Check out the recaps for SOL football teams in action Friday. Springfield/Upper Moreland photos courtesy of Darry Rule of J&D Photography, PW/Hatboro-Horsham photos courtesy of Rimas Gaver & Upper Dublin/Truman photos courtesy of Shannon O’Sullivan. Check back for galleries of all three games.
SOL National Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 21, NESHAMINY 10
One week after enduring the most heartbreaking of endings in a classic battle with Central Bucks South, the Bucks bounced back with a hard-fought win over the Redskins.
“That was one of the more difficult ones we’ve had to experience, that’s for sure,” West coach Rob Rowan said of the loss to South. “After a game like that, it’s just taking an honest, authentic look at how the game unfolded like we do every week, win or lose.
“Obviously, the loss was a tough one to swallow, but there was also a lot to build off of, and that’s what we tried to emphasize. We’re on a quest to get better every week. I’m really proud of the way our kids handled that and the way that we practiced throughout the week. Tonight, it was a tremendous effort.”
It looked like the game might be off to a shaky start after a holding call on the Bucks’ first play from scrimmage set up first-and-20 at their own 28. For most teams, that might represent a passing down, but most teams don’t have a Ryan Clemens, who raced 16 yards on first down and then got 17 more yards on the next play.
It marked the beginning of a touchdown drive that featured a whole lot of Clemens and quarterback Noah Miller – whose 18-yard carry took the ball to the Redskins’ four. Miller rolled out and connected with Clemens for a two-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
“Those two were exceptional,” Rowan said of Clemens and Miller.
Late in the half, the Redskins came up with a big stop on fourth down and took over at their own 20-yard line. They showed a little trickery, picking up a first down near midfield on a successful hook and ladder that saw Connor Frederick connect with Brock Williams. Carter Clee – who returned to the lineup for the first time since game one – had a 28-yard carry to the Bucks’ 21.
The drive stalled when AJ Gerace came up with a big sack, forcing the Redskins to settle for a field goal by Kaden Nicastro, and the Bucks took a 7-3 lead into halftime.
Late in the third quarter, a long run by Clemens set up first-and-goal from the three-yard line. One play later, Clemens took it on for the TD and a 14-3 advantage.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Miller capped another long scoring drive with a 19-yard touchdown run that put the Bucks on top 21-3. Neshaminy scored a late touchdown when quarterback Michael Eckart connected with Jason Gilardi.
Final stats were unavailable, but there was no denying the impact of Clemens – who repeatedly shed would-be tacklers to turn small gains into big ones.
“His total effort on both sides of the ball and special teams – his impact on the game is so enormous,” Rowan said. “I’m biased, but I think he’s the best player in the league.
“He is the best player I’ve had in seven years here in terms of how he impacts the game in all phases – offensively, defensively special teams. His effort is off the charts. He’s just an exceptional football player, and he’s an exceptional young man. There’s not enough positive things I can say about him.”
The Bucks’ coach also credited several players whose names won’t show up in the box score.
“AJ Gerace is a guy that doesn’t get a tremendous amount of credit and the limelight, but he does so much for us in terms of blocking and on the defensive side of the ball,” Rowan said. “He’s just a really good football player and deserves recognition.
“From a developing standpoint, we have a young linebacker right now who is really only playing his second game at linebacker – Nick Miletto. He’s just really growing and getting comfortable. I thought he made some really, really nice plays. I’m really proud of the way he performed.”
Central Bucks West (4-2, 2-1 SOL) will travel to Pennsbury Friday (7:30 pm), and Neshaminy (4-2, 1-2) will be on the road at Pennridge next Saturday at noon.
Neshaminy 0-3-0-7 10
Central Bucks West 7-0-7-7 21
NORTH PENN 42, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 21
(Scoring info courtesy of @mpcabrey/The Reporter)
One short year after finding themselves 2-4 after six games, the Knights – with six games in the books – are 6-0. They averaged 33 points a game during their first five contests, and on Friday, they put up their highest point total of the season in another big win.
The game started out on an impressive note with the Knights scoring a touchdown on their opening possession after a three-and-out for the Patriots. Aiden Ashley scored on a one-yard run.
On the Patriots’ ensuing possession, Mike Price broke a 40-yard run, setting up a touchdown that – after a failed two-point attempt – made it a 7-6 game.
East recovered an onsides kick and scored on a halfback pass from Joey Craig to Alex White. A successful two-point conversion gave the Patriots a 14-7 lead.
“We got the ball went three-and-out and punted,” Beck said. “Their guy fumbled the punt. We got the ball and scored.”
Christian Johns-Wallace punched it in from a yard out to even the score early in the second quarter. The Knights took a 21-14 lead when Matt Bucksar connected with Mason Franek on a 13-yard touchdown pass.
With the first half down to its final minute, East had the ball near midfield.
“They tried to throw a deep post, and our sophomore corner, Rylei Gray, makes an incredible reception and returns it to their (34),” Beck said. “
It turned out to be one of the biggest plays of the game as the Knights capitalized after a bizarre sequence.
“We drove down, and on second down with 14 seconds left, our running back gets tackled at the three-yard line,” Beck said. “We’re half a yard short of a first down. I have one timeout left and I call timeout. Third down, I call a play. We’re going to throw a jump ball to Aidan Eves.
“One of my coaches said, ‘It’s fourth down.’ I said, ‘No, it’s not ,’ so now I’m looking at the referees, and he said it was fourth down. So we run the play and score a touchdown. We look at that Sideline Hudl – 100 percent third down.”
The Knights lost a down but made it irrelevant when Matt Bucksar connected with Eves for a touchdown and a 28-14 halftime lead.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, and the Knights put the game out of reach when Ashley scored his second TD of the game, this one from two yards out. With seven minutes remaining, the Knights tacked on their final touchdown on a one-yard run from Josiah Coleman. East added a late touchdown for the 42-21 final.
Beck credited the efforts of several players in the win.
“I thought Mason Franek had a great game, caught three or four balls and scored a touchdown,” Beck said. “Aiden Ashley running the ball from the fullback position. Not only did he run the ball good, he was very physical blocking.
“Defensively, Rylei Gray made a great play on the interception, and he had a great return.”
North Penn (6-0, 3-0 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks South on Friday (7:30 pm), and Central Bucks East (2-4, 0-3) will be on the road at Abington Friday (7:30 pm).
North Penn 7-21-0-14 42
Central Bucks East 14-0-0-7 21
PENNRIDGE 47, ABINGTON 0
The Rams threw some serious defense at the Ghosts and put up plenty of points on their way to the big conference win. They led 14-0 at halftime and then outscored their hosts 33-0 in the second half.
“We left some scores on (the table) in the first half – a fumble inside the red zone, and then on the fourth down, we had a wide-open kid, but we slipped when we threw the ball,” Pennridge coach Kyle Beller said. “The weather, the grass – he slipped and fell.
“In the second half, we came out and the kids just executed.”
Leading the Rams was William Dougherty, who had 21 carries for 181 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Noah Keating was 8-for-10 for 83 yards and three touchdowns.
The Ghosts managed just 21 yards of total offense, and the Rams held a 25-2 advantage in first downs.
“Our kids played well,” Beller said. “I was proud of them. We ran the ball well.
“The weather favored us today also. They have some really good athletes, and I don’t think they could get traction. Our kids did a nice job playing disciplined football and doing their jobs. They did what they needed to go do.”
Pennridge (4-2, 2-1 SOL) will host Neshaminy on Saturday at noon, and Abington (1-5, 0-3) will host Central Bucks East Friday (7:30 pm).
Pennridge 14-33 47
Abington 0-0 0
SOL Continenntal Conference
BENSALEM 31, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 13
It was a great night to be an Owl.
The Owls delighted their homecoming crowd with their most impressive outing of the season, defeating a Council Rock South squad that last year handed them a 24-0 beating. Friday’s win also brought a welcome end to Bensalem’s two-game losing streak.
“I’m so happy for the guys,” Bensalem coach Alex Houston said. “We were on a two-game losing skid, and we really needed a win, so the guys can see that it pays off.
“We had a ton of guys hurt, a couple guys academically out. I’m just so proud that we didn’t take the easy way out of making an excuse. We committed to a good week of practice. We only dressed 35 kids tonight, and a lot of guys had to play two ways. They just kept at it, and that’s what we’ve been trying to preach for as long as we’ve been here. You’ve got to control the controllables – control your effort, control your attitude, control what type of teammate you are. I was just really pleased to see them in a tight ballgame get after it.”
The two teams were deadlocked 7-7 at halftime, but the second half belonged to the Owls, who had plenty of contributors. Perhaps no one made his presence felt more than junior Thomas Bailey, who missed the last two games.
“He’s just such a dynamic football player that having him out just changed our lineup,” Houston said. “So for him to come back tonight after two weeks off – tonight he puts in two unbelievable touchdowns, and he gets an interception.
“This was his first game punting the ball because I didn’t think we punted the ball particularly well last week. I’m just over the moon for the kid, and here’s the best part – even when he was out, he was practicing, he was being a good teammate, and those are things that pay off for you. That it can’t be about you, it has to be about us. For him to be back tonight, I thought he played a fabulous ballgame.”
Also earning high praise from the Owls’ coach was senior defensive end Kenley Silaire.
“It was 0-0 for a long time, a fumble comes out, Kenley picks it up, and he scores,” Houston said. “We’re up 7-0, and they scored right before the half to tie it up, and they were getting the ball in the second half.
“We’ve been in that place before. We’ve been in that place where things weren’t great going into the half, and we buckled. We would make mistakes. Tonight, we just really buckled down and stuck with it. Give credit to Council Rock South – they played a heck of a ballgame. They kept coming at us. They’re well coached. I’m just proud that my guys were focused on what they had to do and really played for each other, so I’m really happy for them.”
Rock South had the ball coming out of halftime, but the Owls got a stop.
“We had made some adjustments to what they were doing, and Thomas (Bailey) – I want to say it was 50 yards on a touchdown run,” Houston said. “Thomas scored again, and we went up 21-7. It was another long, impressive run.
“Tommy Hurst ended up kicking a field goal for 24-7 and that was big. Aidan Mayfield scored to make it 31-7.”
The Golden Hawks scored a late touchdown when the outcome had been long since decided.
“I thought our defense played well,” Houston said. “Kenley Silaire played a great ballgame. I thought Christian Siracuse played a nice ballgame. Jaden George just brings such a physical component to what we try to do, and he had a tough week of practice. I was just so glad he put those things aside and played for each other.
“I thought Myles Annan played a nice game defensively, Thomas Bailey and Christian Siracuse both had an interception. I thought those guys played well defensively.”
For the Owls, Bailey finished with 115 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries and also had one interception in a standout effort. Aidan Mayfield had 77 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries.
Bensalem (3-3, 1-2 SOL) will travel to Souderton Friday, and Council Rock South (2-4, 1-2) will host Harry S Truman next Saturday at noon.
Council Rock South 7-6 13
Bensalem 7-24 31
QUAKERTOWN 35, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 7
One week after staging a miraculous comeback in their 35-34 win over Souderton, the Panthers opened up a 35-0 lead before Rock North scored a late touchdown to break up their shutout bid.
“I was happy with our defensive performance tonight,” Quakertown coach George Banas said. “We shut them out on defense. We only gave up a kickoff return at the very end for a touchdown.”
Underscoring the Panthers’ defensive dominance was the fact that they had five interceptions – Brady Martin had a pair of picks while Matt Thomas, Gavin Mushrush and Emilio Olivares each had one.
Brady Martin put the Panthers on the scoreboard five minutes into the opening quarter on a one-yard plunge. In the second quarter, Aiden Burgy hauled in a 41-yard touchdown pass from Martin, and a six-yard touchdown run by Gavin Carroll sent the Panthers into halftime with a 21-0 lead.
In the third quarter Martin and Burgy hooked up for another touchdown – this one from 43 yards out to give Quakertown a 28-0 lead heading into the final quarter.
Aidan Whitley’s one-yard TD run put the Panthers on top 35-0 before the Indians scored late.
“It was workmanlike – we looked good for some series, we made some mistakes on others,” Banas said. “We just have to correct stuff for next week.
“I was a little worried about this week because of our big win last week. Kids might be looking ahead to Upper Dublin. It was probably the trap game, but we were able to take care of business, get out there and get a convincing win.
“It’s always good to get extra guys on the field. We were pretty banged up. We had three starters out tonight. Hopefully, they’re able to be back next week. To be able to win with three guys out feels pretty good.”
Quakertown (3-3, 3-0 SOL) will travel to Upper Dublin for a key conference battle Friday (7:30 pm), and Council Rock North (1-5, 1-2) will be on the road at Cheltenham next Saturday for a 3:30 pm contest.
Council Rock North 0-0-0-7 7
Quakertown 7-14-7-7 35
UPPER DUBLIN 35, HARRY S TRUMAN 0
The visiting Flying Cardinals opened up a 27-0 halftime lead on their way to the no-doubt-about-it conference win.
“We played well last week,” Stover said of his team’s 24-7 win over Council Rock South. “This week was just – ‘Let’s get in and get out, not get anybody hurt.’
“We got to play a lot of young kids in the second half. It was good.”
The Cardinals got on the scoreboard early.
“Our first touchdown – we were on the two-yard line, and they don’t cover a wideout,” Stover said. “So, Kevin Etkin just checked down and hit Eric Berman for a touchdown. It was really nice to see him read the field, and Eric was on the same page.
“Jordan Fields got the start for us tonight at tailback, and he had a touchdown run.”
Ron Shepherd also had a pair of touchdowns.
“The defense had the shutout and probably had five three-and-outs on the night, and that’s good for us,” Stover said. “We fumbled, they got the ball in the red zone. They’re on the three-yard line, and we had a goal line stand, so that was great.
Upper Dublin (4-2, 3-0 SOL) will host Quakertown Friday (7:30 pm), and Harry S Truman (1-5, 0-3) will be on the road at Council Rock South next Saturday at 12 noon.
Upper Dublin 27-8 35
Harry S Truman 0-0 0
SOUDERTON 49, CHELTENHAM 13
The Indians bounced back from devastating loss to Quakertown to notch a convincing road win over the Panthers.
“Cheltenham is good,” Souderton coach Ed Gallagher said. “People have no idea how good that team is. Their quarterback (Kendall Jackson) is really, really good, and he’s only a sophomore. He was at St. Joe’s Prep last year, and I’m happy for Troy (Gore) that the kid understood the situation and came back. He was really, really good.
“Their running back, Jared HIggenbotham, is really, really good, and some of their linemen are really good. It’s a good football team. They lost to Wilson West Lawn 28-20 in the first game of the season. They’ve taken every other team and played them tough.
“We were in a different position – our backs were against the wall. If we won the Quakertown game, they might have caught us because they were good enough to catch us. That’s a good football team.”
The two teams exchanged touchdowns in the opening quarter with Ben Walsh connecting with Hunter Smeltz for an 18-yard touchdown. The Panthers answered with Jared Higgenbotham scoring on a seven-yard run, and it was 7-7 after one quarter.
The Indians seized control in the second quarter, reeling off 21 unanswered points to go into halftime with a 28-7 lead. JoJo Sudi scored on a 22-yard TD run, Elijah Hampton returned a fumble 45 yards for the score, and Walsh hooked up with Calb Moyer for a 24-yard touchdown.
The second half was highlighted by Hampton returning an interception for a touchdown.
“Elijah made huge, huge plays,”Gallagher said. “The fumble on a not very good grass field that they haven’t play on all year because it’s not very good – it somehow took a perfect bounce to him, and he just ran 50 yards for a touchdown, so that one was easy.
“The interception was a great play. He was in great position, he undercut the route and made a great play. He gets credit for both touchdowns, but the interception was much more impressive than the fumble recovering. Even on the interception, he made two people miss to get into the end zone, so that one was much more impressive, but he’s an electric athlete.
“We try to get the ball to him and Hunter (Smeltz) on offense as much as we can. They have most of our catches on offense. Ben (Walsh) does a nice job spreading the ball around, but he does lock in on Hunter and Elijah as much as he can because they both do things when they catch the ball. It’s definitely a nice thing.”
Walsh threw for 112 yards and three TD passes to lead the Indians. Caleb Moyer’s 63 rushing yards led the Indians, who also received 57 yards from Sudi and Houston Marshall. Sudi had a pair of rushing TDs.
Defensively, the Indians were led by Julian Adorno (10 tackles, 1 TFL), Jayden Bergey (9 tackles) and Marshall (8 tackles).
Souderton (3-3, 2-1 SOL) will host Bensalem on Friday (7 pm), and Cheltenham (1-5, 1-2) will host Council Rock North next Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Souderton 7-21-14-7 49
Cheltenham 7-0-6-0 13
SOL American Conference
SPRINGFIELD TWP 41, UPPER MORELAND 17
(Check back for complete game stats. Game scoring info courtesy of @ArtisticMayhem1)
The Spartans, the smallest football school in the SOL, apparently had quite enough of being viewed as a little team that was not taken seriously by its opponents. 
“Our kids almost felt disrespected,” Springfield Twp coach Chris Shelly said. “I don’t know where that comes from, but we’re always the little engine that could.
“We’re always the team – ‘Oh, you’ve got Springfield, you’re going to make that your homecoming game.’ Our kids have had enough of that. I’m just so happy for our kids.”
If it’s respect the Spartans wanted, they earned it on Friday night with a convincing win over previously unbeaten Upper Moreland, opening up a 21-17 halftime lead and then outscoring them 20-0 in the second half.
“We preached that we felt we were the more physical football team,” Shelly said. “We knew coming in they were very explosive, and they score on big plays, but we ran the ball down their throats in the second half.
“I don’t know how many total yards CJ (Johnson) had, but we put the ball in the hands of him and our quarterback (Jack McGuckin), and our kids physically manhandled them in my opinion.
“This was a huge win for our program. We haven’t beaten them in 10 years. Some of my coaches on the sidelines – they were there the last time we beat them, so our kids are super excited. We know there’s more to come, but this was a statement game for us, it really was.”
The Spartans served notice on the opening kickoff that they were going to be the aggressor, recovering an on-sides kick. They capitalized when Johnson raced in for the score from 29 yards out.
“We prepped really well for them – we saw some things,” Shelly said. “We put (quarterback) Jack McGuckin in as kind of a surprise. We crossed the kick, so we faked one way and Jack came back the other way.
“We deferred on purpose. We won the toss, and we were in attack mode from the get-go. The kids know. That’s the way I’m coaching it, that’s the way they’re playing. We’re coming after people, and we got it. You can draw it up all you want, but you’ve still got to get it. That was huge for us to get the ball, and we scored on the drive.”
“You get the ball in the second half when you do that, so it was a win-win. We felt we had the right look, and Jack executed a great on-sides kick.”
The Golden Bears rallied to take a 10-7 lead, thanks to a 21-yard field goal by Luke Sword and quarterback Alex Foley connected with Larry Hughes for an 80-yard touchdown.
The Spartans were unfazed, and on fourth-and-long from the Bears’ 32, McGuckin – with defenders in his face and rolling to his right – found Bobby Hartman in the end zone for a touchdown and a 14-10 lead.
“Jack McGuckin is not last year’s quarterback,” Shelly said. “We knew how good an athlete he was. Last year he was an athlete. This year he’s a quarterback. He commands our offense, and the kid makes plays with his feet and his arms. He just has led us to the next level.”
Both teams added a touchdown before halftime, and the Spartans took a 21-17 lead into the intermission.
“That first half – I think we took them aback,” Shelly said. “We knew going in at halftime we had left some plays on the table.”
In the third quarter, Johnson scored a TD on a 13-yard run to give the Spartans a 27-17 lead, and it was 34-17 after Johnson raced 78 yards for the score.
“CJ was an all-state running back tonight,” Shelly said. “People aren’t seeing how good he is. He’s a difference maker for us. He was getting hit maybe five yards down the field, but that five yards was turning into 10 yards because he was running so hard.
“He’s almost underrated, and I don’t know why. He’s a great track athlete, and he’s probably going somewhere to do track in college, but he’s an all-state kid.”
For good measure, the Spartans added a touchdown in the fourth quarter for the 41-17 final.
“I’m just so excited for our kids because we really preached that this was going to be a statement,” Shelly said. “It was fantastic. We preached it was going to be our seniors versus their seniors. We knew they had a good team, and they were on a 5-0 streak, but we felt like our kids matched up really well with them.
“(Upper Moreland) hasn’t been in a lot of close games. We felt like we had some advantage when we went up to Elizabethtown, and we had to scratch and claw to get that game, and we played PJP.”
The Spartans’ coach credited the efforts of several players.
“Bobby Harman played on both sides of the ball,” Shelly said. “We even put him at defensive end. I just know how good of an athlete he is, and he was fantastic on both sides of the ball.
“We challenged our linebackers. Aaron Kaufman, a junior, was first team all-league last year at nose guard, and we moved him to linebacker. He was all over the field. We moved Nick Ebner down to play tackle. We got a bunch of kids we can move around like chess pieces to get the matchups we want because they’re so smart, and they’re football players.
“It might have surprised Upper Moreland a little bit. We felt we could show them something different, so defensively, I was really happy except for giving up a couple of big plays, but our kids knew they were explosive, and we played a lot of man coverage. You’re going to get beat sometimes in man. We just kept preaching – keep playing, keep playing, and we held up.”
Springfield Twp (5-1, 2-0 SOL) will host Hatboro-Horsham next Saturday at 1 pm, and Upper Moreland (5-1, 0-1) will host William Tennent Friday (7 pm).
Springfield Twp 7-14-13-7 41
Upper Moreland 10-7-0-0 17
WILLIAM TENNENT 21, WISSAHICKON 14
There are big wins, and then there is Tennent’s win over a Wissahickon squad that brought a 4-1 record into Friday’s conference opener and last year trounced the Panthers’ 35-14.
“This is gigantic,” Tennent coach Colin Leach said. “Beating a team like Wissahickon that’s so well coached – I’ve got to give credit to my entire staff.
“It was just the players executing. We knew going in this week what we had to do to win, but it really came down to – how are you going to execute? We challenged the guys all week. We kept telling them that this team is good, but so are we and we haven’t hit our stride yet.
“I say this thing – you keep climbing the ladder until you reach your goal, and each week you’ve got to go up one more ring of that ladder. I told them – we haven’t gone up another ring in a little bit. I think it’s safe to say we made our way up one of those rings this week, for sure.”
All week Leach had a simple message for his players – stick to the game plan.
“Stick to the plan that the coaches are building, and let’s just go out there and execute what we’re going to do,” the Panthers’ coach said. “That’s what happened, that’s the bottom line. We executed our game plan to the ‘T’. We planned on kicking a couple of on-sides kicks, we planned on making sure we could get the edge and run our outside reach plays.”
The game didn’t exactly start out the way the Panthers had hoped when Wissahickon quarterback Nolan Pounds scored on a five-yard keeper.
But AJ Alwan forced a fumble that was recovered by the Panthers, who suffered a setback when quarterback Gavin Mensch was forced to leave the game after taking a hard hit. Derrek Guenther stepped in to replace Mensch and capped the Panthers’ scoring drive with a five-yard keeper, knotting the game at 7.
“He ran the offense perfectly,” Leach said of Guenther. “We got outside, Derrick took one to the edge, took it in and made it 7-7, and that was the halftime score.”
The Panthers opened the second half with an on-sides kick that they recovered.
“We came out of halftime, and our plan from the beginning was whether we started the game with the kickoff or at halftime, we would kick an on-sides kick,” Leach said. “So Danny Fox – a senior who plays on the soccer team – has been amazing for us all year.
“He came out, kicked it, it bounced off a kid’s chest, and we recovered it. We took the ball down the field, capped it off with Derrick Guenther scoring from two yards out this time for a 14-7 Tennent lead.”
On the Trojans’ next possession, the Panthers forced another turnover, and once again it was Alwan who forced it. The Panthers capitalized with Joey Hebling scoring to give the Panthers a 21-7 advantage.
“Hebling scored on a third-and-goal from the four,” Leach said. “He was an absolute dog tonight on both sides of the ball. He’s been such a leader for us, he’s a senior captain.”
With just under five minutes remaining, the Trojans tacked on a touchdown when Quasir Sampson scored on a two-yard run to make it a 21-14 game, and the Panthers went into their four-minute offense.”
“We ended up getting four first downs,” Leach said. “I’m pretty sure I gave the ball to Justin Frederic every play of that drive.
“He’s a senior captain that I knew was running hard. Our offensive line was getting the push we needed, and Justin was trusting them, and the rest is history.”
And at the end of the day, Panthers’ defense prevailed.
“I think the biggest thing we wanted to do was to slow down their high-powered offense and to force them to go chunks at a time,” Leach said. “We didn’t want the big play. We wanted them to have to methodically go down the field. We were able to force some mistakes, get some key stops and came out with a victory.”
As for passing out credit to individual players, Leach didn’t know where to begin.
“The list is countless,” he said. “I think Jordan Lawson in the secondary played so well in the middle of the field.
“Derrek Guenther and Justin Frederic absolutely just ran their tails off. Gavin Mensch does a great job running the offense, running the system.
“Unfortunately, Isaiah Rosario, our senior tailback, had an injury and had to leave the game, but up to that point, he’d made a couple of big plays – he set the tone for us. Hopefully, he bounces back.”
Frederic led the Panthers’ ground game with 85 yards on 16 carries. Guenther had 43 yards and two touchdowns. Mensch was 8-for-10 for 44 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Alwan had six tackles – including three tackles for loss and one sack. Hazlett also had six tackles with two tackles for loss and one sack. Jordan Lawson also had six tackles – five solo.
William Tennent (3-3, 1-0 SOL) will travel to Upper Moreland Friday, and Wissahickon (4-2, 0-1) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh next Saturday at 1 p.m.
Wissahickon 7-0-0-7 14
William Tennent 0-7-14-0 21
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 38, HATBORO-HORSHAM 0
Dan Chang found himself in the middle of a celebration after his team’s shutout win over the Hatters. Friday’s win was one for the record books as it represented the 100th of Chang’s standout career at the helm.
“It was great,” Chang said. “The kids were so supportive. My whole family was there. My wife surprised me with all of our family members. A lot of the kids from the youth football team that I’m coaching for my son’s
team were there.
“It was surreal being surrounded by that many people who are supportive but are also a big part of why I have been able to get to this 100-win mark. It’s definitely not just me. There are so many people involved. It was really cool seeing everyone there tonight.”
During his 15 years at the helm, Chang has won seven league titles, including the last three years, and the Colonials picked up an impressive win in Friday’s conference opener, dominating both sides of the ball.
Mike Bongard scored the game’s first touchdown, Everett Baker – on the heels of last week’s five-touchdown game – had a pair of touchdowns.
“He had a 65 or 70-yard touchdown run,” Chang said. “Christian DiCiurcio caught a pass for a touchdown and also had a 40 or 50-yard touchdown run.”
Sophomore kicker Max Peterson connected on a 30-yard field goal.
The Colonials took the suspense out of this one early, opening up a 31-0 halftime lead, and while the offense was busy putting points on the board, the defense was stonewalling the Hatters at every turn.
“Our defense was playing great,” Chang said. “We got guys who really can move on defense and cover a lot of ground, but they’re also pretty physical as well.
“Hatboro was pounding the ball tonight, and our guys stepped up and were able to neutralize that a little bit, and when our 2s came in, they did a great job as well of holding those guys.”
“(Hatboro-Horsham) only threw the ball a couple of times. We had a young kid – Jaiden James – get his first interception, but otherwise, it was a group effort on defense. We had a lot of guys contribute to tackles and stopping the run.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh (4-2, 1-0 SOL) will travel to Wissahickon next Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest, and Hatboro-Horsham (2-4, 0-1) will be on the road at Springfield Twp on Saturday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 31-7 38
Hatboro-Horsham 0-0 0
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