Friday night’s Council Rock North – Council Rock South showdown will also be a featured game on SuburbanOneSports.com this week.
Josh Mitchell didn’t hesitate for even a millisecond when asked the significance of Friday night’s showdown against archrival Neshaminy.
“The game is going to be the most important football game I’ve ever played in my entire life,” Pennsbury’s senior defensive tackle said. “This is definitely huge.
“I can say this for the whole senior class – we’re all going on to different things, and we can’t win a league championship after this. For the seniors, this is going to be the biggest game of our lives so far.”
Pennsbury’s Andy Lynch, who has been named a game captain, offered similar sentiments.
“I can’t even explain it,” he said. “I’m so excited.
“My sophomore year we played at Pennsbury – just the feeling you got then. You can’t really explain it. It’s pretty much what you work for in the offseason, it’s what you dedicate your time for – a feeling like that to be on the field with them.”
Yes, it’s really that special, and everyone’s eyes will be on Friday night’s battle for supremacy in the SOL National Conference. The winner will wear the mantle of champion. The loser finishes second.
It’s as simple as that.
“When they set up the schedule, they start by making sure the two of us are always playing each other at the end,” Neshaminy coach Mark Schmidt said. “It’s kind of neat that it’s coming to that.
“It’s becoming a little bit of a habit, and we’re excited about the opportunity to make that happen. At the beginning of the year, pretty much everybody had us third or fourth in our own conference, so we’re happy with where we’re at. We’re looking forward to going over there, and hopefully, we’ll play our best game of the year.”
The Redskins enter the game fresh off a 34-7 rout of Bensalem. The Falcons, meanwhile, are looking to bounce back from a 27-13 loss to Abington.
“A loss is never good, but if it can help you refocus things and you use it for that purpose, then it might help you in the long run,” Pennsbury coach Galen Snyder said. “We’ll see what goes on Friday night.”
Friday’s game will feature a pair of thousand-yard rushers in the backfield. Pennsbury’s Dante Devine, who has 1,068 yards and 16 touchdowns, surpassed that magical plateau last Friday night. Neshaminy’s Bryan Dean is the area’s top ground gainer with 1,270 yards and 14 touchdowns.
The Falcons ground and pound attack also features junior quarterback Brandon Pepper, who has 482 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Joe Brown and Jeff Fisher have over 500 yards on the ground between them.
“We have to shut down their run,” said Neshaminy outside linebacker Andy Lynch. “We know they’re a good football team, and they’re well coached.
“We’ve played a lot of wing-t offenses before, and we’ve had pretty much success against them. We just have to play our assignments.”
Schmidt has had success alternating quarterbacks, so fans can expect to see plenty of both senior Brian Titus (48-of-80, 566 yards, 7 TDs) and junior Charlie Marterella (29-of-44, 470 yards, 7 TDs).
Standout wide receiver Rick Brebner has hauled in 22 passes for 307 yards and four touchdowns. Dean has seven receptions for 169 yards and three touchdowns. Frank Csaszar has caught 14 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns.
“Our offensive line has stepped up and done a good job,” Schmidt said. “Our wide receivers – when called upon – have gone out and done some really good things.
“Offensively, both quarterbacks have played great.”
The Redskins’ coach believes his defense – on too many occasions this season – has taken an unfair rap.
“Our defense has been a little mishandled in the papers, but we don’t mind that,” Schmidt said. “It gives us a little bit of fuel.
“We’ve held some good teams to a lot less than what they usually get. Last year, we were able to get a couple more zeros – but I tell you what – they’re playing great, and they’re playing hard.”
Pennsbury’s vaunted defense seemed invincible. Until last week’s 27-13 loss to Abington.
“There were a lot of mistakes,” Snyder said. “I thought Abington played well, first and foremost. I also thought we did not play well in a lot of different areas.”
“To tell you the truth, when we got up 13-0, it seemed like it was going to be easy from there,” Mitchell added. “I think we let up the intensity a little bit. We started making mistakes, and that hurt us. That did us in right there.
“We’re also giving up way too many penalties. I think that’s what hurt us in these games. We need to keep the penalties at a minimum on both sides of the ball. If we can do that, it will definitely help us out and change the circumstances.”
Both teams boast identical 5-1 records in league play, and interestingly, both squads lost to Abington.
According to Schmidt, it was in that Abington loss that he saw what this year’s team was made of.
“They keep playing,” he said. “They fight their tails off. That was very evident in the last eight minutes of the Abington game.
“We were down by 18 points, and we just decided we were going to go out and do it – make a statement and play better like we’re supposed to play and have the opportunity to get going. I was very happy to see that happen. I didn’t think this team had that.
“When I saw that, it kind of made me feel pretty good for the rest of the year.”
“That game had a big impact on us,” Lynch said. “It showed we could battle, and we could come back.
“A lot of people wrote us off this year. We always knew we had the potential to be this good. It just took us coming together.”
While the Redskins point to their loss to Abington as a turning point, the Falcons hope theirs was just a bump in the road.
“It was tough, but we have to push it out of our minds and get focused on this game because this is even more important,” Mitchell said. “We just have to go in there and give 100 percent, we have to give 110 percent. We have to keep up the intensity, and we can’t be making any mistakes. We have to play sound football.
“This game is worth the championship. We have to get out there and try and bring in the win. This week is huge for us.”
In the end, Friday’s game might really be as simple as Snyder makes it sound when asked the key.
“To be honest, it’s going to come down to blocking, tackling and turnovers – in other words, just basic football,” the Falcons’ coach said.
**Stats are courtesy of The Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times.
Last year: Neshaminy 16, Pennsbury 13
Last week: Neshaminy 34, Bensalem 7 (The quarterback duo of Brian Titus and Charlie Marterella combined to complete 10-of-15 passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Rick Brebner finished the night with five receptions for 80 yards and one TD. Bryan Dean ran for 135 yards on 18 carries. He also had two TDs.)
Abington 27, Pennsbury 13 (Dante Devine had 94 yards on the ground. Take that out of the mix, and the Falcons had less than 100 yards of total offense.)
On the air…
This week’s Neshaminy/Pennsbury game will be broadcast live on WBCB 1490 AM, beginning with a pregame show at 6 p.m. and followed by the opening kickoff at 7 p.m. The game will also be streamed live on the web site www.wbcb1490.com.
On WNPV 1440 AM, the North Penn at Pennridge game will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Quakertown at Souderton game will be streamed live on the web site www.1440am.com.
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