Quakertown & PW were winners in SOL football action Thursday. Quakertown/NP photos courtesy of Kim Supko.
Non-league
QUAKERTOWN 38, NORTH PENN 17
It hadn’t been an especially good week for Vince Micucci and his Panther teammates.
The Panthers were coming off a disappointing 28-21 loss to Southern Lehigh in their season opener, but it was much more than that for Quakertown’s senior quarterback.
“My childhood dog just passed away last night, so coming into this one, I’m like – ‘God, if you’re taking my best friend, at least help us out with a win. That would be pretty nice,’” Micucci said of his lifelong pet Maclin (named for former Eagles’ wide receiver Jeremy Maclin). “This one’s for him, and I’m really happy that we got blessed to be in this position.”
Micucci certainly did his part, throwing for 186 yards and five touchdowns to lead Quakertown to its first win over North Penn since 1979.
And just where does coach George Banas rate Thursday’s stunning victory when it comes to regular season wins?
“This is right up there,” the Panthers’ coach said. “Regardless of how they finish the rest of the year, this goes up in the top eight or top five echelon. We’ve had some really good wins, but it’s definitely in the top 10, might be right outside the top five.”
Forty-four years is a long time between wins, and ending that streak was less significant to the players than getting on the winning track after the Panthers’ season-opening loss.
“It’s actually very special the way me and my team played today,” said senior lineman Anthony Ferrugio, who anchored a standout defensive effort. “The stuff we went through this week at practice – it was just anger to us, and it motivated us to get this ‘W’ today.
“I’m not going to lie – I was a little nervous with the opening kickoff, but we came back and did what we needed to do. We got the job done.”
The opening kickoff was little more than a distant memory when Thursday’s win was in the books, but Jackson Shurmann racing 95 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 North Penn lead out of the gate certainly seemed to be cause for concern at the time.
“I told them, ‘After play one, you had me like – what the (heck) is going to happen tonight. Did we get off the bus?’ because that could have gone south real quick,” Banas said. “You give up a 95-yard touchdown run to open the game, and all of a sudden, your heads are down, and you’re thinking, ‘It’s North Penn/Quakertown. Here we go.’ I give all the credit to the kids.”
“Obviously, it wasn’t the start we wanted,” Micucci said of falling behind after one play. “I immediately turned to my coach, and I said, ‘Well, we wanted to go on offense right away.’ It might have been a little quicker that we had planned. I know we got stopped (on the first series), but we love to be out there, so my first thought was – next play, just trying to keep the sideline up.
“That’s a huge shot in the foot. They made a great play. He had a great return. Obviously, it stinks, but we just had to go right back to it.”
And right back at it the Panthers went.
Micucci connected with Max Morris for a 44-yard touchdown, and although the Knights blocked the extra point, the Panthers were right back in the game, trailing 7-6 with five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
After the Panthers recovered a Knight fumble, Ed Bittner hauled in a 28-yard Micucci TD pass, and Quakertown had its first lead, 12-7. Micucci found Tanner Clancy with a touchdown strike and a 19-7 lead after a huge interception by Ferrugio gave the Panthers’ possession on North Penn’s five with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter.
“I thought he was the best player on the field,” Banas said of Ferrugio. “They had to hold him every play, and he still made a phenomenal amount of plays. He made the pick in the first half, and he had so many sacks it was unbelievable and then was held I don’t know how many times and made so many plays. He was unblockable tonight.”
The action was far from over, and another Micucci touchdown – this one a six-yard pass to Gavin Carroll put the Panthers on top 25-7. The Knights answered with 10 straight points to close out the half – a field goal by Ryan Bocklet and a pass from Matt Bucksar that Marc Cobbs turned into a 52-yard touchdown with nine seconds remaining in the half to make it a 25-18 game.
“We go into halftime and we’re still up eight, and we’re getting the ball (to start the second half),” Banas said. “I just went back to the pregame speech and just reiterated what we wanted from them.
“We asked for everything they had in the tank every single play, and if we had to carry them off the field, we would.”
“We didn’t go out to half with a different mindset,” Ferrugio said. “We told ourselves that the job wasn’t finished, and we came out and we finished the job. Now we’re sitting at 38-17, and we haven’t beat North Penn since 1979. I wasn’t even born.”
The tide turned in Quakertown’s favor after its defense held on fourth-and-four, and Micucci led the Panthers down the field for a touchdown that included one big play after another. Micucci raced 12 yards on a critical fourth-and-10 at the Knights’ 36, and the drive was capped when – on third-and-two from the six – Micucci lofted a pass into the corner of the end zone where Morris made a leaping grab for a touchdown that put the Panthers on top 32-17 with 32.2 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“He makes those circus catches all the time – it’s unbelievable,” Banas said. “The stuff he does out here for 110 pounds soaking wet maybe – he’s got wiggle, speed, great hands. One of the best route runners we’ve had in school history.”
The pass on a short yardage down in close came as a surprise to just about everyone, including Micucci.
“It’s third-and-two, and we have two downs to get two yards – my immediate thought is run the ball, pound it down the middle try and get some yards,” the senior quarterback said. “After he called the pass, I’m like – ‘You trust me enough to do this.’ As soon as we called the play, I looked to my right, and I see who’s running the route, and it’s Max Morris. Make sure you take his name down because that kid is one (heck) of a receiver. I knew what he could do, so I thought – just give him a chance. If I could put it in the right spot and give him a chance to make a play that he would do it, and he did. He came out with it. That was a big, big table turner for us. It was huge.”
How huge was it?
“Our team morale was down,” Ferrugio said. “Then when he connected with Max on that – oh my God, it changed everything. The energy just switched.”
For good measure, Jackson Connelly scored on a seven-yard touchdown run for the 38-17 final.
If the Panthers needed a bounce-back win after their season-opening loss to Southern Lehigh, this was certainly it.
“I think the biggest thing – it was kind of a reality check for us,” Micucci said. “We went into Southern Lehigh last week knowing what happened the last couple of years with them, so we kind of came in high, and we thought we were going to be these top dogs, and it was really humbling for us that game.
“We saw North Penn get beat, and even though La Salle is a great powerhouse of a team, we showed up. Last week we came out a little flat both halves. Coming out knowing we could do it and just playing as a team was the biggest thing for us.”
“I’m proud of our kids,” Banas said. “We put them through the wringer in the offseason and during camp. We run them into the ground, so that way nights like tonight – we didn’t have a kid cramping.”
There was plenty of praise to go around after this one.
“I think (Braden) Sell, a D-tackle had a really good night,” Banas said. “Keondre (Lopez) is just a fireplug on both sides of the line – he’s our energy there.
“I thought 22 (Jackson Connelly) stepped up as a soph big time. Gavin Carroll – talk about gritty.”
This win, according to Banas, was about more than just big performances.
“This one’s special,” the Panthers’ coach said. “What was great about tonight was you saw a team develop and come together, more so than I’ve seen it in a long time.
“We had that run (in 2021), and those kids were super tight, but I’m talking about in one game where all of a sudden, they started believing in themselves and believing in each other. It was phenomenal to see that actually happen right in front of your eyes and then make play after play after play and kids being happy for each other. It was exciting.”
Quakertown (1-1) will travel to Plymouth Whitemarsh for another non-league test on Thursday, and North Penn (0-2) will travel to Upper Dublin next Friday.
Quakertown 19-6-7-6 38
North Penn 7-10-0-0 17
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 35, METHACTON 0
(Game stats will be added when they are received)
PW coach Dan Chang has plenty of options when it comes to running the football and refers to the foursome of Everett Baker, Nazye Boggs, Anthony Iannozzi and Luke Winterbottom as a ‘four-headed monster.’ It’s a name they’ve certainly earned, and they were catalysts of the Colonials’ potent running game that accumulated close to 400 yards on the ground in Thursday’s win.
“Offensively, everyone got the ball a good amount,” Chang said. “We started the game with a three-and-out and then a punt return for a touchdown by Everett. It was a real good kick start there.”
Baker’s punt return gave the Colonials a 7-0 lead after one quarter. A 46-yard touchdown run by Luke Winterbottom - - whose courageous battle with cancer has made his accomplishments on the football field even more remarkable – upped PW’s lead to 14-0.
“That kid battles,” Chang said of Winterbottom. “I know we talk about it, but it’s hard for everybody else to even understand what he’s gone through pretty recently and is still able to do on a football field now, so it’s pretty incredible.”
A 30-yard touchdown pass from Iannozzi to Boggs sent the Colonials into halftime with a 21-0 lead. They added to that in the third quarter. Winterbottom scored his second TD of the game from 19 yards out, and a 60-yard touchdown run by Boggs put an exclamation point on the no-doubt-about-it win.
“Our defense continues to play really well, led by (linebacker Kevin Hegarty),” Chang said. “We struggled a little bit at several positions last week, and those guys definitely made good improvements. Shayan Sajid is playing better at D-end, Taeshaun Johnson is playing better at D-end.
“Our twos came in, and they were battling too and held up that shutout, which was good to see.”
One of PW’s reserves – Chase Felgoise – had an interception in his first varsity game appearance.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (2-0) will host Quakertown on Thursday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 7-14-14-0 35
Methacton 0-0-0-0 0
CHESTER 22, CHELTENHAM 20
(Game info from @NStomsky X account)
The Panthers came oh-so-close to staging a miraculous comeback.
Trailing 22-12 with just over three minutes remaining, Michael Dunn’s reception for a touchdown with 13 seconds on the scoreboard clock and a successful on-sides kick recovered by the Panthers set the stage for a possible miracle finish. It didn’t happen.
Chester came up with an interception to seal the Panthers’ fate.
It was an uphill battle for the Panthers all night, who put all their points on the board in the final quarter. Tre McLeod accounted for a pair of touchdowns, keeping the Panthers in it until the final play.
Cheltenham (0-1) will host Lincoln High in a non-league game Friday.
Chester 0-0-8-14 22
Cheltenham 0-0-0-20 20
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