Wissahickon defeated Upper Dublin 41-21 in SOL American Conference action on Friday night. To view photos of all the action, please visit the Photo Gallery.
Follow our Suburban One Sports SOL Football Twitter account to get realtime updates, scores, and links to football stories. Our address is: @SOL1FB.
By Scott Huff
Fort Washington – The Wissahickon football team owns the keys to a deluxe 2012 Bentley – senior Gordon Bentley that is – and the Trojans drove that luxurious model to victory as Wissahickon (3-1, 1-0) jetted by host Upper Dublin (2-2, 0-1) 41-21 in the Suburban One League American Conference victory opener for both teams.
Bentley motored for three long distance Trojan scores – one on offense, one on defense, and one on special teams.
“Playmakers make plays,” simply stated Wissahickon head coach Jeff Cappa. “And when we can get the ball into the hands of our playmakers, good things are going to happen.”
Bentley latched on to quarterback Randy Frankenfield’s pass in the first period and dashed 63-yards for a touchdown. The defensive touchdown could be described as unusual at best. Bentley stripped the ball from the hands of a Cardinal receiver – raced 15-yards – and then lateralled the ball to teammate Khalil Boyd who darted the final 65-yards for the touchdown. Bentley also scored on an electrifying 73-yard punt return for a special teams touchdown.
“We really work hard on special teams, and we are confident that we can take it to the crib on punt returns,” said Bentley. “Coach Cappa prepares us hard during practice, and I got some great blocking on both my (touchdown) runs.”
The game was a statistical oddity as Wissahickon built a 34-6 halftime lead. The Trojans authored some huge scoring plays, but Upper Dublin ran 37 first half plays to just 17 for Wissahickon.
“We came into the game with a good plan, but we gave up too many big plays,” said Upper Dublin head coach Bret Stover. “They put it to us in the first half, and we have a tough time trying to recover.”
Wissahickon snatched a 7-0 lead in the first period on the Frankenfield-to-Bentley touchdown connection. However, Upper Dublin came right back to close to within 7-6 as Mike Lee capped a nine-play scoring drive with a one-yard run. The placement, though, failed.
The Trojans answered right back to assume a 14-6 lead. Frankenfield – who completed just three-of-four passes on the night – fired a 29-yard scoring pass to Jared Reed.
The punt return tandem of Bentley and Greg McDonough gave the Trojans another short field on their next possession. Junior Dave Stellato – who was slated to be the starting quarterback for Wissahickon before suffering mono in the last week of preseason camp – cashed in with a 33-yard touchdown burst.
“I have to give all the credit to my blockers,” said Stellato after making his 2012 varsity debut. “I am still getting back in shape, and I think coach likes the idea of moving me around.”
The Trojan defense came up with a stop – and then Bentley stopped the hearts of the Cardinals with his 73-yard punt return for a touchdown.
The lead swelled to 34-6 when Trojan senior Dan Murphy culminated a short two-play scoring drive with a 5-yard touchdown blast.
“I’m sure when we look at the film we are going to see things that need to be corrected,” said Cappa. “But I know that I saw a lot of good things going on in the first half of the game.”
The most impressive drive by either team came at the outset of the third period. Upper Dublin cruised 71-yards on 14 plays for the first score of the second half. Khalid Weems received scoring honors with 1-yard plunge, and Weems added a run for the 2-point conversion to close the lead to 34-14.
“The players were a little embarrassed in the first half, but I thought we came out with a great drive to start the second half,” said Stover. “We felt that we played very hard – and we continued to play well there in spots.”
The final Wissahickon score came on the exciting Bentley lateral to Boyd, while the final Upper Dublin score came on a 90-yard jaunt by Lee in the waning moments of the game.
“Upper Dublin is much better than that final score would indicate,” said Cappa as he pointed to the scoreboard. “We just did a great job of getting the ball into our playmaker’s hands.”
And those Trojans drove to the SOL American Conference victory lane on the wheels of Gordon Bentley.
Wissahickon Trojans 7 27 7 0 - 41
Upper Dublin Cardinals 6 0 8 7 - 21
W: Gordon Bentley 63 pass from Randy Frankenfield (Greg McDonough kick)
UD: Mike Lee 1 run (kick failed)
W: Jared Reed 29 pass from Frankenfield (McDonough kick)
W: Dave Stellato 33 run (kick failed)
W: Bentley 73 punt return (McDonough kick)
W: Dan Murphy 5 run (McDonough kick)
UD: Khalid Weems 1 run (Weems run)
W: Khalil Byrd 65 lateral/fumble return (McDonough kick)
UD: Lee 90 run (Mike D’Ambrosio kick)
Wissahickon Trojans Upper Dublin Cardinals
8 First Downs 13
154 Rushing Yards 269
92 Passing Yards 62
246 Total Offense 331
2-35 Punts / Avg 4-36
6-32 Penalties / Yrds 4-28
Wissahickon
Rushing: Dave Stellato 8-50 & TD; Josh Trunk 2-49; Dan Murphy 5-27 & TD; Jonathan Laracuente 6-11; Josh Smith 3-10; Keith Oliphant 2-8; Khalil Boyd 1-6; Shawn Gillman 1-0; Darren James 1-0; Randy Frankenfield 2 (minus 6). Totals 33-154- 2 TD.
Passing: Randy Frankenfield 3-4-0; 92 yards – 2 TD.
Receiving: Gordon Bentley 1-63 & TD; Jared Reed 1-29 & TD; Brandon Pace-Jerry 1-0. Totals 6-92 – 2 TD.
Upper Dublin
Rushing: Mike Lee 3-95 & 2 TD; John Derr 17-88; Reed Rapine 15-56; Khalid Weems 12-30 & TD. Totals 47-269 – 3 TD.
Passing: John Derr 6-13-0; 62 yards.
Receiving: Khalid Weems 3-33; Reed Rapine 2-23; Brad Shildkrout 1-6. Totals – 6-62.
- Log in to post comments
