Pennsbury, North Penn & CB West picked up wins in SOL football action Thursday. Pennsbury/Quakertown photos courtesy of Kim Supko. North Penn/CR South photos courtesy of William David Tucker, & UD/CB West photos courtesy of Shannon O’Sullivan. Check back for galleries of all three games.
Non-league
PENNSBURY 17, QUAKERTOWN 7
The beginning of the season has not been particularly kind to the Pennsbury football team. The Falcons haven’t won a season opener since 2017 and were coming off a 24-2 loss to Northampton last Friday that included three fumbles at inopportune times.
“We kind of have a history of slow starting like this with penalties and turnovers being an issue early in the season for us” said Pennsbury coach Galen Snyder, who has only been at the helm for three of those seven
season-opening losses. “Northampton probably played about as clean of a football game as I’ve seen anybody play on both sides of the ball for week one, and we did not. We had our traditional season-opening game clunker, so it’s a matter of when it’s going to click in.”
It certainly didn’t look as though Friday would be the night things would ‘click in’ when the Falcons fumbled and lost the ball on their opening two possessions. The Panthers capitalized on the first when Aiden Whitely capped a 49-yard scoring drive with a five-yard touchdown run to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.
That was pretty much the Panthers’ last hurrah as the Falcons responded with a vengeance to this week’s slow start. By halftime, they led 10-7 on their way to the hard-fought win.
“They did a great job of hanging in there,” Snyder said.
The Falcons evened the score in the second quarter when Jayden Bright punched it in from a yard out to cap a 75-yard scoring drive that included a clutch connection from Henry Garlits to Walker Murray.
“We were driving, and we had a holding call that pushed us back,” Snyder said. “On a critical third down, Henry Garlits, our QB, hit Walker down the sideline to set us up with a first down, and we ended up scoring.”
Momentum swung firmly in Pennsbury’s favor when Murray – who had 15 tackles in the loss to Northampton – intercepted a pass near midfield, setting up a 37-yard field goal by Angelo Pereira in the closing seconds of the half to send the Falcons into halftime with a 10-7 lead.
“That was a huge interception with almost no time left in the first,” Snyder said. “He returned it, got us into scoring position and then Angelo came in and boomed it for us.”
With 2:31 remaining in the third quarter, Brensinger gave the Falcons a two-score advantage (17-7) when he scored from 13 yards out. That lead held
the rest of the way.
To say the Falcons had their ground game going would be an understatement. On the heels of last Friday’s game that saw both Brensinger and Hex Walker (sidelined with an injury Friday) surpass the century mark rushing, Brensinger piled up even more yards Friday, finishing with 150. This time he was joined by Bright, who also racked up over 100 rushing yards.
“It was excellent blocking by the O-line, by Walker Murray, by the split ends, the tight ends,” Snyder said. “It was a team effort on offense.
Paving the way for the ground game is the Falcons’ impressive offensive line comprised of Rocco May, Tyler Robinson, Uriah Smart, AJ Cartusciello and Connor O’Brien, tight end Dante Sciolla and split ends Jake Parada and Matt McGinty.
The Falcons’ coach also credited his team’s kicking game.
“Angelo (Pereira) had a big field goal, and (Chris) Karamis continues to do a great job punting,” Snyder said. “He had a booming 50-some yard punt early, and in the fourth quarter, we had driven the ball to midfield with five or six minutes left, and he hit another great punt that rolled inside the 10 and pinned them back, and that was pretty much it.”
The Falcons’ defense also delivered some clutch plays.
“Chris Karamis made a couple of big plays,” Snyder said. “I thought the defense as a whole did a good job. (Shawn) Beatty covered their real good kid (Aiden Burgy) really well. Over the middle, (Ryan Rue) Costa knocked a ball down.”
It all added up to an important road win for the Falcons.
Pennsbury (1-1) will host Council Rock South Friday (6 pm), and Quakertown will travel to North Penn Friday for a 7 p.m. contest.
Pennsbury 0-10-7-0 17
Quakertown 7-0-0-0 7
NORTH PENN 34, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 6
In a contest that saw the Knights light up the scoreboard for 34 points, it was North Penn’s defense that was the unsung hero in the decisive win, keeping the Golden Hawks off the scoreboard until the game’s closing seconds.
“The one thing we did – we played really good defense,” NP coach Dick Beck said. “I thought the D-line did a great job getting off blocks, and the linebackers filled in.
“Our secondary was in good shape most of the night, and we got a really good pass rush on their quarterback.”
And it was that Knights’ pass rush that led to a game-changing play.
“Nate Schepian is an outside linebacker for us, and after (Ryan Bocklet) kicked a field goal and we go on defense – on the first play, they went play action and Nate comes off the edge, and he hits the quarterback from the side and strips the ball and we get the ball,” Beck said. “It was a huge play.”
The Knights’ recovered the ball on the Hawks’ 15-yard line, capitalizing immediately when Matt Bucksar found Matt Pownall in the end zone. Just like that, the Knights led 10-0.
Schepian wasn’t the only Knight player to come up big on the defensive side of the football.
“Christian Johns-Wallace had another big night, and Cole D’Ambroio was really good – we got some really good play from our linebackers tonight,” Beck said.
The Knights also got some outstanding play from their offense.
In the second quarter, another Bucksar TD pass – this one to Mason Franek – sent the Knights into halftime with a 17-0 lead.
North Penn took a 27-0 lead into the fourth quarter – thanks to another Bocklet field goal and a one-yard touchdown from Aidan Eves.
The Knights capped an outstanding offensive performance with another touchdown drive in the fourth quarter that featured a whole lot of Josiah Coleman.
“Josiah Coleman came in in the second half at running back and basically carried the ball six times in a row and scored,” Beck said. “Here’s a senior who has been working in at running back and didn’t get a touch last week.
“We put him in tonight, and he did an outstanding job. This is a kid that thought maybe he should be starting – didn’t play, didn’t get a touch last week, and then this week comes into the game after working hard all week and just scored a touchdown and probably had about 60 yards rushing on six or seven carries. He really, really did a nice job.
“He could have hung his head and complained, but he just came to practice and kept working hard, and when he got the opportunity tonight – man, he shined, without a doubt.”
For Rock South, Brody Walker’s touchdown reception with 15 seconds remaining was the lone bright spot.
North Penn (2-0) will host Quakertown Friday, and Council Rock South (1-1) will be on the road at Pennsbury Friday (6 pm).
North Penn 10-7-10-7 34
Council Rock South 0-0-0-6 6
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 35, UPPER DUBLIN 14
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Ryan Clemens set the tone for a big night when he spotted the visiting Bucks a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter. The Cardinals pulled to within one after a touchdown pass from Kevin Etkin, but the rest of the night belonged to the visitors, who reeled off 28 unanswered points on their way to their second win in as many games.
Central Bucks West (2-0) will host Souderton on Friday, and Upper Dublin (1-1) will be on the road at Central Bucks South Friday.
Central Bucks West 14-7-7-7 35
Upper Dublin 6-0-0-8 14
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