They entered the season with lofty expectations, expectations that took a serious hit when their Hatboro-Horsham football team was 0-2 after two games.
“In eighth grade we were undefeated, in ninth grade we were undefeated,” senior linebacker Tim Newcomb said. “We blew out teams. A lot of them were the same teams we’re playing now.
“We thought, ‘Senior year – we can’t wait. We’re going to be amazing.’ We came out, and we’re 0-2.”
The Hatters have been something pretty close to amazing in their most recent outings – a 23-22 win over Quakertown that was followed by a 32-0 romp over Souderton that surprised just about everyone.
“Those back-to-back wins were huge,” Newcomb said. “They gave us a big boost.
“When we beat Quakertown, that didn’t raise any eyes, but when we beat Souderton – every single newspaper had us down to lose. It was just a huge win.”
The Hatters’ win over the Indians avenged a 35-0 thrashing at the hands of the defending conference champions last year.
“Souderton always gives us fits,” coach Tom Butts said. “They’re a well-coached football team, and they have athletes.
“That (big win) was a surprise to use. I think it was a surprise to everyone. We had some things bounce our way, and we made some big plays, and we were lucky enough to keep them from making the big plays in return. I think we played our best defensive game.”
Butts lauded the efforts of linebackers Kevin James and Mike Spahits as well as Alex Myers at defensive tackle.
“Our defensive line was doing a great job,” Newcomb said. “They just got great run pursuit, and we were just gang tackling.”
The defense limited the Indians to 140 yards of total offense while the Hatters’ young offense began to find its stride.
“All of our players stepped up, and we played better than we have been,” senior defensive lineman/center Matt Gallaso said. “Usually one or two players have a good game, but I think our entire team played well last Friday.
“We came out fired up. Our coaches prepared us really well.”
The Hatters, who upped their record to 3-2 after last Friday’s win, opened the season against a pair of tough opponents in Frankford and Neshaminy.
“They’re both 5-1,” Butts said. “I think the combined record of the non-league teams we played is something like 13-5. Playing that schedule prepares you for our league games.
“Another major part of it is we’re very young at some important positions. We’re not only young, but we’re inexperienced. We might have a senior playing quarterback right now, but he’s very inexperienced at the starting level.”
Senior QB Dan Lineberger as well as his backfield – junior Ed Coombs and sophomore Darryl Neville – are starting to come of age. The return of starting left tackle Bill Bowman, who was sidelined with mono, has also helped.
“A lot of things are starting to come together now,” Butts said. “Instead of having our offensive linemen all going two ways, we have some people back on the line, and it helps our depth.”
“We’re also an undersized team,” Newcomb said. “We don’t have any big kids. That was hurting us in the beginning, and then we started clicking.
“Our defense has been ferocious, but our offense started clicking. We need our offensive people to start pushing people, so our backs could get free. Having our line actually getting off and moving people has sprung our backs, and that’s how we started winning games.”
The Hatters travel to Pennridge for what promises to be an interesting battle on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Poppy Yoder Field.
“All week of practice we were high tempo,” Newcomb said. “We’re real hyped for this week. We need another big league win against Pennridge.
“We were just talking about how good our defense played (against Souderton), how we finally forced some turnovers and how our offense finally went off.”
It was the kind of performance that once again raised the expectations for the Hatters.
“Our expectation at the beginning of the year was to compete for a conference championship, and that’s still what it is,” Butts said. “Losing our first conference game put us in a situation where we have to win out.
“We view each week as its own entity, and we have to make sure we take care of that before we start looking ahead, but we try to take everything one week at a time.”
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