last week (in a loss to CB South), we were in a situation where we didn’t make those couple of plays, and this week we did, and that was the difference. I’m just really proud of the collective effort everyone played with defensively because in order to stop them – it has to be a collective effort.”
The two teams spent the first half exchanging scores. Eli Boehm’s four-yard touchdown run gave the Bucks a 7-0 lead after one quarter. Ethan Shine’s six-yard TD evened the score early in the second quarter.
Conor McFadden’s 39-yard touchdown reception from Cooper Ganz put the Bucks back on top 14-7, but the Patriots got that back on a 24-yard touchdown run on a reverse by Luke Wilson, sending the two teams into halftime deadlocked 14-14 and setting the stage for a defensive second half.
“I could speak about everybody,” Rowan said of his team’s performance. “Our safety play – we started our quarterback (Ganz Cooper) at safety for the first time all year last night, and I thought he played exceptionally well. He brought a level of physicality at that level – I call it the third level of the defense – that I really thought was just a welcome addition.
“And Cooper Taylor, as always, just played fantastic football. He’s so tough, he’s so smart and sound. He ended up getting a deflection in the first half which led to an interception. Those two guys are the last line of defense, and if it gets behind them, we’re in trouble.
“And then our D-line – we’re so outsized. They’re gigantic up front, and our guys just battled all night. It wasn’t pretty, but they did what we asked them to do.”
Comprising West’s defensive line were junior Jack Williams, senior Jackson Estes, sophomore AJ Gerace and senior Isaiah Thomas.
Friday’s win came on the heels of a 27-14 loss to Central Bucks South a week earlier.
“We really try to take things one week at a time – I just think it’s so critical you do that in high school football,” Rowan said. “Our staff is great, we have tremendous support across the board, and our kids – they care, and when that’s at the essence of what you do, you have the ability to do some cool things, so last night was one of those.”
The East-West rivalry might well have a third chapter this season when next week’s District 1 6A Tournament gets underway.
“Here’s the reality – it’s about 99.9 percent that we’re going back there next week,” Rowan said. “We’re going to enjoy this because any win’s a good win, and you’re going to enjoy the heck out of it, but the truth and reality is we’ve got to turn the page very quickly. We have to go back there again next week, and we have to find a way to be a really good football team again.”
East needed a win in Friday’s game to win the coveted Central Bucks Cup. As a result of West’s win, all three teams are 1-1, and it’s a draw. Since West won last year, the cup will remain in the Bucks’ possession for another year.
Central Bucks West (6-4, 5-2 SOL) was 11th in the District 1 6A power rankings after Friday’s game while Central Bucks East (8-2, 5-2) fell to fifth.
Central Bucks West 7-7-7-0 21
Central Bucks East 0-14-0-0 14
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