Pennsbury defeated Pennridge in SOL football action Saturday. Photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos. All SOS photo galleries for FOOTBALL can be viewed by clicking HERE.
SOL NATIONAL CONFERENCE
PENNSBURY 27, PENNRIDGE 24
Dan Zelenko
The 6-2, 205-pound senior was a difference maker in the Falcons’ tightlyl contested win over the Rams on Saturday, and no, he’s not a linebacker or lineman, although he well could be. Instead, he occupies the oft-neglected position of kicker.
The Falcons’ senior accomplished the unlikely and all but impossible feat of connecting on a pair of field goals in a five-second span to close out the first half. The first – set up after a kickoff return by Nathan Beighley to the Rams’ 27 – was from 28 yards and upped the Falcons lead to 24-18 with five seconds remaining.
Not enough time to score again, right? Wrong.
Zelenko’s ensuing kickoff was pounced on by Pennsbury’s Markis Rogers on the Rams’ 24.
“We were pooching it into a space they had vacated, but we would have kicked it down around there anyway,” Snyder said.
With two seconds on the scoreboard clock, Zelenko split the uprights on a 41-yard field goal.
Fans of Pennsbury football are coming to expect Zelenko’s heroics. A week earlier, the senior kicker nailed a 34-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the first half, turning a 16-14 deficit into a 17-16 halftime lead in the Falcons’ 35-22 win over previously unbeaten Central Bucks East.
“One of the things that happened – we added Dave Crocker as the kicking coach,” Pennsbury coach Galen Snyder said. “Dave’s been around a long time at a lot of different places -Council Rock, Pennsbury. He works with our kickers, long snappers, holders, all them. Between him and Dave Howe, who works with our special teams, they did a good job
“Dan Zelenko is a big strong kid. He likes the weight room. Crocker and Howe both said, ‘Hey we can make this.’ I go by what they told me. They said he could do it, so I said, ‘All right, let’s do it.’”
Zelenko’s field goals came at the end of a first half that saw the Falcons open up an early lead. Before fans had settled in their seats at Saturday’s homecoming game, Pennsbury had a 7-0
advantage, thanks to an electrifying 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Galamama ‘G’ Mulbah.
“We just started putting him deep a couple of weeks ago,” Snyder said. “If you do kick the ball to him, and he’s got a head of steam going, he can be a problem. That was huge, it’s seven points. Against a team like Pennridge, you figure points will be a little tough to come by. Going up seven there is big.”
Going up 14 was even bigger, and that’s exactly what the Falcons did when – with 5:33 remaining in the opening quarter – quarterback Shane McGurrin took it 46 yards for a touchdown.
A 59-yard touchdown run by Brennan Fisher trimmed the Falcons’ lead to 14-6, but the Falcons – benefitting from a pair of Pennridge fouls – responded with a touchdown drive that was capped with Mulbah scoring from five yards out to go on top 21-6.
That lead turned out to be anything but secure. A Pennridge drive that included a pair of big completions by freshman quarterback Noah Keating – the first to Xavier Dantzler and the second to Nick Swanson – as well as a 26-yard Fisher run culminated with a 13-yard TD run by Fisher that made it a 21-12 game.
A Falcon fumble gave the Rams a possession that resulted in another touchdown, this time on a Keating to Nate Mossbrook 23-yard strike on third and long. For the second time in as many tries, the Rams were unsuccessful on their two-point conversion attempt, and it was a 21-18 game.
Zelenko’s back-to-back field goals gave the Falcons a 27-18 lead at halftime.
The Rams scored on their opening drive of the second half with Fisher taking it in from 12 yards for his third touchdown, to pull the Rams to within three, 27-24. The respective defenses took over after that, and the game came down to one final time-consuming drive by the Rams 
that included several big completions by Keating, including a 20-yard pass to Mossbrook on third-and-long. A 10-yard pass to Tyler Wetzel gave the Rams a first down on the Falcons’ eight, but that’s where the drive stalled, thanks to some clutch defensive plays by the Rams’ defense.
“Defensively, we played well the entire year minus the first half today,” Snyder said. “I was just waiting to get back to playing like our normal selves. When we are playing that way, you have confidence that somebody is going to rise up and make a play, and that’s what happened.”
After Fisher gained five yards on first down, the Falcons came up with back-to-back stops. Pennsbury senior Eric David came up with the defensive play of the game – an interception on fourth-and-goal from the Falcons’ 14 that all but sealed the Rams’ fate.
“He plays both ways for us, and he had his ups and downs during the game, but one thing about him – he’s a tough kid,” Snyder said of David. “He doesn’t get down on himself. He keeps battling and those type of kids they battle through it, and he comes up and makes a play when he needs to.”
For the Rams, Keating threw for 186 yards and a touchdown while Fisher ran for 122 yards.
Final offensive stats for the Falcons were not available, but they were especially effective in the first half with McGurrin making good decisions on the option and Mulbuh piling up the yardage.
“We ran the option well early,” Snyder said. “I told the kids it was like a tale of two halves for us. The first half – the offense played really well, and the defense probably had the worst half – definitely – of the season. The second half the defense picked it up greatly, even coming up with two turnovers to seal the game at the end. We reversed it and the offense couldn’t get out of its way with turnovers and penalties even when we got a drive going.
“I have to credit Pennridge – they came out and played a really good game and were right there with us the whole game. They got some good football players over there, a lot of tough kids, and their staff did a really good job today, for sure.”
“Obviously, we can play a lot better overall as a team than we did today. I’m not taking anything away from Pennridge. I thought they played very well, but we can definitely clean up a lot. We have a big challenge coming up this week with North Penn.”
Pennsbury (6-1, 4-0 SOL) will travel to North Penn on Friday, and Pennridge (2-5, 1-3) will be on the road at Central Bucks West on Friday. Pennridge has lost its lost four games by a combined 10 points.
Pennridge 6-12-6-0 24
Pennsbury 14-13-0-0 27
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