Bensalem lost a heartbreaker in Saturday’s non-league opener at Lower Merion. Photos provided courtesy of Michael Rice. Check out a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f129542182
Non-league
LOWER MERION 6, BENSALEM 0
It was the very definition of heartbreaking.
With six seconds on the scoreboard clock in a scoreless game, the Aces and visiting Owls were staring at overtime. Or at least so it seemed – until the Aces pulled a flea flicker from their bag of tricks and scored a touchdown to win it as time was about to 
expire in regulation.
“Lower Merion – give them the credit,” Bensalem coach Alex Houston said. “They kept playing. They came with the flea flicker – they ran a double pass. Our guys got sucked up - they were probably looking ahead to overtime.”
For an Owls’ squad that saw a touchdown called back earlier in the game, Saturday’s loss was a gut punch.
“It’s one of those things – we’re still building, but that’s no excuse,” said Houston, who starts 10 sophomores, many of whom started as freshmen in his first season at the helm. “Once that first year went, we graduated 21 seniors. I knew it was going to be tough, but nobody wants to hear that.
“I really think we have some talent. We have young talent. I think we had every chance to win, but we didn’t get it done. That’s what it boils down to.”
Two of the Owls’ promising sophomores are Aiden Mayfield and
Myles Annan. Mayfield, a starter at tailback and free safety, led the Owls with 90 yards on 20 carries while Annan – in his first varsity start - had an interception and two receptions for 26 yards.
“I thought Aiden Mayfield played a good game,” Houston said. “He had scored a touchdown, but the touchdown was taken off the board for a block on the back on the receiver.”
A block that was nowhere near Mayfield’s scoring play. It was that kind of day for the Owls.
“We blocked a punt inside the 12, and we couldn’t punch it in – we kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” Houston said. “Myles Annan, who starts at corner, was called for the bloc
k in the back on offense, but he came back and had a real nice interception. I thought he played really well throughout the game.”
The Owls’ coach also credited the play of junior Jake Quinlan.
“I thought he played well – he’s an offensive lineman, and he played guard for us and also defensive line,” Houston said. “He’s a really good kid – a 4.0 student, a heck of a ballplayer. He’s a tough guy, a strong guy. He doesn’t talk a lot, but he’s really a strong ball player for us.”
The Owls were driving late in the opening half but came up empty.
“Looking back, maybe I kick a field goal, but being such a young ball club, I need those guys to experience some success,” Houston said
. “They have to prove to themselves that they can score touchdowns.
“I went for it in a 0-0 ball game, we didn’t get it, but that’s where we are. This game was there for the taking. It was right there for the taking, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Bensalem will travel to Central Bucks East on Friday.
“It’s just tough,” Houston said. “We have a sophomore quarterback, a sophomore tailback, a sophomore receiver, a sophomore center. They’re great kids, and they’re really talented, but they’re just young. If everyone sticks together and everyone grows together, success is not too far away, but today was tough.
“The real tough thing is we go into crossover play, but no crying over spilled milk – you’ve got to get it done.”
Bensalem 0-0-0-0 0
Lower Merion 0-0-0-6 6
Friday, August 25
SPRINGFIELD TWP 24, ARCHBISHOP CARROLL 6
The Spartans took a 7-6 lead into halftime in Friday’s opener and then blew the game wide open with an inspired second-half performance.
“We have a young team, but we have a talented team,” Springfield coach Chris Shelly said. “We lost a great senior class from last year with members like Dylan McKenzie and those guys, but we knew our younger kids had some talent. It was just a matter of them proving to themselves they could do it.
“We felt like we had a great offseason. The kids are all bought in, but you know there’s first game jitters, first game mistakes. We’re real proud of our kids. It was hot, but the great thing about my team this year is we have a ton of kids going one way. At Springfield, that’s unheard of, but we have a huge junior class of 25-plus kids. I want to get them all on the field, so we’re really only playing one kid – senior captain Miles Goodwin – one way. He’s a future college football player, but the rest of them – I just want them to get on the field and get it done. That helped us with all the cramping and all the heat issues. It was terrific, a terrific first win for our guys.”
In the opening quarter, CJ Johnson put the Spartans on the scoreboard with a four-yard touchdown run.
“He’s a junior running back who really came on, and he ran really ran well the whole game,” Shelly said.
As time expired in the opening half, the Patriots connected on a 32-yard touchdown pass but missed the extra point, and the Spartans went into halftime with a tenuous 7-6 lead.
“We had pretty much dominated most of the half,” Shelly said. “This actually was something – I don’t want to say I welcome adversity, but you want to see how your kids respond.
“We’re up 7-6, but you want your kids to bounce back. We told them, ‘Don’t flinch, don’t flinch, keep on playing.’ Carroll got the football first in the second half. We challenged our defense. Our defense was tremendous all night. They run a spread offense and want to throw the ball. We had a ton of sacks, we had an interception by Bobby Hartman, and he almost took it back to the house. We felt like we dominated them on that side of the ball.”
In the third quarter, senior captain Ryan Gibbons scored on a nine-yard touchdown run, and the Spartans converted the two-point play to go on top 15-6.
“You want to see a young team respond to adversity, and they did,” Shelly said. “When we scored, that’s when we started to take over the game.”
“We got a safety in the fourth quarter when they snapped the ball out of the end zone.”
The safety put the Spartans on top 17-6, and they iced the win when Gibbons scored his second TD of the half for a 24-6 lead that held until the final whistle.
There was plenty of credit to go around after Friday’s season opener, beginning with junior quarterback Jack McGuckin.
“He was hurt all last year,” Shelly said. “He did some first-time quarterback things, but he responded really well, and that’s what I was looking for. He didn’t flinch, he ran the ball really well, he led our offense. Things didn’t go as smoothly as you want them to, but the kid’s a winner. That was really neat to see him do it.
“Bobby Hartman had the interception, and he’s another junior. Aaron Kaufman blocked a field goal. He was our noseguard, and he was tremendous all night. He had a couple of sacks. A lot of young kids did a lot of special things for us.”
Springfield Township (1-0, 0-0 SOL) will travel to Harriton for a non-league contest Friday.
Archbishop Carroll. 0-6-0-0 6
Springfield Twp 7-0-8-9 24
WISSAHICKON 48, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 28
(Game information courtesy of @NStomsky X account. Stats provided by Wissahickon football)
If it’s offensive football you like, you would have loved Friday’s season opener at Wissahickon. The Trojans made a bit of history by winning their season opener for the first time since 2017 while exploding for 48 points.
“We haven’t really accomplished anything yet,” Wissahickon coach Rory Graver said. “We’re at the same spot we were last year with one win. There are some things to fix, for sure, but we did all right.”
The Trojans’ ground game was all but unstoppable as they accumulated 299 yards on the ground on 42 carries and passed for 122 yards.
“Rushing for 299 yards – credit first goes to the offensive line and our tight ends,” Graver said. “I thought they did a great job of leading the way for us.”
Comprising the Trojans’ offensive line were Thomas Garvey, Jarret Federer, Cole Rogers, Aidan McGillian and Ethan Baritz along with tight end Jackson Palmer.
It took the Trojans just 27 seconds into the game to get on the scoreboard when Jaden McLean – on the second play from scrimmage - scored on a 20-yard sweep. The play was set up by a long kickoff return by Aidan Westcott.
“That was huge,” Graver said of the early score. “We talked all week about how important it was to get off to a fast start. With the kick return and being able to score on two plays was big.”
The Trojans took that 7-0 lead into the second quarter that saw McLean score on a four-yard run, and then Aidan Westcott scored on a 29-yard run.
Rock North’s Will Scibona hauled in a touchdown pass to make it a 21-7 game, The Trojans – after a Quasir Sampson TD run - took a 28-7 lead into halftime. Scibona’s second TD – this one early in the third quarter – made it a 28-14 game. That’s as close as the Indians would get as the Trojans put 20 points on the board in the third quarter to open up a 41-14 lead on their way to the big win.
There were offensive contributors galore for the Trojans. McLean led the way with 13 carries for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Also contributing were Sampson (12-58, TD), Pounds (8-82), Dom Harvey-Sheppard (4-44, 2 TDs) and Jason Murray (1-12, TD)
Pounds completed 7 of 9 passes for 122 yards and a TD with Westcott the leading receiver with two catches for 59 yards and a TD. McClean had two catches for 29 yards.
Wissahickon (1-0, 0-0 SOL) will travel to Hatboro-Horsham for a non-league game Friday.
“Seeing the Hatboro-Horsham score – that’s going to be a very big challenge for us,” Graver said.
Council Rock North (0-1, 0-0) will be on the road at Abington on Friday.
Council Rock North 0-7-7-14 28
Wissahickon 7-14-20-7 48
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