Check out the recaps for SOL football teams in action Friday.
Non-league
WILLIAM TENNENT 28, CONWELL-EGAN 22
A pair of seniors had big nights for the Panthers – Fernando Delgado ran for 150 yards and a touchdown while fullback Ryan Marinucci ran for three touchdowns and also had an interception at linebacker.
“They both had big games,” said Tennent coach Rich Clemens, going on to acknowledge the contributions of this year’s seniors. “We had these guys for three years. They didn’t have the season they should have had, but they had a season they’re always going to remember, and I’m just glad they were able to have it.
“I don’t know exactly, but it’s the first time Tennent won the last game of the year in at least a decade. These guys – in a horrible situation – still progressed the program. They still took the next step building something at William Tennent, and to do it under these circumstances – you couldn’t ask for anything more from them.”
The Panthers led 14-0 after back-to-back touchdown runs by Marinucci – the first from five yards and the second from two. Delgado raced 55 yards for a touchdown and Marinucci scored his third touchdown from four yards out to send the Panthers into halftime with a 28-14 advantage.
The Eagles made things interesting, pulling to within six in the fourth quarter with 1:08 remaining. Their on-sides kick attempt failed, and the Panthers held on for the win.
“We completed one pass, and we scored 28 points,” Clemens said. “We knew we had to control the ball and coach Cordero (Newkirk) called a game for us to control the ball, and we did and we were able to win the game.”
“They had some playmakers. Even at the end of the game – we’re up by two touchdowns, they throw the ball out to number 10 (Andrew Garwo), he breaks two tackles and goes for 80 yards, and the next thing you know – it’s a six-point game, and we’re hoping we recover the on-sides kick and win the game, which we did and win the game, but it was down to the end.”
The Panthers’ coach credited the play of his offensive line in the win – tight end Owen Clark, tackles Connor Fithian and AJ Meltzer, guards Cormac Savage and Dylan Drulis as well as center Mike Costello.
The Eagles – led by ODU-bound running back Khian’Dre Harris – had an advantage in total yards, but the Panthers helped their own cause with several clutch defensive plays.
“We recovered a fumble in the end zone with them going in – Mike Costello caused the fumble and he recovered it as well,” Clemens said. “And Ryan Emmerich had an interception in the end zone.”
Clemens was thrilled to add a pair of games to his team’s five-game league schedule.
“That’s what this season was all about,” the Panthers’ coach said said. “When I spoke to John Creighton, our AD, and said, ‘We’re going to play whoever we can play, whether they have two Division 1 running backs or not because we want these kids to have an opportunity to play.’
“We are not going to obviously give them the full high school experience playing football, but we’re going to do our very best to give them whatever we can. You can’t go inside for practice when it rains, etc., etc., etc., but we got them the games.
“Egan is a very talented team. They have a guy going to Temple, a guy going to Old Dominion. They just beat CB East. We picked the game up, we’re going to tell our kids we believe in them, roll the dice and see how it goes. The kids came in with the belief that they were the better team, and our guys played like it. They played really well.”
William Tennent closed out its season with a 3-4 record overall (2-3 SOL)
Conwell-Egan 0-14-0-8 22
William Tennent 7-21-0-0 28
NESHAMINY 62, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 27
Chris James put an exclamation point on a stellar career on Friday, rushing for 163 yards and five touchdowns on just 12 carries in the Redskins’ season finale. Fellow senior David Miller ran for 130 yards on 18 carries on a night that saw the visiting Redskins rush for over 400 yards.
While acknowledging his team played well, coach Steve Wilmot was most pleased that his seniors had an opportunity to play six games – five conference game and Friday’s non-league contest.
“Normally they’re playing 10 games, and if we’re lucky enough to make the playoffs, we do that,” Wilmot said. “This year was five games, and we didn’t make the playoffs, so we were just happy to play CB South.”
According to the Redskins’ coach, this senior class was special.
“We started in the weight room last December, and you could just tell the atmosphere in the weight room was just a little bit different than even the year before and maybe even the year before prior,” Wilmot said. “The way we played football this year was kind of Mark Schmidt football – I formation.
“Going back to the weight room – I used to do the weight room every single year, and it was kind like an old-fashioned Neshaminy weight room. It was a blue collar type of experience in there, it was a lot of hard work, a lot of grunting and groaning. It just felt different this year than a couple of years prior, and you could just tell that this senior class wanted to be remembered as a special senior class.
“Unfortunately, we had a couple months off, but when we came back July 8, it was again all about hard work and what do we have to do. There were absolutely no problems with this team. It was a pleasure every single day to get out there with these guys – ‘Coach, what do we have to do?’ They would just go right out there and do it.”
In Friday’s finale, South got on the scoreboard first when quarterback Carter Hallgren connected with Tommy Donnelly for a 33-yard touchdown. Then James went to work, scoring four consecutive touchdowns. He set the tone for an explosive offensive night by racing 90 yards to the house on South’s kickoff after taking an early lead. He also had TD runs of 23, 4 and 53 yards.
“Chris James was just appreciating that he got one more time out there, and he was making the most of out of every carry,” Wilmot said.
John Hutchinson (31 yards) and Nunzio Zydzik (27 yards) both had touchdown runs to put the Redskins on top 41-7 before the Titans used another Hallgren to Donnelly connection – this one from 50 yards – to make it a 41-14 game after one frame.
In the second quarter, Aiden Schlupp found Michael Donato with a 23-yard touchdown pass and James closed out an impressive outing with his fifth touchdown – this one from 48 yards.
In the third quarter, Tommy Garlick caught a four-yard TD pass from Zydzik before the Titans closed it out with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns – a Donnelly 48-yard TD reception from Patrick Maerz and a four-yard touchdown run by Ben Wenzke.
Hallgren threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns while Maerz threw for 127 yards.
Neshaminy closed out its year with a 5-1 record (4-1 SOL) while Central Bucks South was 2-5 (2-3 SOL).
Neshaminy 41-14-7-0 62
Central Bucks South 14-0-0-13 27
NEWS HOPE-SOLEBURY 23, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 8
The Lions trailed 8-3 at halftime but scored 20 unanswered second-half points to earn the non-league win over their neighboring school.
“The one area we struggled in this year – we gave up a lot of points,” NHS coach Jim Ditullio said. “In a few of the games, we were out of position to make plays, but I was really proud of the defense last night. Coach (Joe) Goodman, my D coordinator, did a really nice job. We had three interceptions, and a couple of them were in key spots.”
In the second quarter, Chris Kolen connected on a 28-yard field goal to account for the Lions’ only points of the opening half. Joey Capriotti’s 32-yard touchdown run put the Lions on top 10-8 after three quarters.
“We kicked off (the second half), we held them, and we drove and scored,” Ditullio said. “They started to drive again, and we had a couple of interceptions in key spots. Defensively, we really stepped it up.
“Ralph Miller had a key interception. Dylan Hildebrandt had another and Sean Cooney – those three came up pretty big defensively for us.”
The Lions added a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Phil Weinseimer scored from two yards out and Capriotti had a one-yard TD run for the 23-8 final.
Capriotti led the Indians’ ground game with 19 carries for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Weinseimer had 14 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown.
“I was disappointed – after the first series, he came over to me and said, ‘Coach, I can’t grip the ball. It’s soaking wet,’” Ditullio said. “In pregame, the field was really, really wet, and all of our balls were really wet and they started to get heavy.
“It was his last game. I think he’s a Division – a PSAC or Patriot League recruit – that missed his entire junior year, so when I texted him in the morning I said, ‘How are you feeling?’ He said, ‘Coach, I’m ready to go.’ I said, ‘Good because we’re going to throw the ball 40 times. We’re going to air it out tonight,’ and I was serious.
“He was 5-of-9, but we didn’t really throw. We like to set up our short passing game with rocket screens and hopefully soften them up and go to our intermediate and deeper routes, but we really didn’t do it.”
As endings go, notching a win over a Class 6A large school was definitely a good one.
“I told the guys after the game – I’m thankful that we got seven games in because in July it was looking like it was a 50 percent chance or less that we’d even play. Be grateful – it was a blessing we had a season,’” Ditullio said.
New Hope-Solebury closed out its season with a 3-4 record (1-3 SOL).
“In our eyes – I never blow smoke, and when we get beat, I’m accepting of it, but the only game I thought and the coaching staff thought we were definitely outmatched was week one again Upper Moreland,” Ditullio said. “When we lost to Wisahickon, that was on us. We had a 10-point lead with 1:31 left in the fourth and lost it in overtime. We just had a special teams meltdown, and that’s a game we know we should have won.
“William Tennent beat us by two scores, but our defense was awful. We did not adjust, we were misaligned most of the night. It was just a total breakdown defensively. Credit to them, and it’s no disrespect to any of the other teams.
“Even in our playoff game last week against Archbishop Carroll, we would get back in the game and were right there and we’d give up a kick-off return for a touchdown. They had some athletes, and we just gave up too many plays, and special teams came back to haunt us again. Honestly, I felt we should have won that game.”
Ditullio acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic and virtual learning has taken its toll on everyone. The Lions were not permitted inside the school this fall.
“The last time we were in the weight room was March 11,” the Lions’ coach said. “No locker room, no weight room, not even film review. We do film review on a Sunday night.
“The kids aren’t all focused in, and one thing that hurt us was our players’ preparation for each game, looking over the scouting reports, watching film.”
Friday’s non-league win was a good one for the Lions.
“I told them after the game – we finally put all three phases together,” Ditullio said. “Offensively, defensively and special teams. When you do that, good things are going to happen. That’s the difference between a team that finished 3-4 and I really thought could have finished 6-1.
“We proved we can play with the bigger schools – that wasn’t the issue. I think the issue was a lack of preparation and film review and studying the scouting reports. It’s hard to get these kids to focus in.”
Council Rock South finished its season 2-5 overall (2-2 SOL)
Council Rock South 0-8-0-0 8
New Hope-Solebury 0-3-7-13 23
PERKIOMEN VALLEY 35, QUAKERTOWN 28
The Panthers led by two touchdowns at halftime but did not score in the second half while the visiting Vikings put 21 second-half points on the board to earn the non-league win.
An 11-yard touchdown run by Tyler Woodman gave the Panthers a 7-0 lead after one quarter. Quarterback Will Steich found Tyler Merwarth with a 43-yard touchdown pass to put the Panthers on top 14-0. The Vikings cut that lead in half with a TD of their own, but another Steich to Merwarth touchdown connection put the Panthers on top 21-7. Again, the Vikings answered with a score to make it a 21-14 game.
A 68-yard kick-off return by Brady William gave the Panthers possession on PV’s 25-yard line. A 12-yard touchdown pass from Steich to Zach Fondl sent the Panthers into halftime with a 28-14 advantage. The Vikings tied the score with a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter and took a lead they would not lose with a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Quakertown (5-2, 3-1 SOL) will host Pennridge for the annual Thanksgiving Day game at 10:15 a.m.
Perk Valley 0-14-14-7 35
Quakertown 7-21-0-0 28
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