Pennridge used a late touchdown to earn a 28-21 win over CB West on Friday night.
By BEN REESE
DOYLESTOWN – Everybody in the Suburban One League Continental Conference knows about Pennridge running back Mike Class.
For that matter, probably everyone in Pennsylvania could know about a back who had three straight 200-yard games coming into Friday's night's contest at Central Bucks West's War Memorial Field.
But it wasn't Class who stepped into the spotlight against the Bucks. It was his running mate, fullback Kenny Crawford.
That isn't to say that Class didn't have a great game. After all, he gained 175 yards on 26 carries and scored three touchdowns, one an 88-yard run.
But if Class was the big gun, Crawford was the stealth weapon. The senior co-captain rushed for a season (and probably career) high 127 yards on 11 carries and scored once for the Rams in their 28-21 victory over West.
“Kenny has shown flashes,” said Pennridge coach Randy Cuthbert. “He's run tough.
“Mike gets a lot of the attention just because he gets long runs and most of the carries. Kenny's been a nice mix-up back.”
He mixed it up very nicely for the Rams.
In the second quarter, when the Bucks were expecting Class to carry the ball on nearly every play, Crawford broke through the line over the middle and rumbled 38 yards for a touchdown that gave Pennridge a 14-0 lead. Then in the third period, with the Rams down on their own 30-yard line, Crawford burst through the line and gained 48 yards to put the ball deep in West territory. Five plays later, Class scored from the eight.
“They were definitely keying on Mike,” Crawford said. “He's the best running back in the league, and, of course, they are going to go wherever he goes and I feel like that helped me.
“The run up the middle - they weren't expecting it as much. Our O-line was opening up the holes, and I was following them through and made the best of it.”
Class also knows what kind of back his backfield mate is.
“Coming into this game, they focused more on me, not knowing that we have a phenomenal fullback,” Class said. “Some of those plays where I faked taking the ball and Kenny got the ball and just took it. I feel they weren't prepared for that.”
Cuthbert knows what he has in both Class and Crawford.
“They were playing eight, nine – sometimes more – guys than that in the box,” he said. “If your back can get through into the second level, you're going to get big plays.
“Everybody is going to be keying on Class. It's amazing he has as many yards as he has because defenses are lining up to stop him.
“Kenny has taken advantage of that and Mike is very unselfish. When we call Kenny's number, a lot of times Mike is the lead blocker.”
Even West coach Brian Hensel was impressed with Crawford's effort.
“Give that kid (Crawford) credit,” Hensel said. “He stepped up tonight and said 'Listen, if they are going to try to shut down 25 (Class) with all their guys, then I'm going to step up and do a good job.' You've got to give him credit.
“I thought Randy Cuthbert did a great job of taking advantage of his fullback running game. We obviously knew Mike Class was a guy that we had to contain and, save a couple of good runs to his credit, I thought we did that.
“But they adjusted real well and went to their fullback when they needed to and were able to take advantage of some of our weaknesses.”
Pennridge took advantage of a flaw in the West defense in the first quarter. Class took a hand-off from Pennridge quarterback Alex Krivda, broke through the line and outran the Buck secondary for an 88-yard touchdown, giving the Rams a 6-0 lead.
Crawford's 38-yard gallop in the second quarter and a Krivda run for the two-point conversion upped the margin to 14-0.
But West came right back and marched from its own 20 to the end zone with only 46.6 second left in the first half. Buck quarterback Cody Riemenschneider passed to Sherrod Higginbotham from 15 yards out and Mike Miller booted the extra point to go into the locker room only down 14-7.
The Bucks notched the only score of the third quarter. Higginbotham bulled across the goal line from the six, but the kick failed and West trailed 14-13.
The fourth quarter saw more scores. Class got his second touchdown with only six seconds gone in the period, going in from the eight to give the Rams a 21-13 lead.
But the Bucks retaliated. When Pennridge couldn't make a yard for a first down on fourth down at its own 33, West took over on downs.
Two passing plays, both completions, put the Bucks into the end zone again as Riemenschneider hit Kurt Logan for a 35-yard score and then passed to Logan for the two-pointer to tie the game at 21.
The Rams took the ensuing kickoff and marched from their 28 to paydirt to get the win. Class again did the honors, this time taking it in from nine yards out with 1:26 left in the game, and Pete Psomiadis put the finishing touch on the game with his extra point.
“The bottom line was that it's a win,” Cuthbert said. “I love the way our kids fought when the game was on the line and made plays.”
Of course, it always helps if you have a pair of backs that can carry the load.
Pennridge 6 8 0 14—28
CB West 0 7 6 8—21
P – Mike Class 88 run (kick failed)
P – Kenny Crawford 38 run (Alex Krivda run)
CBW – Sherrod Higginbotham 15 pass from Cody Riemenschneider (Mike Miller kick)
CBW – Higginbotham 6 run (kick failed)
P – Class 8 run (Pete Psomiadis kick)
CBW – Kurt Logan 35 pass from Riemenschneider (Logan pass from Riemenschneider)
P – Class 9 run (Psomiadis kick)
Pennridge CB West
First downs 9 16
Rushing yards 308 82
Passing yards 26 219
Total yards 334 301
Passing 3-8-0 18-33-0
Fumbles – lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties – yards 6-50 6-50
Punts-Avg. 4-42.8 6-31.8
Individual statistics
Rushing
Pennridge: Class 26-175, 3 TDs; Crawford 11-127, TD; Krivda 2-6.
CB West: Higginbotham TD; Riemenschneider 16-7; Duggan 5-8; Silva 1- (-)1.
Passing
Pennridge: Krivda 3-8-0, 26 yards.
CB West: Riemenschneider 18-33-0, 219 yards, 2 TDs.
Receiving
Pennridge: Kim 1-16; Supp 1-10; Stutzman 1-0.
CB West: Logan 5-87, 1 TD; Schott 4-47; Ramos 4-33; Higginbotham 2-23, 1 TD; Duggan 2-14; Ciaudelli 1-6.
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