Check out the recaps for SOL football teams in action Friday. CB South/Pennridge photos courtesy of Jenn McDonald, CB West/CB East photos courtesy of Kim Supko, Souderton/Upper Dublin photos provided courtesy of Shannon O’Sullivan, Pennsbury/Neshaminy photos courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography, CR South/CR North photos courtesy of Dave Oakill, CB South/Pennridge photos courtesy of Jenn McDonald, and Upper Moreland/Hatboro-Horsham photo courtesy of Richard Owens. Check back for photo galleries.
SOL National Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 21, PENNRIDGE 14
CB South coach John Cataldo called it his team’s “best drive of the season.”
Anything less wouldn’t have been enough after Pennridge – owners of a defense that had never allowed more than 11 points in any of its nine games – took a 14-13 lead with 3:09 showing on the scoreboard clock.
The Titans’ must-score drive began on their own 20 and ended 13 plays later with sophomore quarterback Trent Haviland finding Gavin Graham with a 10-yard touchdown pass.
“It was a pop pass to Gavin Graham – just a quick pass up the middle,” Cataldo said.
The Titans capped the game-winning sequence with a successful two-point conversion on a Haviland to Javin Kube pass to go on top 21-14 with 23 seconds remaining on the clock.
“That drive was probably the best drive of the season,” Cataldo said. “It showcased everything that we can do at the highest level.
“We ran the ball effectively. We did drop-back passes effectively. We did play-action passes, and the boys executed to the best of their ability when we needed it the most. It was a heck of a time for our offense to show what they’re capable of, and they did it.”
The Rams, meanwhile, were left with 23 seconds to go 60 yards. It didn’t happen, and the Titans celebrated what most would have considered unlikely – winning a share of the SOL National Conference title with previously undefeated Pennridge and Central Bucks West. All three have identical 6-1 record.
“Pennridge – they’re the defending champs,” Cataldo said. “They have an outstanding football team on both sides of the ball.
“This team has overcome so much adversity. It was fitting that it had to be the way that we won the game. That’s just another feather in this team’s cap. You think about the adversity this team has overcome all year, and that final drive was a true symbol of how mentally tough this team is and how physically tough they are. I’ve never been more proud of a group of kids.”
Nothing came easily for either side in this one.
The Titans drove to the Rams 33 on their opening drive but came up empty, turning the ball over on downs. They got on the scoreboard first with just under eight minutes remaining in the second quarter when Graham capped a 59-yard drive with a four-yard TD run. South took that 7-0 lead into halftime.
With just over a minute remaining in the third quarter, Pennridge answered when Trevor Picciotti punched it in from three yards out. Austin Keller’s extra point evened the score.
The Titans had an immediate answer with a drive that featured runs by Colin White Sean Bulicki and Graham. It was Graham punching it in from three yards out and the Titans – after a failed PAT – led 13-7.
“Our running backs did what they always do,” said Cataldo of Bulicki, White and Graham. “They always run very hard.”
Pennridge responded with an impressive 76-yard drive of its own that featured a whole lot of Trevor Picciotti and was capped with Aiden Tetkowski connecting with Nate Derstine on a 25-yard touchdown pass. Keller’s extra point gave the Rams a 14-13 lead, but the game was far from over.
“It was truly a battle from start to finish, back and forth,” Cataldo said. “It’s two football teams that I believe are very similar in philosophy. They want to run the ball, control the clock, pass with efficiency, and play very strong defense.
“We have a very similar philosophy, so we knew it was going to be a battle. We’re just really proud of the resilience we showed on that final drive.”
There was plenty of credit to go around after this one.
“The entire offensive line deserves so much credit,” Cataldo said. “They were opening up holes. Our running backs did what they always do. They always run very hard, but our offensive line showed amazing toughness tonight.”
Comprising the Titans’ offensive line are Frank Johnson, Mike Dolan, Wyatt Whitaker, Braden Cube, Brody Horvat and tight end Andrew Rizzo
“Defensively, it was our box — our defensive line and our linebackers,” Cataldo said. “Sonny Wade was outstanding tonight. Sean Bulicki was outstanding. Javin Kube, as always.
“These kids have embraced overcoming adversity, being present and controlling what they can control. I knew they were mentally tough, and tonight their physical toughness matched it. That’s why we were able to do what we did. I couldn’t be more proud of the kids and my fellow coaches.”
The Titans held a 269-236 edge in total yards but had 20 first downs to just 10 for the Rams. South finished with 214 rushing yards. White led the way with 20 carries for 97 yards while Graham had 16 carries for 75 yards and two touchdowns. Haviland completed 6 of 10 passes for 81 yards and a TD.
Trevor Picciotti led the Rams with 110 rushing yards and one TD, and Tetkowski threw for 116 yards and a touchdown.
Central Bucks South (6-4, 6-1 SOL) was eighth in the latest District 1 6A rankings while Pennridge (9-1, 6-1) is third.
Pennridge 0-0-7-7 14
Central Bucks South 0-7-0-14 21
PENNSBURY 20, NESHAMINY 6
This is a rivalry that never gets old with the latest chapter belonging to the Falcons, who notched their fourth win of the season under first-year coach John Greiner.
“I’m just happy for the seniors to go out on top after a grueling 1-9 season last year,” the Falcons’ coach said. “Shout-out to all the coaches who kept the mojo going at practices. It would have been really easy to get down when we had that four-game losing streak, especially against East and South, which were two tight ones – we lost to East in overtime by a point and then South by a touchdown.
“For the coaching staff, especially Coach (Christian) Day and Coach (Shane) Oros, leading the offense and defense along with the other coaches on staff, just keeping them going all the time was tremendous. With high school athletes, it’s easy for them to get down and think bad things, but they fought all year long, kept their heads above water and showed out tonight.”
After coming up empty on their opening drive, the Falcons appeared to break through on their second when quarterback Jack Arndt connected with Shane Mulvey on an 11-yard completion in the end zone, but the TD was waved off for a holding call.
Neshaminy took over on downs at their own 26 but lost the ball when Sam Comer and Nate Ketchum combined for a quarterback sack. Garland Dockery fell on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown and a 6-0 Pennsbury advantage.
Then it was the Redskins capitalizing on a botched snap on a punt, recovering the football on the Pennsbury two-yard line. Two plays later Luke Howell punched it in, and the two teams were deadlocked 6-6.
“We had a touchdown pass called back on a penalty, which I’m not too happy about, but then we got on the board, and unfortunately we had a mishap with a punt, and they had a two-yard touchdown score,” Greiner said. “Then our offense sort of got on track after that.”
Pennsbury took a 13-6 lead into halftime after Luke Beighley raced 55 yards to the house.
If there was a defining stretch in the game, it came on an 80-yard drive on the Falcons’ opening possession of the second half that ate close to nine minutes off the scoreboard clock and was capped when Arndt connected with Sylvester Jones on an 18-yard touchdown pass that put the Falcons on top 20-6.
A big play on the drive was a 13-yard completion on third down from Arndt to Mulvey.
“He’s a junior tight end that we sort of thrust into the position the second week of camp in August,” Greiner said of Mulvey. “We were trying to figure out who was going to play there, and some players we originally had there – we switched positions.
“Shane has done a tremendous job buying into that position and doing the dirty work with the blocking. He had a huge game for us, blocking and also catching. Most of the catches by the receivers were third-down catches to extend drives, which is a step in the right direction.”
This night, according to Greiner, belonged to the seniors.
“I felt good about the seniors going out winning and going out on top,” the Falcons’ coach said. “You had Luke Beighley with a long touchdown run toward the end of the second quarter, and then senior Sylvester Jones scoring the touchdown in the third quarter, capping off a tremendous drive. We held the ball for over eight minutes.”
Senior Evan Appleton also had several catches for the Falcons, and Henry Garlits was the workhorse on a fourth quarter drive that ate up clock.
“We had a seven-minute drive — it was 7:14 — to end the game, and we just kept the chains moving,” Geiner said. “Henry was a big part of that. He was just pushing the load from a running back standpoint and keeping the chains moving in the fourth quarter, draining the clock.
“The offensive line did a tremendous job as well.”
Pennsbury closed out its season with a 4-6 record (2-5 SOL) while Neshaminy was 3-7 (1-6 SOL)
Pennsbury 6-7-7-0 20
Neshaminy 0-6-0-0 6
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 41, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 14
The Bucks – with methodical precision – rolled to a win over the Patriots that clinched the coveted Central Bucks Cup. They had even more reasons to celebrate when, thanks to Central Bucks South’s win over previously unbeaten Pennridge, they captured a share of the SOL National Conference title, sharing it with CB South and Pennridge. All three teams have identical 6-1 records.
“It’s pretty awesome,” West coach Rob Rowan said. “It’s cool. We knew going into the game that we had a lot of things in front of us in terms of what could happen. Our guys have worked incredibly hard this year, and I couldn’t be more
proud of them and happy for them to be able to own that.
“Our focus was obviously on taking care of our business, but there’s a three-way share of the league title with Pennridge and CB South, and we’re really fired up heading into the playoffs right now. We’re just excited, and we’ve got to keep getting better.”
The titles were the rewards of what Rowan called “a total team effort and execution.
“We really challenged our guys this week to execute at a high level and really play our best game,” Rowan said. “Our guys came out right from the get-go.”
The tone for the game was set early when – after the Patriots fumbled after crossing midfield on their opening possession – the Bucks recovered the loose ball, and one play later, Braylen Cape raced 60-plus yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
“Obviously, that just kind of set things off,” Rowan said. “But again, that comes back to execution, and obviously Braylen being a supremely talented runner. I thought he really stepped up tonight.”
The Patriots answered with an impressive drive but stalled at West’s 15, turning it over on downs.
“That was huge,” Rowan said. “We have a mentality defensively where we say, ‘Make them snap it again.’
“Our guys are confident in their ability to get stops, and I think it speaks to their attitude and the way they play the game defensively.”
That set up a West scoring drive that was capped when quarterback Josh George connected with Shane McCuen on a 27-yard touchdown pass to put the Bucks on top 14-0 early in the second quarter.
A three-and-out for the Patriots set up another big play for the Bucks. This time it was Finn Riley scoring on the first play from scrimmage, and the Bucks led 21-0 with seven minutes
remaining in the half, which was still plenty of time for another scoring drive that culminated with George finding Ashton Stass on a 24-yard touchdown pass.
“We had multiple guys step up tonight, and I think it just speaks to the assortment of weapons that we have offensively,” Rowan said. “That’s four different guys who scored a touchdown tonight. That’s important for us to continue to grow as a team, to make sure that all the weapons we have are involved and execute at a high level. Our guys demonstrated that tonight.”
A big kickoff return by East’s Isaiah Bell set the stage for a reverse that saw Tommy Seiler take it to the house on a 40-yard TD run that made it a 27-7 game at halftime.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but West opened the fourth quarter with a 95-yard scoring drive that was capped with Nick Miletto scoring on a 16-yard run.
The fourth quarter included a six-yard touchdown run by Cape. An East drive against West’s backups featured a whole lot of Asher Green, who scored from the one for the 41-14 final.
“Defensively, again, it’s just a total team effort,” Rowan said. “We went into it knowing that it was going to need to be a team effort.
“I just thought we really bottled up what they like to do best.”
Up next: Central Bucks West (9-1, 6-1 SOL) is second in the latest District 1 6A rankings while Central Bucks East (6-4, 4-2) is ranked 10th.
Central Bucks East 0-7-0-7 14
Central Bucks West 7-20-0-14 41
NORTH PENN 62, ABINGTON 14
The Knights – still battling a rash of injuries – brought a welcome end to an uncharacteristic three-game skid with a mercy rule win over the Ghosts.
Sal Colella opened the scoring with back-to-back touchdowns, and that was followed by London Evans connecting for a pair of TDs – the first to Will Rittenhouse and the second to Jacob Garrett.
Garrett followed that with a 50-yard touchdown run, and then it was Evans connecting with Kai Corbin on a 45-yard touchdown pass, sending the Knights into halftime with a 41-0 advantage.
In the second half, Jayden Jenkins had a 65-yard touchdown run, Jake Weidenmiller had a 50-yard TD run, and Jaxson Suttie had a two-yard touchdown run.
Up next: North Penn (5-5, 3-4 SOL) is 14th in the latest District 1 6A power rankings and – if the current rankings hold – would face Pennridge in an opening round contest. Abington closed out its season with a 2-8 record (0-7 SOL).
North Penn 41-21 62
Abington 0-14 14
SOL Continental Conference
SOUDERTON 23, UPPER DUBLIN 6
Sparked by the three-touchdown effort of sophomore Levi Lopez, the Indians closed out their season on a high note. They now find themselves firmly on the bubble at 17 in the latest District 1 6A power rankings in what will be a 16-team field.
“We’re not mathematically eliminated yet, so we still have a shot,” said Souderton coach Ed Gallagher, who would get back some key players who have been sidelined with injuries if his team extended its season. “Stone McKenna would be fine to come back next week if we make the playoffs. We could get a lot of kids back depending upon what happens tonight.
“Caleb Moyer got cleared yesterday, so he could play next week if we make the playoffs. I was really hoping to get in and go play Pennridge. That would have been awesome. If we get in and go play Downingtown East, that’s the way it is. You can’t change what it is. But I’d be thrilled to have another week because we would get some of these kids back, and I’d like to see what we could do.”
The Indians saw their injury list grow just moments into Friday’s regular season finale.
“In the first quarter, on our second possession, Max Potson, our center, who also plays defensive tackle, dislocated his elbow,” Gallagher said. “Luke Martinson filled in at center and played the rest of the game. He must have done a good job because I don’t remember anything glaringly bad. Sometimes you’ve just got to watch the film to find out how well they actually did.”
The Indians put a touchdown on the board when Lopez scored on a nine-yard run and -after the extra point – led 7-0. In the second quarter, UD scored a touchdown but a botched extra point allowed Souderton to go into halftime with a 7-6 advantage.
In the third quarter, the Indians went up 9-6 after a safety.
“We had a couple sacks and pinned them deep, and they decided to take a safety instead of punting out of the end zone,” Gallagher said. “They just ran out of the back of the end zone, so we took a 9-6 lead.
“Then they kicked off to us, and we had great field position. We went down and scored, which put us up 16-6.”
Once again it was Lopez taking it into the end zone – this time on a fourth-and-goal from the three-yard line.
“As we were closing it out and running out the clock, Levi (Lopez) scored from about 25 yards out.”
The injuries forced Gallagher to use young players who gained valuable varsity experience.
“We had a very good senior class,” the veteran coach said. “A lot of them were hurt, sadly.
“It was crazy. You think about our skill players, our backs. Caleb Moyer played a game and a half, so he was out again tonight. Vic Santangelo has been out for the past four weeks. Terrel Dickerson has been out for the past six weeks. Stone McKenna was out last week and was held out this week.
“Our freshman fullback had a couple of really nice carries early on, and then he got an AC sprain in his shoulder, so he came out. Alex Whitcomb was hobbling around with a bad ankle all week. He tried to play, but he couldn’t run, so we played without him, too.”
The injuries mounted in Friday’s game.
“Brett Pollock got hurt,” Gallagher said of his senior quarterback. “So, Brandon Alderfer played quarterback the whole second half. He played great on defense. He had a heck of a game.
“Chase Hart hurt his hip, then he rolled his ankle and had to come out for a little bit. But he went back in. He had a heck of a game. Chris Ormeño got hit in the head and had to come out, so he didn’t finish the game.
“We had a sophomore quarterback, a sophomore fullback, who replaced the freshman at fullback, and a sophomore right halfback who had three touchdowns. He’s been our best runner all year. We played a lot of young kids and managed to get through it. It’s been crazy just watching.”
Souderton closed out its regular season with a 4-6 record, 4-2 in the SOL and awaits its final fate. Upper Dublin closed out its season with a 3-7 record overall and a 2-4 record in league play.
Souderton 7-0-9-7 23
Upper Dublin 0-6-0-0 6
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 49, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 14
The Golden Hawks scored early and often on their way to the mercy rule win in Friday’s Rock Cup contest.
Rocco Szydlik opened the scoring on a jet sweep after a long run by Jerry Rogers. Cannon Benzio connected on a long pass to Ryan Kruszczynski, who was tackled at the one. DJ Andrzejewski took it in from there.
By halftime, the Golden Hawks led 49-0 on their way to the win.
“We obviously tried to just get ourselves on track,” Rock South coach CJ Szydlik said. “It’s still a rivalry game. You still have to handle your business and at the same time make sure you’re going in the right direction.
“It was a nice opportunity at the end to get some of the younger guys a lot of playing time, which is good for us.”
Up next: Council Rock South (4-2, 6-3 SOL) is 11th in the latest District 1 6A power rankings. Council Rock North closed out its season with an 0-10 record.
Council Rock North 0-0-7-7 14
Council Rock South 35-14-0-0 49
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 49, BENSALEM 14
The Colonials opened up a 21-0 lead after one quarter and never looked back on their way to a win that clinched a share of the SOL Continental Conference crown.
Jaiden James set the tone for a big night with a 65-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Then it was Michael Giangiulio scoring on a 73-yard run. Cole Reilly’s seven-yard TD run put the Colonials on top 21-0 after one quarter on their way to the mercy rule win.
Giangiulio led a balanced ground attack with 96 yards and a touchdown on just three carries. James Cain had two carries for 66 yards and a touchdown while Reilly had six carries for 41 yards and two touchdowns. Noah Alston had one carry for 40 yards.
For the game, the Colonials rushed for 329 yards.
Bensalem had 179 yards on the ground.
Up next: Plymouth Whitemarsh (9-1, 5-1 SOL) is fourth in the latest District 1 6A power rankings. Bensalem closed out its season with a 2-8 record.
Bensalem 0-7-0-7 14
Plymouth Whitemarsh 21-28-70-0 49
SOL American Conference
HARRY S TRUMAN 42, WILLIAM TENNENT 21
(Check back for a complete game recap)
UPPER MORELAND 42, HATBORO-HORSHAM 7
(Check back for a complete game recap)
WISSAHICKON 45, SPRINGFIELD TWP 0
(Check back for a complete game recap)
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