Check out the recaps for SOL football teams in action Saturday. North Penn/CB South photos provided by Keith Clemens Photography…CLICK HERE to go directly the the FOOTBALL GALLERY.
Stats used in the wraps are provided courtesy of the Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier. For complete high school football coverage, visit the web sites: http://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school/fall/football/ and http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/fall/football/
SOL National Conference
PENNSBURY 34, BENSALEM 13
The Falcons’ explosive offense – led by junior quarterback Zach Demarchis – has stolen the spotlight in the season’s early weeks, but on Friday, it was the Falcons’ defense that was the difference in the game.
“We didn’t have the ball much in the first half, but we got to the second half and the defense kind of set the tempo,” said coach Dan McShane, whose team had a 14-7 lead at halftime. “They got a couple of turnovers, scored on a fumble recovery, forced fumbles. It was the defense that got the mentality going. The offense had a couple of short fields.”
It all started, according to McShane, with defensive linemen Mike Gabora and Matt Lewis as well as linebackers Andrew Basalyga and Diante Williams.
“Matt and Mike create a lot of up-field disruptions,” the Falcons’ coach said. “They took the ball to start the second half, we made a couple of tackles for losses, and it kind of snowballed. The defense kept giving the ball to the offense in great field position and was scoring themselves.”
In the opening half, Nasan Robbins scored from five yards out, and Demarchis found David Burke with a 23-yard touchdown pass. Keith Parrish’s six-yard touchdown run accounted for the Owls’ only score of the half.
Another Robbins TD run – this one from 21 yards out – put the Falcons on top 20-7. When Demarchis hooked up with Austin Palmer with a 10-yard TD pass, Pennsbury’s lead ballooned to 27-7. A touchdown after a fumble recovery by the Falcons’ defense made it a 34-7 game before Bensalem quarterback Drasaun Moore scored from 10 yards out.
“In all three phases, we’re starting to settle down and get a certain kind of in-season intensity and focus,” McShane said. “Our offensive line is establishing a physical tempo, and on defense, we were running around pretty good. We’re giving up a few long plays here and there, but otherwise, we’re playing pretty consistently on defense, and the special teams have been solid.
With the win, the Falcons equaled their win total of last season.
“A lot of teams are nipping at our heels,” McShane said. “We have Truman next week, and Bensalem is a four-win team , and obviously, Neshaminy is up there.
“We get 24 hours to enjoy this and then we get ready for coach (Galen) Snyder, coach (Mike) LaPalombara and coach (Dave) Sanderson, all of my good buddies.”
McShane will go up against his “good buddies” – all former Pennsbury coaches – when the Falcons (5-1, 3-0 SOL) travel to Harry S Truman next Friday. Bensalem (4-2, 1-1) will host Council Rock South on Friday.
Pennsbury 7-7-20-0 34
Bensalem 0-7-0-6 13
NESHAMINY 33, ABINGTON 28
Those who thought the Redskins were going to be in for an easy time of it against the Ghosts were in for a surprise. Neshaminy needed some late-game heroics to escape with a win at Schwarzman Stadium.
With 1:25 remaining, sophomore quarterback Brody McAndrew found Cory Joyce with a 15-yard touchdown pass, propelling the Redskins to a win that was anything but easy.
The loss was a heartbreaker for the Ghosts, who went on top 28-27 with just over two minutes remaining when Darryl Davis-McNeil scored a touchdown and then took it in for a successful two-point conversion. McNeil finished the night with 279 yards and two touchdowns in a brilliant outing.
Neshaminy took a 21-12 lead into halftime, but the Ghosts came back to make things real interesting.
McAndrew turned in yet another stellar performance, completing 14-of-19 passes for 208 yards and four touchdowns. Oleh Manzyk led the ‘Skins on the ground with 89 yards.
Keenan Lambright had 81 yards on the ground in a contest that saw the Ghosts pile up 374 rushing yards.
Neshaminy (5-1, 3-0 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks South for a non-league game next Friday, and Abington (2-4, 0-3) will host Council Rock North on Friday.
Neshaminy 14-7-0-12 33
Abington 12-0-8-8 28
HARRY S TRUMAN 56, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 28
Showing no ill effects from last week’s crushing 56-7 loss to Neshaminy, the Tigers got back on the winning track, exploding for 28 points in the second quarter on their way to a 42-14 halftime lead.
A 50-yard touchdown run by Rock North senior Michael Welde knotted the score 14-14 in the second quarter. The rest of the night belonged to the Tigers.
Senior Sayyid Saunders led the Tigers’ ground game with 109 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Dylan Snelling accounted for three touchdowns.
Welde provided the bulk of the Indians’ offense, finishing the night with 146 yards and three touchdowns.
Harry S Truman (5-1, 2-1 SOL) will host Pennsbury next Friday, and Council Rock North (1-5, 0-3) will travel to Abington on Friday.
SOL Continental Conference
NORTH PENN 40, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 9
With almost business-like precision, the Knights solidified their status as the SOL Continental Conference’s premiere squad, controlling play on both sides of the football and handing the Titans their first loss of the season.
When it was over, it wasn’t the 40 points his team put on the scoreboard against a team that was allowing an average of just over nine a game that most pleased their coach. Rather it was the Knights’ sure tackling.
“I thought we were physical tacklers tonight,” coach Dick Beck said. “I think we still have to improve our defense, but I thought tonight was maybe our best night.”
A newcomer to the defense – senior Anthony Andrews – made his presence felt in just his second game at that position.
“He was a starting fullback, and we moved him to defensive end,” Beck said. “We’re trying to get more athletic on defense.
“I thought he did a great job tonight. He really penetrated and made plays in the backfield.”
The Knights’ strong showing against the Titans, who did not have Jack Johns behind center, should silence their critics who suggested their defense was soft in the middle.
“We had to come together and play, and I think that’s what we did on defense,” Andrews said. “We played team defense.”
The Knights set the tone for a dominating performance on their first drive of the night, converting a fourth-and-five with a 14-yard Steve DePaul to Owen Thomas completion that took the Knights to the Titans’ 27-yard line. On fourth-and-short on the very next series of downs, DePaul hit Joey Beck for a 19-yard touchdown and a 6-0 lead after one quarter.
“It’s nice when the quarterback throws a strike and when you’ve got receivers that are getting open like that – it just gives you so much confidence,” Beck said. “So third down you can run a play that you know if you go for it on fourth down you’ve still got a shot.”
In the second quarter, another fourth down conversion – this also on fourth-and-short – saw Andrews take it in from 21 yards out, and the Knights were just getting started. A pair of DePaul touchdown passes – the first to Justis Henley and the second to Khan Jamal – sent the Knights into halftime with a commanding 26-3 lead. The final score of the half came after the Knights recovered a Titan fumble created by Thomas, whose blitzes created havoc for the Titans all night.
“When Owen got injured, I think it set him back a little bit, especially when it comes to conditioning,” Beck said. “I think it’s been affecting him a little bit, but we’re trying to get him more involved offensively. He’s such a good receiver, such a good target, but he’s got to be on the field every play on defense. When he gets his wind back as we go through the season, he’ll be even stronger.”
KJ Cartwright’s 68-yard touchdown run highlighted the second half for the Knights, who owned this one from start to finish.
“We called this ‘Championship Week’ because whoever wins this game we think is in the driver’s seat,” said, Andrews, who scored his second TD in the second half. “It’s a huge win tonight against an undefeated team.”
A lot has changed since the Knights’ 0-2 start, some of those changes have been subtle.
“Just more enthusiasm at practice,” Andrews said. “I think practices are more alive and we’re getting more work done. I think that’s huge.”
North Penn (4-2, 3-0 SOL) will host Central Bucks East next Friday, and Central Bucks South (5-1, 2-1) will host Neshaminy in a non-league contest Friday.
Central Bucks South 0-3-0-6 9
North Penn 6-20-7-7 40
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 10, SOUDERTON 7
The Patriots rallied from an early 7-0 deficit to defeat the Indians in a rare Thursday afternoon contest.
“It was an ugly win, but it was a win,” coach John Donnelly said. “It gets us to 3-3. We won two games in five days, and that was our goal.
“It was a short five days too because we played Saturday night and we played Thursday afternoon, so it was a really quick turnaround. I’m proud of our guys. We didn’t have a lot of time to prep.
“I thought they did a really good job from that standpoint, but it was frustrating just because offensively we left a lot of points. We didn’t capitalize, we didn’t cash in. We moved the ball really well, but then we got inside the red zone and just didn’t finish.”
A six-yard touchdown pass from Dean DiPisa to Nick Guthrie gave the Indians a 7-0 lead after one quarter. They took that lead into halftime, but the Patriots put points on the board on the opening drive of the second half when sophomore Mike Smigley connected on 28-yard field goal.
Later in the quarter, Evan O’Donnell scored on an eight-yard quarterback keeper, giving the Patriots a lead they would not lose, 10-7.
“First and foremost, Ed (Gallagher) does a great job,” Donnelly said of the Indians’ coach. “His teams are always well coached, he gets the most out of his kids, and I think that showed today.
“The wing-t is not always easy to defend, but we were our own worst enemy offensively in the first half. We drove the ball very well – we got to the 10 and we fumbled. We drove again and we started going backwards from the 11-yard line. Really, our first three drives resulted in zero points. We made too many mistakes, and that’s why we were in the hole we were.”
The ending was not without its anxious moments as the Indians were in East territory.
“It was down to the very end, they still had a chance to win or tie,” said Donnelly, whose team’s three losses have been by three, four and nine points. “It was a scramble play. If the kid had made a diving catch (on fourth down), it would have been around the 10-yard line. It was nip and tuck the whole way.
“Fortunately and finally, we won a close game. To me, it doesn’t matter what their record was. We had a close game with them last year. We lost three close games, and our guys are finding ways to win.”
The Patriots’ coach acknowledged the strong outings of several players.
“I think Jake Ventresca played tough,” Donnelly said. “He kind of made something out of nothing a few times.
“Defensively, I thought our linebackers, Ty Tracy and Drew Bethke, were really solid.
“Our kicker, sophomore Michael Smigley, did a great job with his kickoffs and punts. He really changed field position and flipped the field for us. He hit a couple of good kickoffs for touchbacks, hit a big field goal to get us rolling in the second half.”
Central Bucks East (3-3, 2-1 SOL) will travel to North Penn next Friday, and Souderton (1-5, 0-3) will host William Tennent on Friday.
Souderton 7-0-0-0 7
Central Bucks East 0-0-10-0 10
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 28, WILLIAM TENNENT 7
The Bucks opened up a 21-0 lead and upped that lead to 28-0 before the Panthers scored a late touchdown.
A 17-yard run by Jake Reichwein midway through the first quarter gave the Bucks a lead they would not lose. Ryan Moylan scored from one yard out, and Rohan McDonald caught a short TD pass from Josh Crecca, sending the Bucks into halftime with a three-touchdown lead.
Tennent scored on a Kip Mooney to Eddie North touchdown pass.
Central Bucks West (5-1, 1-1 SOL) will host Pennridge next Friday, and William Tennent (0-6, 0-3) will travel to Souderton on Friday.
William Tennent 0-0-0-7 7
Central Bucks West 7-14-0-7 28
SOL American Conference
QUAKERTOWN 26, HATBORO-HORSHAM 20
Unlikely, improbable, implausible.
Take your pick.
Any of those words could safely describe the Panthers’ chances of digging themselves out of an early 20-3 hole. But dig themselves out they did, reeling off 23 unanswered points while keeping the Hatters off the scoreboard for the final two-and-a-half quarters.
“This is ridiculous,” coach George Banas said. “I’m blown away. They just don’t give up, they don’t quit. We wear teams down.
“I’m proud of the way the kids play, but I told them – one of these weeks we have to stop this because at some point it will bite you. You can’t keep living and dying this way. Obviously, we are living on it right now.”
The Hatters appeared to be in command. A 10-yard touchdown run by Josh Smith in the first quarter and a one-yard plunge by Anthony Kwiatanowski in the second spotted the Hatters a 14-0 lead, and that lead grew to 20-3 when Calvin Broaddus hauled in a 43-yard Christ Edwards touchdown pass. Quakertown’s only points came on a Ty Fosbenner 31-yard field goal.
An impressive touchdown drive right before halftime not only put the Panthers on the scoreboard but also breathed some life into the team. The drive was capped with Brad Bryan finding Tim Shevlin for a highlight reel grab in the end zone with just seconds remaining.
“Brad Bryan scrambled a little bit and stepped up in the pocket, fired a rocket over the middle where Shevlin was open in the back of the end zone – he makes a great jumping grab with toe touches to get both feet in,” Banas said. “We go for two.
“(Matt) Fugitt is a different quarterback who runs our two-point play, and he rolls right, the guy sucks up on him and Shevlin’s open in the corner where he basically catches the ball and falls out of bounds with his feet inbounds.
“It’s 20-11 at half because we get the touchdown and two-point conversion, which is huge because we get the ball to start the second half. We’re thinking, ‘If we go down and score, it’s a two-point game, and a field goal will win it.”
It wasn’t quite that easy, but the Panthers once again did find a way. Another Bryan to Shevlin touchdown pass made it a 20-18 game after three quarters, and when Christian Patrick found the end zone on a 22-yard run, the Panthers – who were successful on another two-point conversion – led 26-20. That score stood the rest of the way.
“After a quarter and a half, they had 20 points, and we were able to keep them off the scoreboard for two-and-a-half quarters, which is phenomenal with how many weapons they have,” Banas said. “We just had the bend but don’t break – we knew they were a big play offense, and that’s how they got their 20 points, a lot of bigger plays.
“We did a little bit of different things with our D tackles, brought a little different pressure package on some plays. I told our corners and safety just to play off, let them have the underneath stuff and try to make them drive down the field. I haven’t seen them have 10 and 15 play drives, so let’s try and have them drive 15 plays in a row to try and score. We came up with some big plays.”
One of those big plays was a tipped pass by Cole Hoener that resulted in an interception by Kyle Tooley.
“That was key,” Banas said. “There were a couple of back and forth fumbles at the end that made it so crazy.
“We had the ball, we were first-and-goal thinking we would go up by two scores with a couple minutes to go, but we didn’t get in. We sent the field goal unit out to try and go up by two scores, and it gets blocked.
“They’re driving back down, they fumble the ball, we pick it up and a couple of plays later – we get a really good first down with a hard-fought run, and we cough it up. Then they get it back with a chance to win it. We didn’t make it easy.”
Patrick led the Panthers with 166 yards rushing.
“Christian Patrick really ran the ball hard tonight,” Banas said. “He took some hits tonight but really kept churning his legs and getting extra yards.
“Shevlin is Shevlin. He’s going to make big plays. Brad Bryan did a tremendous job and down the stretch really made some great plays for us. Our offensive and defensive lines – everybody contributed. It’s a team effort, we’re winning as a team and not hanging our hat on one guy.”
Quakertown (5-1, 3-0 SOL) will host Cheltenham next Friday, and Hatboro-Horsham (2-3, 0-2) will be on the road at Wissahickon Friday.
Quakertown 0-11-7-8 26
Hatboro-Horsham 7-13-0-0 20
UPPER DUBLIN 42, WISSAHICKON 7
Lucas Roselli’s 63-yard touchdown run gave Upper Dublin a 6-0 lead after one quarter, and the Flying Cardinals were off and running. Malik Bootman followed with a three-yard touchdown run, and when Justin Gimbel found Matt Shields for the successful two-point conversion, the Cardinals led 14-0.
A Gimbel to Jack Jamison 38-yard touchdown pass upped the Cardinals’ lead to 21-0 before Antuan Lloyd return the ensuing kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown that put the Trojans on the board. They still trailed 21-7 at the intermission.
In the second half, the Cardinals added three more touchdowns, the first on a three-yard run from Bootman. Gimbel connected for his third touchdown pass of the night – this one for 31 yards to Ryan Besachio. Mike Slivka’s one-yard plunge wrapped up the scoring for both sides.
Upper Dublin (3-2, 2-1 SOL) will travel to Plymouth Whitemarsh next Friday, and Wissahickon (2-4, 0-3) will host Hatboro-Horsham.
Wissahickon 0-7-0-0 7
Upper Dublin 6-15-14-7 42
UPPER MORELAND 34, CHELTENHAM 9
Sterlen Barr and Caleb Mead have been a deadly one-two punch for the undefeated Golden Bears, and that didn’t change.
Mead raced 63 yards for a touchdown that put the Golden Bears on the scoreboard in the first quarter, and then Barr took over, turning in yet another dazzling offensive performance with 244 yards and four touchdowns.
Upper Moreland (6-0, 3-0 SOL) is off until Friday, Oct. 13, when it will host Quakertown in a key conference showdown. Cheltenham (0-6, 0-2) will travel to Quakertown next Friday.
Non-league
PENNRIDGE 35, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 28
What might have looked like a mismatch on paper after the Rams extended North Penn to the limit last week was anything but that as the Golden Hawks gave the Rams all they could handle and then some.
The Golden Hawks struck early when Elias Mayo took it 75 yards for a touchdown in the opening moments of the game. They stretched that lead to 14-0 when Andrew Vera caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Christian Jabbar.
The Rams got on the board when Zak Kantor found Joe Devine with a 53-yard touchdown pass, but another Jabbar to Vera TD pass put the Hawks on top 21-7. A 57-yard touchdown run by Ryan Garner made it a one-touchdown game, and the two teams were deadlocked after Kantor raced into the end zone from 41 yards out.
Senior Kyle Schetter’s 32-yard TD run gave the Rams their first lead, but the never-say-die Hawks came back to knot the score, this time on a 43-yard TD run by Jabbar. Schetter’s three-yard touchdown run with three-and-a-half minutes remaining gave the Rams a lead they would not lose.
Jabbar led all ground gainers with 122 yards. Schetter led the Rams with his second 100-yard game in as many outings.
Pennridge (4-2, 1-1 SOL) will be on the road at Central Bucks West next Friday, and Council Rock South (2-4, 1-1) will travel to Bensalem Friday.
Council Rock South 7-14-7-0 28
Pennridge 0-14-14-7 35
BRISTOL 41, SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 14
The Warriors jumped out to a 20-0 lead after one quarter and extended that to 34-0 before the Spartans got on the scoreboard with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. Max Perry found Wilson Krewson with a 14-yard touchdown pass, and Cam Dennis took it in from one yard out to account for the Spartans only points.
Perry threw for 139 yards, and Carter Stepney had 81 of the Spartans’ 108 rushing yards.
Springfield (2-3) will travel to Nativity BVM for a non-league game.
Springfield 0-0-0-14 14
Bristol 20-6-8-7 41
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