Football
Favorite athlete: Brian Dawkins
Favorite team: Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Pick 6 in 2018 Bux-Mont championship game.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: “I was doing a hype chant for the team and completely fumbled my words in a funny way.
Music on playlist: Iron Man - Black Sabbath
Future plans: Playing football at the next level and majoring in mechanical engineering.
Words to live by: “Competing every day is a mindset, not a moment. It means do the work, give your all and never settle.”
One goal before turning 30: Find my soulmate
One thing people don’t know about me: I have six siblings.
By Mary Jane Souder
Hit or miss.
Those were the two directions Will Dougherty figured his final high school football season could take. The Pennridge senior certainly could have been forgiven if he had leaned toward the ‘miss’ side after his Rams’ squad lost five straight to close out their 2024 season, including a 28-14 Thanksgiving Day loss to Quakertown.
Dougherty, however, chose to do all he could to make his senior season a ‘hit.’
“I felt the need to be able to step up for my team in the offseason and really lock in because we knew it was our senior year,” he said. “During the banquet last year, I was recognized as a person who always led by example and did the little things right by last year’s offensive coordinator, coach West. So, when he said that, I knew I needed to be the one to step up.”
And step up he did.
“He applied to be a captain of the football team, went through the interview process and was chosen by the interview committee,” Pennridge coach Kyle Beller said. “He’s a great leader for the team, and his play is phenomenal on the field on both sides.
“He’s a good student, he’s a great person. He’s one of the kids we have built this program around that does things right, that has really laid a solid foundation for us to get in the direction we are in.”
The direction the Rams have taken this season would have been all but impossible to imagine for even to the most optimistic Pennridge fan.
With one regular season game remaining, the Rams are atop the standings in the highly competitive SOL National, assured of at least a share of the conference crown.
“This has been extremely unexpected with the outcome, but I knew we were gonna be better,” Dougherty said. “I just didn’t know how much better.”
The journey
As a youngster, Dougherty was involved in numerous sports, including soccer and baseball.
“I tried those out when I was really young just to see if it was my sport,” he said. “I tried flag football when I was probably
about to turn five. Football just clicked with me.
“I just thought it was the greatest team sport. All my ‘brothers’ that I played with when I was really young - they’re playing with me right now in high school. A bunch of guys that I’ve played with since I was five, and we’ve just been really clicking together.”
Listening to Dougherty tell it, this year’s seniors shared a belief that they could leave their mark despite what he describes as a so-so season for their freshman team (which was without quarterback Noah Keating, who played JV).
“Knowing everyone – I feel like we had the same goals and mission,” Dougherty said. “We were young at the time, a little bit small and undersized, but we knew we were talented, and we’ve known each other for a long time. We were able to agree with each other and work on what we needed to get better at.
“Through the rest of my high school years, we were looking up to the older kids and how they went through practices and the tough times like conditioning and stuff. We knew we had to keep our heads down and keep grinding and keep stacking days.”
If Dougherty and his classmates needed a wake-up call, they got one last year. The Rams were 3-1 after four games but ended up a disappointing 4-7.
“All of our seniors were starters, and we knew they weren’t going to help us next year, so it was just us to rely on – only us and our coaches,” he said.
Beller cannot talk about this year’s turnaround without pointing to the team’s offseason work, and Dougherty, for one, found a home in the weight room.
“I absolutely love it,” he said. “It’s my number one passion next to football and sports. I think it’s very key because your progress in the weight room – your coach sees that and knows ‘This player’s here to work, and he’s going to be a football player.’”
The senior captain has committed time to working with aspiring young players as well.
“During the offseason, we had a bunch of early middle schoolers come to our weight room, and I would always – after our workouts – stay back and organize the middle school’s lifts,” Dougherty said. “I was able to teach everyone the form of all the lifts and stuff.”
The team’s offseason commitment paid immediate dividends when the Rams opened the season with a 31-21 win over a Liberty squad that last year had manhandled Pennridge, rolling to a 40-14 win.
“We came out and we dominated both ways, and the energy for the entire team was an all-time high,” Dougherty said. “We knew that this season was something special at that point.”
The Rams went on to win seven in a row to open the season, including the program’s first over North Penn since 2012 and an impressive win over a Neshaminy squad that was 5-1 at the time with a win over North Penn to its credit.
“Honestly, during our practices the week of North Penn and the week of Neshaminy, we were just playing and practicing at an all-time high,” Dougherty said. “And we were hitting our plays exactly how they were drawn
up. We never thought we were going to lose. Oh my gosh, I can’t even describe it. It was amazing.”
Dougherty has been a key contributor at running back and on the defensive line.
“He’s an old school football player on both sides of the ball,” Beller said. “He is a hundred miles nonstop every play.”
While there’s certainly no denying the significance of time spent in the weight room and working tirelessly in the offseason, that – according to Dougherty - is not the only key to this year’s success.
“It’s team bonding and chemistry,” Dougherty said. “Coach Beller emphasized to really take time and bond with the other players outside of football, and I feel like that had the most impact.”
Earlier this season, Dougherty was sidelined for a game as a precautionary measure after suffering a minor injury
“Coaches were constantly reminding me that there is a bigger picture,” Dougherty said. “We have a special season going, and after the regular season is done, we have a postseason that is going to be tough. They know they’re going to need me, and they were just holding me back a little bit
“We’ve come a long way over the past three years. I’ve never been so proud of this team.”
Looking ahead
A strong student, Dougherty is leaning toward a mechanical engineering major next year. These days, he has a co-op job at Bracalente Manufacturing in Trumbauersville.
“I go to work during my tech school hours in the morning, then I go to school and then I go to football,” he said.
Dougherty has his sights set on continuing his football career at the collegiate level. He is off to a good start with several D3 offers and a very real possibility of offers to play at a higher level.
“I see myself being recruiting as a running back,” he said. “I know at my younger levels, I did start as a defensive line player because I was fast. Once I moved to running back, I tore it up on the field.”
Dougherty’s ability running out of the backfield was on full display in Pennridge’s 36-33 win over Bensalem when he had 23 carries for173 yards and two touchdowns. He also had one reception for 54 yards and 1 TD.
“Will has worked himself into the player he is today from his diet to his work ethic in the weight room,” Beller said. “This is a kid that stays after lifting and helps me work with the middle school kids in the offseason.
“Will has been absolutely awesome for this program the last three years. He’s a kid that just does everything right. “
