Pennsbury defeated Harry S Truman in a key SOL National Conference game. Photos provided by Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL National Conference
PENNSBURY 42, HARRY S TRUMAN 20
Saturday’s game pitting Truman against Pennsbury was billed as a good old-fashioned conference showdown. It turned into little more than a showcase for the Falcons’ talent on both sides of the football.
Forget the final score. It doesn’t begin to tell the story of a contest that saw the visiting Falcons open up a 42-0 lead in the second quarter. Pennsbury’s defense forced five turnovers, its special teams recovered two on-sides kicks, and the Falcons’ offense accumulated more than 300 total yards.
No one anywhere – except perhaps the players in Falcons’ locker room – predicted that kind of dominance.
“They do a good job over there, and last year it was a dogfight,” Pennsbury coach Dan McShane said of Truman’s 29-24 win in 2018. “We had a lead, and we kind of blew it. Our kids had a lot of that in the back of their minds. We really felt we gave one away, and we wanted to wipe that out.
“You heard all the hype about their running backs, and we took it as a challenge. They ran through a lot of wide open holes, and we figured – let’s not leave them open holes. All the kids committed to playing good team defense. We had everybody in a hole, we had people setting the edge, we had people playing pass, rushing the quarterback. Everybody was responsible to each other.
“Bill Belichick talks about – Everybody do your job, don’t do anyone else’s job just do your job. That takes a big leap of faith sometimes for kids. A lot of times kids will want to get their name in the paper, make an impression on their girlfriend or whatever, but I said, ‘Just make average plays consistently. Don’t make a great play every now and then.’ That’s what we talk about a lot.”
It took very little time for the Falcons to set the tone, recovering a fumble on the Tigers’ opening possession and scoring on their very first play from scrimmage when CJ Kohler found a wide open Isaiah Edwards for a 33-yard touchdown and – after a Brady Burgfectal extra point – a 7-0 lead just over a minute into the game.
The Tigers’ offense was on the move with DaJuan Harris doing most of the damage as they advanced to the Falcons’ 25-yard line when Drew Hensor came up with an interception. Seven plays later, Hensor took it in from two yards out, and the Falcons led 14-0 after one quarter.
“We forced those turnovers – it wasn’t like they gave them to us,” McShane said. “When you have a lot of people in the right spots, you’re going to force turnovers. That’s one of our philosophies.”
Another Hensor interception on a fourth-and-six was the Tigers’ third turnover in three possessions. Listening to McShane tell it, the former quarterback might be making even more of an impact at safety and running back.
“He’s on both sides of the ball, and we had a feeling about that, and I’ve said to people all along – ‘I think Drew is such a competitor. He wants to play every position,’” McShane said. “I think he was putting a lot of pressure on himself in the quarterback spot. Running back is a pretty simple spot, especially in our offense, so I figured take a little pressure off of him.
“We love him on defense. All he did all summer long was intercept balls in 7v7 games. He’s really a rangy guy. He runs well. He returns kicks and punts and plays a little bit of running back. On defense, we refer to him as our whip safety. He’s a very unique player. He’s tough enough to play down low in the box versus the run, and if we ask him to, he can play high as a safety and go intercept a bunch of balls.”
JayVon McNeil opened the Falcons’ drive with runs of 10, six and seven yards. A personal foul on the Tigers was followed by a 14-yard Hensor run. Brad Mickles took it in from 11 yards out, and after McNeil ran it in for a successful two-point conversion, the Falcons led 22-0 in the opening minute of the second quarter.
The Falcons recovered an on-sides kick, and on the first play of their drive, Kohler found Christian Bond in stride for a 48-yard touchdown and a 29-0 lead. The Falcons weren’t finished yet and recovered another fumble. This time it was Josh Boyda hauling in a 12-yard Kohler touchdown pass for a 35-0 lead.
The Falcons recovered another on-sides kick, and McNeil capped this drive with a one-yard TD run that put the Falcons on top 42-0.
Only a 13-yard touchdown run by Truman quarterback David Wilson in the final seconds of the quarter prevented a first-half shutout, but the Falcons – who led 42-6 – were in complete command.
McShane was not surprised to see his defense come up big. Coming into Saturday’s game, the Falcons had allowed more than 14 points just once in six games.
“I felt real confident,” the Falcons’ coach said. “Our front four, Trevor Williams, Shane Hammer, Zach Zauzig – Rocco Sannelli has been hurt, and we really missed him. We took the big guy, William Donnelly, who’s 6-6, 300 pounds, and we felt like we wanted to overwhelm them a little bit with size. With the two running backs they have, I felt pretty good about those inside four guys along with Shane Simmons on the one edge and
Drew (Hensor) on the other edge, it’s hard to run around those two guys. They really are athletic and explosive players.
“If they run inside, (inside linebacker) Sam Burke was banging it really hard and Jack Schilling. We played a fair amount of man-to-man, which is one of the reasons we had interceptions. Christian Bond does a real good job of locking people down – he’s long, he’s rangy, he’s competitive. Brad Mickles is on the other corner. Down the middle was Matt Carey. It’s a pretty good group.
“We kind of felt we were going to be good all along. We talked all along about team defense. He (Harris) is a really explosive runner, and we thought we’ll give him one seven-yard (run), but we won’t give him five like he’s been getting. I think our kids are pretty good players, and they’re well coached.”
Kohler finished the night 8-for-12 for 153 yards and three touchdowns. McNeil led the Falcons’ ground game with 112 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries. There was no mistaking the fact that the Falcons’ tempo offense created problems for the Tigers’ defense.
“Coach (Ian) Bell coordinates that, and the whole coaching staff does a great job,” McShane said of his offensive coordinator. “It’s a very unique offense.
“I tell people – we’re not a team that runs spread plays, we are a true spread offense. We will go tempo every now and then. If there are opportunities to throw the ball, we’re going to throw it. If there are opportunities to run, we’re going to run.
“It’s really simple math – if the numbers are bad in the box, we’re going to throw it. If the numbers are good in the box, we’re going to run it. We get out on the ball early, and we get a chance to peruse the defense. Our kids really commit to that. They’re not worried about making a big show to the fans. They give the ball to the referee quickly and are ready to play the next play, get the signal and off we go.”
For the Tigers, Rogers – who had a 46-yard TD run in the second half – finished the game with 92 yards and a touchdown while Harris, who left the game with an injury but later returned, was limited to 65 yards. Wilson threw for 157 yards, which included a 64-yard TD pass to Jordan Fant, who finished with 101 receiving yards.
The win was the fourth in a row for the Falcons, who join Abington as the lone undefeated teams in conference play.
“We have long-term goals, and we realized the 0-3 start was not conducive to those goals, so you get into a baby steps mentality – let’s win this week, let’s win next week,” McShane said. “There was a little bit of extra incentive tonight because of what happened last year because of the hype they were receiving.
“We’ve gone over there and played a lot of good football over the years. I don’t know if anybody forgot that we were going to try too. Between coach Snyder and LaPalombara and now coach (Ben) Johnson, they’ve really rejuvenated that place. You can see the kids love playing for the coaches, they love playing football. They’re going to win a lot of games down the line. They’re a dangerous football team.
“They’re fired up over there, the community is fired up. That’s really good for the Bristol community. People are coming out. That’s Friday Night Lights. It’s not St. Joe’s Prep with 300 people in the stands. It’s a big crowd of the community on a Friday night or Saturday night, and that’s what high school football is supposed to be about in my mind.”
Pennsbury (4-3, 3-0 SOL) will host Council Rock South in its Homecoming Game on Friday. Harry S Truman (4-3, 3-1) will host Abington on Friday.
Pennsbury 14-28-0-0 42
Harry S Truman 0-6-0-14 20
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