By Ben Reese
WARRINGTON: Just about every football coach - be he high school, college or professional - always says they make adjustments at halftime on both offense and defense.
Not so Central Bucks South coach Dave Rackovan.
In the first half of the Titans' 37-13 Suburban One League Continental Conference victory over Quakertown Thursday night, the Panthers were thriving on running dive plays to running back Justin Wieder and keepers by quarterback ZacGravelle. The pair had rolled up 102 rushing yards in the first half alone and looked to be on their way to much more.
But, when the final two quarters came around, South held them to only 32 yards. Wieder, who had gained 98 the previous week against Hatboro-Horsham could only gain 72 against the Titans.
"I don't know if we made that many adjustments, only what we had to do to stop them," said Rackovan, whose team led 21-13 at the intermission. "Our players understood it a little more and maybe got used to the speed of the game. He (Wieder) is a heck of a player and they have a heck of a football team.
"I don't think there were that many adjustments. We just came out and played a little harder."
Don't think that the Titans were slouches themselves in the first half. They roared down the field with their first possession, going 50 yards in two plays for the first touchdown with quarterback Matt Johns going in from the 20.
South added two more scores in the second quarter. Bobby Mallon ripped off 13 yards into the end zone early in the period and Dan Brown notched the first of his three TDs from two yards out with 28.1 seconds left in the half.
Things only continued to improve for CB South in the second half. The Titans posted three more scores, two touchdowns from Brown and a 22-yard field goal by Evan Stahl.
Brown and Johns were outstanding. The senior running back ran for 170 yards on 20 carries and his three TDs. Johns passed for 212 yards and also rushed for 45 more.
"On that last drive, (Brown) was really good," Rackovan said. "And Matt Johns was unbelievable.
"We were very well balanced tonight and it showed. We've been running the ball a little bit more"
Brown, meanwhile, had nothing but praise for his teammates.
"We're trying to have a good time every time we're out there," he said. "You're playing with guys you love. That alone means everything."
But drawing some special praise from Brown was his line.
"The line does well every game," said Brown. "I can't tell you if I've had a better line or not. These guys are great every game. I know that every time I touch the ball, there is a chance of scoring."
Scoring certainly didn't seem to be a problem in the game. After Johns' TD with 11:08 left in the first quarter, the Panthers got a stunning 91-yard kickoff return by Matt Roberts to put them back in the game only 18 seconds later, trailing South 7-6.
With only six seconds elapsed in the second quarter, Wieder scored from nine yards out and Quakertown took 13-7 lead after Casey Fosbenner's extra point.
But that was the end of the points for the Panthers. Even though they drove into South territory with their other two drives of the period, they couldn't dent the Titans' defense enough to reach the end zone.
But South wasn't having that difficulty. The Titans scored twice in the second quarter and added another 16 points in the final two periods to finish off the game by scoring 30 unanswered points.
In the second half alone, Johns completed four of six attempts for 105 yards. Brown went around and through the Quakertown line for 123 yards on the ground in only 11 carries.
The win moved the Titans up to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in conference. Quakertown suffered its first conference loss (1-1) and its second overall (4-2).
QUAKERTOWN 6 7 0 0 = 13
CB SOUTH 7 14 10 6 = 37
CBS: Matt Johns 20 run (Evan Stahl kick)
Q: Matt Roberts 91 kickoff return (kick failed)
Q: Justin Wieder 9 run (Casey Fosbenner kick)
CBS: Bobby Mallon 13 run (Stahl kick)
CBS: Dan Brown 2 run (Stahlkick)
CBS: FG 22 Stahl
CBS: Brown 48 run (Stahl kick)
CBS: Brown 1 run (kick failed)
QUAKERTOWN CB SOUTH
17 First downs 19
133 Rushing Yards 234
142 Passing Yards 212
275 Total Yards 446
1-35 Punts/Avg. 0-0
3-20 Penalties/Yards 5-50
QUAKERTOWN
Rushing: Justin Wieder 12-72, 1 TD; Zac Gravelle16-62; Mike Potynski 2- (-)1.
Passing: Gravelle 16-32-1, 142 yards.
Receiving: Mike Sawyer 6-57; Nick Nagele 3-28; Erik Jones 2-21; Wieder 2-11; Potynski 1-11; Matt Roberts 1-7; Justin Hillegas 1-7.
CB SOUTH
Rushing: Dan Brown 20-170, 3 TDs; Matt Johns 4-45; Bobby Mallon 5-9, 1 TD; Tommy Dibrino 2-10.
Passing: Johns 9-13-212 yards.
Receiving: Chris Veal 3-67; Dan Bechta 2-70; Steve Veal 2-30; Mallon 1-30; Brown 1-25.
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