Check out the recaps for SOL football teams in action. UD/Wissahickon photos courtesy of Shannon O’Sullivan, CB West/NP photos courtesy of Kim Supko, CB South/Pennsbury photos provided courtesy of Darryl Rule/J&D Photography, Quakertown/CR South photos provided by Keith Clemens photography, PW/McCaskey photos courtesy of Michael Rice, HH/Lower Moreland photos courtesy of Greg Zesinger, and Tennent/Father Judge photo courtesy of Kadi Schenk. Check back for galleries: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f1050704496
SOL National Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 24, PENNSBURY 13
(Stats courtesy of CB South football)
The Titans – after coming up empty on a pair of trips inside the red zone to close out the first half – took a tenuous 10-7 lead into halftime of Friday’s key conference battle. They had a chance to redeem themselves when they received the opening kickoff of the second half.
And redeem themselves they did, scoring on their opening possession and adding a second touchdown in the quarter to seize control of the game on their way to the big win.
“At the end of the first half, it started to get a little ugly,” South coach Tom Hetrick said. “We have to be able to finish drives, and if we want to be a good football team, it doesn’t matter what we do between the goal lines – you have to finish off things.
“The two times at the end of the half we had a chance to put it in and we didn’t. I’ve got to be honest – we went in at halftime, and I was getting the sense – it felt like we were losing the game. They were bummed they didn’t finish that. I told them, ‘Get your heads up,’ but then I think I realized it was them being down on themselves because they realized they’re better than that. They weren’t satisfied with what they did, so I appreciated that.
“We talked about it halftime and just said, ‘Listen, you’ve just got to execute. It’s all about the next play. Let’s come out and score on this drive and turn this thing in our favor,’ and they did that, so I was real happy for them.”
The Titans methodically marched down the field and capped the opening drive with a three-yard touchdown run by Corey Moore to go on top 17-7. Later in the quarter, Moore punched it in from a yard out to make it a 24-7 game, a touchdown that was set up by a huge 60-yard run by Anthony Leonardi.
“We saw something, and we made an adjustment of how we were going to block it at the point of attack – we thought it was going to work, and it did,” Hetrick said of Leonardi’s backbreaking run. “It put him in immediate space, and when he gets in immediate space, he’s pretty lethal. That was a big play for us, it really was.”
In the fourth quarter with the outcome all but decided, the Falcons’ tacked on a score on a 38-yard touchdown run by quarterback Nathan Beighley.
Early on in Friday’s game, it was quarterback Owen Pinkerton setting the tone for the Titans big night running the football. With a pair of running backs – Leonardi and Moore – averaging more than 160 yards a week combined entering Friday’s game, the junior quarterback’s running ability might not have been that much of a concern for opposing defenses. Pinkerton gave them reason for concern, racing 45 yards on his team’s opening possession for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
The Falcons answered with a 75-yard scoring drive that was capped with Jordan Czneriak taking it in from inside the one-yard line. A 22-yard field goal by Brendan Hazell gave the Titans their 10-7 halftime lead. Then came a second half dominated by the Titans.
“I was proud of my guys’ ability – after a big win last week (over Central Bucks East) – to push reset and get themselves successfully prepared for the next one because when you come to the lower part of Bucks County, you know you’re going to find tough kids that are ready to play for 48 minutes,” Hetrick said. “We knew that was going to happen. Galen Snyder is an unbelievable coach. We knew they were going to be ready to go.
“We thought it would tough sledding offensively because their defense is one of the best defenses in our conference, so I was proud of our guys’ ability to come out and be physical because you have to be physical against these guys because they want to try to bully you. We kept that from happening, and I was real proud of it.”
Thirteen points was the most allowed in five games by a Titans’ defense that had given up just 23 points in its four preceding games.
“Our defense again just played really great football,” Hetrick said. “Number seven (Nathan Beighley) is a good quarterback, a good football player, and he popped a couple on us, but 98 percent of that game we were so sound defensively and playing downhill. I was just real proud of them.
“Both of our linebackers – Adam Oscar and Sean Moskowitz – made big plays. Jimmy Wade played a solid game on defense, and Eddie Bowen was still active again and doing some good things. It’s just a good group of kids and a pretty good group of football players, and they’re playing some good football right now.”
The Titans’ coach also gave credit to his defensive coordinator John Cataldo.
“He puts together unbelievable game plans,” Hetrick said. “The best part of it is – you as a coach can know everything you want to know about a game, but if it doesn’t translate to the kids and their understanding of it, it doesn’t matter.
“What we do is pretty simple. We don’t try and re-invent the defense in any given week. This is how our defense plays you and your offense. It’s pretty simple, and it fits together like a nice puzzle when it works, and John Cataldo does an unbelievable job of getting those guys ready, and they do a great job of executing.”
Oscar’s 12 tackles led the Titans while Moskowitz had nine and Wade, seven.
Leonardi finished a big night with 17 carries for 173 yards while Pinkerton had 11 carries for 93 yards and a TD. While the Titans had 326 yards of total offens, the Falcons had 185.
For the Falcons, Beighley had 12 carries for 109 yards and a touchdown.
Central Bucks South (5-0, 2-0 SOL) will travel to North Penn on Friday, and Pennsbury (2-3, 0-2) will be on the road at Central Bucks East.
Central Bucks South 7-3-14-0 24
Pennsbury 0-7-0-6 13
NESHAMINY 38, ABINGTON 22
(Stats provided courtesy of Nsehaminy football)
Carter Clee and Travis Lavelah both surpassed the 100-yard mark, and Colin Baker threw for 175 yards in a contest that saw the Redskins’ offense operating at all cylinders. By halftime, Neshaminy had 31 points on the board, and the Ghosts never threatened.
“It all started with our rushing game,” Neshaminy coach Steve Wilmot said. “Travis Lavelah, in the first half, and Carter Clee were doing a nice job rushing, and I think the run set up the pass.
“By far, I think this was our best offensive effort of the year. We’ve done some good things in every game, but we haven’t been able to sustain it over four quarters. Today I think we did a nice job of sustaining our offense over four quarters, and our defense did a nice job of containing their run. We gave up some long pass plays, and that’s something we have to work on.”
The scoring started early with Connor Frederick hauling in a 17-yard touchdown pass from Baker for a 7-0 lead. An Anthony Ponsati two-yard TD run evened the score, but Lavelah scored on a two-yard run to give the Redskins a 14-7 lead after one quarter.
Clee’s five-yard touchdown run put the Redskins on top 21-7, but the Ghosts pulled to within seven after a 31-yard touchdown pass by Ponsati.
The rest of the half belonged to the Redskins. Baker found Lucas Stewart for a 10-yard touchdown, and Kaden Nicastro connected on a 34-yard field goal for a 31-14 halftime lead.
Clee’s three-yard touchdown run in the third quarter closed out the scoring for the ‘Skins. The Ghosts tacked on a late touchdown.
Baker finished an efficient night completing 13 of 16 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns. Clee led all ground gainers with 31 carries for 140 yards and two touchdowns while Lavelah had 13 carries for 104 yards and one touchdown.
“I think our two tight ends did well – Connor Frederick and Lucas Stewart,” Wilmot said. “Our offensive line – I think our offensive line has done well all year, but sometimes we made mistakes that set our offense back. Today, we didn’t make the mistakes that held us back. We just kept moving forward.”
Comprising the Redskins’ offensive line are right tackle James Glessner, right guard Kieron Durnin, center Kyler Nelson, left guard Milo Makes and left tackle Charlie Soska.
On the defensive side of the football, Demacio Cooper came up with an interception.
“He also had a whole bunch of tackles – he’s our leading tackler on defense,” Wilmot said of his free safety. “He does a nice job – he’s all over the place.
“Our defensive line did a nice job, getting pressure at times too.”
Neshaminy (2-3, 1-1 SOL) will host Pennridge on Friday, and Abington (1-3, 0-2) will travel to Central Bucks West.
Neshaminy 14-17-7-0 38
Abington 7-7-8-0 22
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 18, PENNRIDGE 17 (2 OT)
When the Patriots headed into the halftime locker room with a 5-3 lead – a score resembling a baseball final more than halftime of a football game, it seemed safe to assume this might not be your ordinary finish.
It wasn’t, extending to two overtimes before there was a winner.
The Patriots – who had a chance to win it with a 24-yard field goal in the first OT – scored a touchdown in the second overtime when Dan Voglesong found Jack Donnelly for East’s first TD of the night. The Rams also scored a touchdown, but the Patriots escaped with a much-needed win when the Rams’ pass on their two-point conversion attempt for the win was broken up by Nicky Giordano.
“It’s easy to say when you win a big game like this, but I really am just proud of the fight in our guys,” East coach John Donnelly said. “To quote my friend, Kurt Handel, the wrestling coach at Quakertown – ‘all grit, no quit’ I believe that’s in our DNA
“Hats off to Pennridge – I thought they played a great game. Their kids were physical and downhill. I give credit to their coaches for going for the win and going for two at the end.
“Nicky Giordano came up as he has all year defensively, especially with such a huge play right at the goal line. In the first overtime, we both missed field goals.”
In the second OT, the Patriots had the ball first, and after Volglesong’s TD and Jack Corrigan’s PAT, the Patriots led 18-11.
“It’s been tough sledding,” said Donnelly. “We moved the ball well the last two weeks, but we’re not converting, so obviously, that was a big play in a big moment. Dan and Jack had three really big connections in the third and fourth quarter that got us in position. They were big chunk plays.
“I don’t know how many guys are playing inside linebacker and quarterback and doing it the way Danny is. There’s not many guys in Pennsylvania doing it like him, I’m
sure. That kid is a warrior. People think he can’t throw, but he threw when he had to tonight and made some really big plays. He’s not only an all-league linebacker, he’s a pretty good quarterback, and he runs really tough. It’s a big win to get us moving in the right direction. We had a great week of practice, and that usually translates into good things on Friday night.”
After a first half that included a safety and two field goals, the Rams took their first lead at 11-5 with 5:56 remaining in the third quarter after scoring a touchdown and a successful two-point conversion.
Corrigan made it an 11-8 game when he split the uprights on a 32-yard field goal late in the third quarter.
Things looked bleak in the fourth quarter when – with time winding down – the Patriots found themselves on their own one after a quarterback sack but miraculously marched down the field, and Corrigan connected on a 36-yard field goal to knot the score with 11 seconds remaining.
“We had gotten the ball around the 20 and then we went backwards,” Donnelly said. “We converted some big plays. We managed the clock, used some timeouts, killed the clock when we were out of timeouts. They called a timeout to ice him, and (Corrigan) drilled it to send it to overtime.”
The Patriots’ coach lauded the efforts of several players in the win.
“Jack (Donnelly) made some big plays offensively,” Donnelly said. “Connor and Logan Simkiss are both inside linebackers. They really are just so steady on both sides of the ball, but especially defensively, they played downhill and were very, very tough.
“I thought defensively we played very well overall against a pretty good offense. They got an excellent receiver in (Sam) Kuhns, who’s electric, but I thought we did a good job of bottling him up.”
The win was welcome after back-to-back losses to Souderton and Central Bucks South.
“The last two weeks we lost two tough games,” Donnelly said. “We played really hard and tough and physical. We just didn’t play as smart as I know we can. We’ve had a lot of self-inflicted wounds, a lot of penalties. We were better tonight.
“Souderton and South are very good teams, and those are games that were down to the wire, but we didn’t help ourselves and we couldn’t get out of our own way. Against good football teams, you have to be able to do that.”
Central Bucks East (3-2, 1-1 SOL) will host Pennsbury on Friday, and Pennridge (2-3, 1-1) will be on the road at Neshaminy Friday.
Central Bucks East 5-0-3-3-0-7 18
Pennridge 0-3-8-0-0-6 17
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 28, NORTH PENN 0
(Game info from @mpcabrey X)
The Bucks continued their impressive season, shutting out the visiting Knights to improve to 5-0.
Connor McFadden put the Bucks on the board with a scoop and score for an early 7-0 lead. West took a 14-0 lead into halftime after a 39-yard touchdown run by Ryan Clemens.
In the third quarter, McFadden scored his second touchdown of the game, this time on a 27-yard run, and quarterback Cooper Taylor’s 59-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter gave the Bucks their final margin of victory.
Central Bucks West (5-0, 2-0 SOL) will host Abington on Friday, and North Penn (2-3, 1-1) will host Central Bucks South Friday.
North Penn 0-0-0-0 0
Central Bucks West 7-7-14-0 28
SOL Continental Conference
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 20, QUAKERTOWN 17
It was a game the Golden Hawks appeared destined to lose
After quarterback Chase Ennis connected with Caleb Christian for an early touchdown to spot the visiting Hawks a 7-0 lead, the Panthers reeled off 17 straight points and appeared to have all the momentum.
Instead of marking the beginning of the end for the visiting Hawks, it simply set the stage for a gutsy comeback and road win in the hostile environment of Quakertown’s Alumni Field.
“Honestly, they’re so resilient,” Rock South coach CJ Szydlik said of his players. “It’s probably the greatest atmosphere in high school football to go to Quakertown. It is insanity the entire game. Everything is on top of you. There’s no track to separate anybody. It’s so awesome – it’s epic.
“Our kids battled. It’s one of those things – are you game for that or not and we were. It’s a pretty awesome feeling.”
Trailing 17-7, the Golden Hawks changed things up a bit on offense and came up with a touchdown drive to put themselves right back in the game.
“We drove down – we started running a little more with (quarterback Chase Ennis) on straight runs, and he broke probably a 40-yard run to put us down inside the 10 or 15-yard line,” Szydlik said.
Chase Myers scored from 12 yards out with 2:51 remaining in the third quarter, and just like that it was 17-13. The Panthers answered with a long drive, but the Golden Hawks came up with a stop on third down, so Quakertown set up for an apparent field goal attempt.
“I don’t know if they ran a fake or if it was a bad snap, but it was an incomplete pass,” Szydlik said.
The Golden Hawks took advantage of the Panthers’ missed opportunity, drove down the field with Ennis punching it in from a yard out on a quarterback sneak for the go-ahead score with 3:53 remaining.
The game was far from over.
“They drive the football all the way down inside our 20-yard line, and on third down, Nate Szydlik tackled the quarterback, the ball comes loose, and Wes Waninger comes up with it to win the game,” Szydlik said.
With the win, the Golden Hawks are 4-1 midway through the regular season – a far cry from their 0-5 start two short years ago.
“We knew we had a good older group, and we had some younger players who could make plays, and honestly, that’s what came through today,” said Szydlik, who is in his second year at the helm. “We had three or four juniors and a couple of sophomores that made plays today. Obviously, on top of the two big gun seniors, that’s how you win on the road.”
Early in the game, Aiden Whitley’s one-yard touchdown evened the score 7-7 midway through the second quarter, and when Vince Micucci connected with Aiden Burgy for a 90-yard touchdown, the Panthers led 14-7 heading into halftime. They upped that lead to 17-7 with 6:55 remaining in the third quarter when Logan Jeffery split the uprights with a 35-yard field goal.
Although the Panthers appeared to be in command, the Golden Hawks had other ideas.
Szydlik acknowledged the strong leadership of his seniors was key in Friday’s win.
“It’s a total credit to them,” the Rock South coach said. “There’s 22 of them still on the team. They’ve been through so many things – obviously, a coaching change and them having to trust that what we’re telling them is going to work. Thankfully, they believed.”
After back-to-back two-win seasons, Rock South was 4-6 in Szydlik’s first year at the helm last year, but they missed out on a chance at a .500 season with a heartbreaking 21-20 loss to Council Rock North in their season finale.
“We lost to CR North in the final seconds,” Szydlik said. “We started our coaches meeting during the winter with a big picture of the scoreboard at the CR North game, so it’s been a motivation that’s been driving all of us.”
The Hawks’ coach lauded the efforts of several defensive players in the win.
“Tom Gallagher and Wes Waninger – our defensive ends – came up big,” Szydlik said. “Nate Szydlik had the caused fumble at the end for us, and he had three or four humungous tackles. Chase Myers at defensive back had a couple of pass breakups at the end that basically helped win the game.”
For the Golden Hawks, Myers finished with 13 carries for 113 yards and one touchdown. Ennis threw for 75 yards and a TD and had 10 carries for 70 yards and a TD.
Mitucci accounted for the majority of the Panthers’ offense, completing 16 of 23 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown. The Panthers ran for just 75 yards as a team.
Council Rock South (4-1, 2-0 SOL) will travel to Hatboro-Horsham for a non-league game Friday, and Quakertown (2-3, 0-1) will be on the road at Souderton Friday.
Council Rock South 7-0-6-7 20
Quakertown 0-14-3-0 17
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 20, BENSALEM 14
John Greiner needed just one word to describe his emotions after Friday’s win.
“Relieved is the best word for it,” the Rock North coach said after his team’s first win in five games. “It was a huge win in a lot of respects. We are very young, and logically, everyone looks at the scores of our first four games, and they’re very lopsided. Things have been written about us and about me questioning things, but the combined records of the teams going into tonight that we played was 13-3. It wasn’t like we were playing the sisters of mercy.
“These players – I’m so profoundly proud of them for the resiliency and persistence they have shown. I could write a book about everything that’s happened from basically July 1 on in terms of things we had to overcome. The players deserve a lot of credit for being able to bounce back and keep on going in terms of overcoming adversity because it’s a lesson they’ll need in life. All summer long and all fall long so far, my expectation is that they will keep overcoming everything in their way.
“The coaches, the administration and the players themselves deserve a lot of credit for rallying this week and getting the win over a very motivated Bensalem Owls’ team and coaching staff. They did an awesome job tonight competing. It is our hope that we can start stringing victories together, and our record at the end of the season is in the positive column.”
The Indians struck first when Drew Hendricks turned a reverse into a touchdown run and an early lead. The Owls answered with back-to-back touchdowns to go on top 14-7 at the end of one quarter.
On the Indians’ third drive of the game, Gio Cozza connected with Will Scibona for a touchdown.
“We held Bensalem, and at the end of the second quarter, we scored on a touchdown pass to Will Scibona again, but this time it was thrown by Logan Atkinson,” Greiner said. “Offensively, the star of the game for us was probably Logan Atkinson just because of the fact that he bore the brunt of running the ball and just being tough running inside and outside.
“We had a wildcat formation where we used him as our quarterback, and he did an awesome job throwing a touchdown pass to Will Scibona. Will had an awesome day catching the ball as well. Both of them are multi-sport athletes. Logan is a great lacrosse player, and Will is a heck of a baseball player as well.”
The Indians took a 20-14 lead into halftime, and neither team scored the rest of the way.
“We had a couple of missed opportunities, goal line situations where we couldn’t quite punch it in,” Greiner said. “Give credit to Bensalem and their coaching staff for holding us.
“Our defense did an awesome, awesome job. It was a total group effort in terms of swarming to the ball. Our special teams came through tonight. The punt team and our kickoff team did an awesome job. Brayden Rodgers did an awesome job of kicking the ball off and keeping it from the weapons of Bensalem.
“I’m just very proud of the players for really turning the page, stepping up. It could have been easy for them to fold the tents after being down 14-7 especially with everything we’ve gone through, but they rose up and played a heck of a football game from start to finish.”
Greiner also credited his coaching staff.
“The defensive coaches preparing the players for Bensalem are Jim Mento, Matt Schram, Zach Schram, Shane Wright and Zach Flaherty while the offensive coaches who put in great manipulations in the offensive game plan were Mason Jones, Ray Jones and Shane Oros,” Greiner said. “They’ve done an awesome, awesome job in terms of keeping these players motivated and having an awesome week of practice and preparation for Bensalem. Also, my hat’s off to the administration for supporting us in every avenue as well.”
Council Rock North (1-4, 1-1 SOL) will host Upper Dublin on Friday, and Bensalem (0-5, 0-2) will travel to Harry S Truman.
Council Rock North 7-13-0-0 20
Bensalem 14-0-0-0 14
SOUDERTON 49, HARRY S TRUMAN 21
On a night when his team’s passing game was limited, coach Ed Gallagher turned to his veterans, and senior Ryan Sadowski delivered in a big win.
“Ryan Sadowski just took over the game,” said Gallagher, who was without starting quarterback Ben Walsh (Injury). “They double teamed Danny (Dyches) most of the night, and we just weren’t able to get him the ball, no matter who was playing quarterback or what we ran.
“I gave him a couple carries, but we weren’t able to throw him the ball, so that neutralized what we were trying to do, so we pretty much kept him outside as a decoy and ran Ryan between the tackles. We have a backup quarterback playing in his second varsity start, and once he threw an interception, he got a little bit rattled. I was trying to take the weight off his shoulders and put it on to Ryan, who played quarterback a decent amount of the second half and just ran the ball. He really stepped up in the second half and carried us. He was the man the second half, no doubt about it.”
Early on, Michael McCormick scored a touchdown to give the Indians a 7-0 lead after one quarter, and then it was Houston Marshall adding a TD run to put the Indians on top 13-0 early in the second quarter.
The lead turned out to be anything but secure, and the Indians found themselves in the unexpected position of trailing their hosts 14-13 at halftime. It may have seemed like cause for concern for the undefeated Indians, but a pair of interceptions by defensive lineman Joey Nase in the third quarter helped erase that deficit, and the Indians rolled to the convincing win.
“We were a little sluggish to start, but we were up 13-0 and we had the ball at midfield, and one of my kids gets an unsportsmanlike conduct, and all of a sudden, instead of second-and-two, it’s second-and-17,” Gallagher said. “We weren’t efficient in the pass game, so once we got off our ability to run, we got in trouble.
“We punted, we threw an interception. We just shot ourselves in the foot and gave them extra opportunities, and they seized the moment, took advantage of the momentum, and they did a good job of rallying. They played with some confidence, so give credit to Truman because they hung around, they took the lead at halftime.
“They were pretty pumped up coming out in the second half, and they were getting the ball. I thought we were going to get a stop right away. They completed a pass to midfield, and I was like, ‘Oh man, what’s going on here?’ But then they throw a shovel pass right to Joey Nase, so we got the ball back at midfield went down and scored. Then they threw another pass to Joey Nase, and he took it in for a touchdown, and all of a sudden, it’s 28-14 and we’re feeling pretty good.”
Nase’s first interception resulted in Marshall’s second TD run of the night, and Sadowski took it in for a successful two-point conversion. Then it was Nase turning his second interception into a pick-6 and a 28-14 Souderton lead.
“The fact that he’s a defensive lineman and is our leader in interceptions is kind of a big thing,” Gallagher said. “The shovel pass was right to him, and the screen pass he read well, and he took it in the end zone.”
Three straight Sadowski touchdown runs put the Indians on top 49-14 before the Tigers scored a late TD.
“We did get contributions from some other guys as well,” Gallagher said. “Houston Marshall had two touchdowns. Mike McCormick had a bunch of good carries. Overall, we got the run game going.
“Unfortunately, we could not get our passing game off the ground. It was a disappointing effort from our pass game, but our run game stepped up and our defense stepped up. You take what you can get. We got the ball rolling and had a great third quarter and put the game out of reach. I’m proud of the kids the way they battled back.
“I didn’t say anything earthshattering at halftime. I think people overblow the halftime speech. I said, ‘Look, you’re the better team. You didn’t have a great week of practice, you weren’t focused on the bus ride down, and you kind of went through the motions in the first half. You didn’t show up. You need to show up. Show up in the second half and play the way you’re capable of, and you’ll be fine,’ and that’s what they did.”
Souderton (5-0, 2-0 SOL) will host Quakertown on Friday, and Harry S Truman (1-4, 0-2) will host Bensalem Friday.
Souderton 7-6-29-7 49
Harry S Truman 0-14-0-7 21
Non-league
UPPER DUBLIN 53, WISSAHICKON 42
(Stats provided courtesy of @ADRobinson3 and PA Prep Live: https://www.thereporteronline.com/2023/09/23/shyne-roberts-runs-for-7-touchdowns-in-upper-dublins-wild-win-over-wissahickon/ )
Shyne Roberts was – in a word – unstoppable.
Nothing, it seemed, could stop the senior running back on his way to a career performance that saw him carry the ball 19 times for 334 yards and seven – yes, seven – touchdowns. Not even an injury and certainly not the Trojans’ defense. For good measure, Roberts also forced a fumble in the opening half.
“Shyne’s performance was one for the ages,” UD coach Bret Stover said. “They carted him off, and I’m thinking, ‘He’s done for the night,’ and all of a sudden, he comes up and taps me and said, ‘I’m good.’ I said, ‘All right, get in.’”
“I’ll go on a limb and say, yes, it’s a school record. I know Joe Mastromatto had six (touchdowns) in a game against Perk Valley back in ’08, but seven – I was actually shocked he had seven because I’ll spread the ball around. I’ll give somebody else a carry, so they can get a touchdown here and a touchdown there. I never got around to it because he kept breaking off long runs.”
Roberts wasn’t the only one putting up big numbers out of the UD backfield. Sophomore Ronald Shepherd had 14 carries for 177 yards and a touchdown.
“He got it down to the one and two-yard line a couple of times, and Shyne got all the power points there and pounded it in,” Stover said.
Impossible to ignore in a contest that saw UD accumulate close to 600 yards – 538 on the ground – was the offensive line comprised of Phil Roll, Logan Fitzmaurice, Seth Johnson, Evan Sanders and sophomore Duce Selby, who was given the start in place of Christian Holland who was sidelined.
“He filled in and we moved Phil Roll out to tackle, and we really didn’t miss a beat,” Stover said. “It was really nice to see. My tight ends blocked well, and Martin Campbell, our fullback, did a real nice job tonight all night. He warriored up for us.
“A lot of my seniors contributed. (Nate) Cairnes had an interception. Trey Relvas – linebacker/wideout – made three solo tackles covering the kickoff where it looks like their guy is going to pop out of it, and all of a sudden, there’s Trey at his feet. A lot of my seniors had a big Senior Night tonight.”
UD and Wissahickon spent 48 minutes exchanging best shots. Wiss quarterback Nolan Pound got the ball rolling when he found Aiden Westcott with a 54-yard touchdown pass less than two minutes into the game. Twelve seconds later, Roberts scored on a 66-yard run, and the race was on.
Upper Dublin led 14-7 after a one-yard Roberts TD run, and the Cardinals took that lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, the two teams combined for 40 points. The Trojans led 28-27 after a Jaden McLean pick-6, but Roberts answered with a 75-yard TD run to give the Cards a 33-28 lead at the end of three quarters.
The Trojans went on top 34-33 after a 25-yard TD pass from Pounds to Rahmel Brooks. The Cards got that one back on a 12-yard Roberts touchdown run that was set up by a big Kevin Etkin to Chris Kohlbrenner connection. A 45-yard Roberts touchdown run gave UD a 46-34 lead only to see the Trojans score on one-yard run by Jaden McLean – who surpassed the 100-yard mark on the ground – and a successful two-point conversion. The Cards recovered the Trojans’ onsides kick and held on for the win.
“I actually joked with the official – ‘Whoever has the ball last is going to win this one,’” Stover said. “We were able to get two stops. One in the first half when Shyn caused the fumble.
“Kevin Etkin made a big throw to Chris Kohlbrenner in the fourth quarter. The momentum was all going their way. It was third-and-17, and Kevin scrambled and made a big 40-yard throw to Chris. From that point on, we believed again, we settled in and we took off. Our defense got another good stop at the end, and Shyne takes off again. We were like – ‘We’re going to run some clock here,’ but nope, there he goes.”
Roberts put the finishing touches on a career performance with a 49-yard touchdown run with 1:23 remaining that gave the Cardinals their final margin of victory.
“We were fortunate,” Stover said. “They’re a good team, and we knew that. We respected them, and my kids certainly respected them coming in.
The Cardinals’ coach tipped his hat to his opponent.
“I’d like to give a lot of good credit to (coach) Rory Graver and Wissahickon,” Stover said. “They have a really good football team. They’re going to win a lot more games. Rory is doing a great job there, and he certainly has Wiss going in the right direction. They’ve got the right guy there. I was very impressed with his team, a lot of his players.”
There was no mistaking that the intense rivalry between the neighboring communities is alive and well.
“I was just glad to see the rivalry back – their side was packed, our side was packed,” Stover said. “It was like Thanksgiving Day. I’m glad we won, don’t get me wrong, but I was just glad to see both schools came out to support their teams, and we were able to put on a good show for them.
“I’m hoping the rivalry will continue to grow. Obviously, it’s our backyard brawl. It was our Thanksgiving Day game at one point. I played in the first one. Wiss, to me, is always special. It’s Wiss week for us. It doesn’t matter if it’s week zero or week five. It’s a special week for Upper Dublin football players, and I hope they feel the same way. I was just really, really proud of that part of it, and I hope we can continue to build on that tradition.”
Upper Dublin (3-2, 2-0 SOL) will travel to Council Rock North on Friday, and Wissahickon (4-1, 0-0) will host Springfield Twp in its league opener Friday.
Wissahickon 7-0-21-14 42
Upper Dublin 14-0-19-20 53
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 47, McCASKEY 14
(Stats provided courtesy of PW football)
The Colonials jumped out to a 34-0 halftime lead on their way to a rout of visiting McCaskey, and if they needed a bounce-back win after last Friday’s disappointing 21-0 loss to Quakertown, this was it.
“This was a huge game for us,” PW coach Dan Chang said. “We had a huge crowd – it was community night, and a bunch of our youth players were there.
“I was pretty happy with how our kids executed tonight, how they kept their composure all night. We actually started a new quarterback this week, and I thought he played pretty well.”
Stepping behind center was Caiden Leszczynski, who finished the game 8-for-14 for 190 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s been the number two guy all year, and he’s a kid who’s always ready to go,” Chang said. “We put him in a little bit the last game, and he did nice things. He got a full week of practice this week. He controlled our offense pretty well, made some nice reads, and he can deliver the ball in the pass game. I think for his first varsity start he did a really nice job, and I’m excited to see where he goes from here.”
The Colonials had a monster night offensively, running for 373 yards and throwing for 190 more.
“Nazye Boggs offensively was really good for us,” Chang said. “He had an 80-yard screen pass for a touchdown. He broke a couple of good chunks of yardage on some run plays – he gets a little seam, and he goes.”
The offensive line also drew high praise from the PW coach on a night that said the Colonials pile up over 500 yards of offense.
“I thought our offensive line had their best game of the season,” Chang said of Max Vizza, senior captain Tye Hines, Jared Thomas-Payne, Shi-Nobi Morffiah and Eddie Moyett as well as tight end Chase Rarrick.
Everett Baker’s 127 yards on just six carries led the Colonials while Boggs – in addition to his 80-yard TD reception – had six carries for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Michael Bongard had three carries for 64 yards and a TD.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (3-1, 0-0 SOL) will travel to Cheltenham for its SOL American Conference opener on Friday.
McCaskey 0-0-7-7 14
Plymouth Whitemarsh 21-13-7-7 48
UPPER MORELAND 41, NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 9
ROMAN CATHOLIC 42, CHELTENHAM 12
HATBORO-HORSHAM 43, LOWER MORELAND 14
FATHER JUDGE 35, WILLIAM TENNENT 13
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