Wissahickon & Springfield Twp were winners in SOL football action. Wissahickon/Sun Valley photos courtesy of Kim Supko. To view a gallery of photos, please click on the following link: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/p635187909
Non-league
Saturday, Sept. 14
SPRINGFIELD TWP 24, ELIZABETHTOWN 21
The Spartans had every reason to lose Saturday’s non-league road game.
For starters, there was the hip pointer that sidelined starting quarterback Jack McGuckin for the entire second half, add to that a sweltering hot turf that resulted in back-up quarterback Bobby Hartman cramping and the team’s third string quarterback – JV quarterback Gus May – lining up behind center. Worst of all -they’d watched a 21-0 lead slip away, and the score was deadlocked at 21 apiece with time ticking off the scoreboard clock.
In a remarkable display of grit and determination, the Spartans found a way to win – albeit with some unlikely heroes.
“Unbelievable – our kids could have folded,” Spartans’ coach Chris Shelly said. “It was hot – we were on their turf, and then to see the other team come back.
“We got the ball at the 18. We don’t have any timeouts. I’m running one play to get it set up (for a field goal) in the middle of the field, and then we’re running our kicker in on third down. Bobby Hartman comes on – he’s cramped up all game, and with nine seconds left, he drills the 30-yard field goal that would have been good from 45.”
The win was in the books that just two minutes earlier looked highly unlikely after Elizabethtown knotted the score.
But that tying touchdown marked the beginning of a you-had-to-see-it-to-believe it sequence that began with the Bears kicking off. The Spartans – with no timeouts – had two minutes and 20 seconds to make something happen.
“We get a great return from Mekhi Paschall – he’s our freshman, and he’s been awesome for us,” Shelly said. “He gets the ball and gets it back to the 45-yard line.
“Now I’m thinking – I’ve got a shot maybe. We haven’t really repped a lot of pass plays with Gus – at least varsity pass plays. We weren’t intending to throw it.
“We ran first to set them up for it. I was looking at the matchups, and I saw Mekhi was going to get singled up, so we took a shot on the next play, and he catches it – it’s a 35-yard bomb down the sideline, and he gets it all the way to the 18-yard line.
“It was a huge play. Gus put it in there, gave Mekhi a chance to go get it. Mekhi goes and wins it – you can’t draw that up better, you can’t make that up better when you have a JV third-string quarterback go to a freshman receiver with less than two minutes to go in a game.”
The stage was set for Hartman’s game-winning field goal.
Elizabethtown – which was playing with a back-up quarterback – brought an 0-3 record into the game, but Shelly knew better than to put too much stock in that record.
“It was a battle, but it’s almost the kind of game we needed, and hopefully, we can build on this,” the Spartans’ coach said. “We knew going up there, even though they were 0-3, they really didn’t play like an 0-3 team.
“They had some close losses – they were in every game, so we knew – this is a 5A opponent, and we treated it as a playoff game. We got off to a great start.”
The start actually couldn’t have been much better.
On the Spartans’ first possession, CJ Johnson put his team on the board with a 40-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0. That lead grew to 14-0 on the Spartans’ second possession – this time it was Theo Ferragame scoring from one yard out.
In the second quarter, the Spartans tacked on a touchdown, this time Johnson scored from four yards out, and the Spartans had a 21-0 lead.
“We felt we were in command of the game,” Shelly said. “They had a tipped pass. We had two guys with their hands on it. It tipped twice, they catch it, and the kid runs in for a score, so that was kind of an omen in a bad way, so it was 21-7 at the half. We should have quite honestly picked it for six – I think it was a pick six waiting to happen.”
Listening to Shelly tell it, things went from bad to worse.
“We go into half and we realize – listen, the game’s not over, but Jack McGuckin got hit in the hip, and he suffered a hip pointer, so we lost him for the whole second half,” the Spartans’ coach said. “We had a senior quarterback behind him – Bobby Hartman. He’s a terrific athlete, but he hasn’t gotten that many reps there. Plus, he’s cramping up because it over 90 degrees on the turf at their place at two o’clock, and he’s struggling just to get on the field with his cramping.
“We’re really struggling just trying to move the ball. We knew defensively we could probably grit it out, but when you have a backup quarterback that is struggling with cramps – the wheels start to fall off. No particular one person. I told them, ‘Every game is not going to be a blowout. You need to test yourself in adversity.’ We really gutted it out the second half.”
In the third quarter, Elizabethtown scored a touchdown on a fourth-and-five on 60-yard screen pass.
“Unbelievable – we had them again dead to rights, but give them credit,” Shelly said. “Their kids kept playing.
“Mike Capoferri blocked the extra point, which was huge in my mind.”
The Spartans went into the fourth quarter with a 21-13 lead. They also had a new face at quarterback.
“We ended up putting in our third-string QB – our JV quarterback, Gus May,” Shelly said. “Bobby Hartman was cramping, and we wanted to get some kind of consistency going there. Gus stepped in. His time came.
“But they scored on a 24-yard pass in the fourth quarter, they go for a two-point conversion, and they get it. You could see this could easily go real bad.”
It could have gone bad, but it didn’t as the Spartans came back to win it on a Hartman field goal.
“Like most teams, we practice that scenario,” Shelly said. “We always have an end-of-practice deal – if he hits it, we don’t run sprints.
“You always have to worry about the hold and the snap, and both were fantastic. He drilled it, and that was it. It was a great celebration.”
There was plenty of praise to go around when it was over.
“Mike Capoferri had a pick – he was all over the field defensively,” Shelly said. “Especially with Bobby being hurt. He’s our other safety, so he’s the one that really stepped up his game defensively for us, and he blocks that extra point, which I think was huge. You don’t see it at the time, but it comes back later.
“We thought Theo Ferragame ran really well. We challenge our O-line in the second half because we knew we really couldn’t throw it with backup quarterbacks.
“Then there’s Mekhi who’s just special. He’s a special kid. I don’t think I can get him on the field enough because wherever he goes – he just makes plays. He’s so intelligent – his football IQ is really good, and he has no fear. He doesn’t play like a freshman, by any means. The kid’s a dude.”
Paschall had two catches for 58 yards. Johnson had seven carries for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Ferragame had eight carries for 48 yards and one touchdown. McGuckin – in limited action – was 3-for-5 for 41 yards.
As a team, the Spartans had 30 carries for 249 rushing yards.
Ryan Vernick, the Spartans’ nose guard, led the team with six tackles and multiple worries.
The win was the third in the row for the Spartans after dropping their season opener.
Springfield Twp (3-1) will host Lower Moreland in a non-league game Friday.
Springfield Twp 14-7-0-3. 24
Elizabethtown 0-7-6-8. 21
Friday, Sept. 13
WISSAHICKON 42, SUN VALLEY 14
This one was all but over by halftime.
The Trojans scored four unanswered touchdowns in the opening half on their way to a 28-0 lead. They never
looked back on their way to the decisive win – their third in a row after a season-opening loss to Upper Dublin.
“The key for us was our defense,” Wissahickon coach Rory Graver said. “It rose to the occasion. They continue to get better each week.
“Sun Valley had some talented offensive threats, and our defense did a really good job.”
Nolan Pounds had another big game behind center, finishing 7-for-16 for 180 yards and three touchdowns. Quasir Sampson led the Trojans’ ground game with 12 carries for 69 yards and one touchdown, Kareem Lee had six carries for 65 yards. Dom Harvey-Shepperd had six carries for 64 yards and one touchdown, and Jason Murray Jr had two carries for 64
yards and one touchdown. Sixty-two of Murray’s yards came on fake punt in the second quarter.
For the day, the Trojans had 292 rushing yards and 472 total yards of offense.
Quentin West had two receptions for 66 yards and one touchdown, Lee had two receptions for 61 yards and one touchdown. Xavier Johnson had one reception for 10 yards and a touchdown.
On the defensive side of the football, Jason Murray Jr had an interception.
“That was big,” Graver said. “Our defensive line has been playing pretty well the past couple weeks.
“Dom Harvey-Shepperd has been a big-time player for us at the safety position, for sure.”
Wissahickon (3-1) will host Interboro in a non-league game on Friday night.
Sun Valley 0-0-7-7 14
Wisahickon 14-14-14-0 42
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