Back for its 16th season, the popular Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features football beat writer Drew Markol. To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer (http://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school/) and Courier Times (http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/) web sites
SuburbanOneSports.com: In a District 1 6A semifinal, Pennridge defeated Coatesville in a close game. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “You look at the Pennridge-Coatesville game, it was one of those things where Pennridge was kind of listless and lifeless early on. They had a big crowd and everything, but Coatesville just dominated them. Coatesville wasn't able to put up a lot of points. Pennridge was playing some solid defense, but Coatesville was leading 7-0, and you look at the game and think ‘If they score again, Penridge is in big trouble.’ What happens is – this is in the second quarter when Pennridge punts, and Coatesville calls for a fair catch on its own three-yard line. They probably should have let it go - maybe it bounces in the end zone, maybe it stops on the two, but you can't really field that punt, but they did.
“So, they're pinned down, and on the next play, Will Dougherty, playing his first play on defense - he's the running back and linebacker, he's in the backfield, and he tackles the running back for a safety. Most of your safeties occur right on the goal line. Well, this was almost out of the back of the end zone. That's how fast Dougherty got to him, and there was no doubt about it. He almost pushed him out of the back of the end zone. So that makes it 7-2, and now Coatesville still has to free kick to Pennridge into the wind, and the wind was a factor.
“Pennridge gets the ball near midfield. Next play, Noah Keating, the Pennridge senior quarterback, throws a short pass to Ryan Rowe, and Rowe takes it up the field, runs it into the end zone. Pennridge goes for two. Rowe runs it in, and in a 15-second span, maybe less, it's now 10-7 Pennridge. And all the momentum Coatesville had was gone, just like that, and you can just sense it in the whole stadium.
“And then to open the third quarter, Pennridge got the ball, and they go down. They had tried to run up the middle a couple times to score in close, and they couldn't get in. Fourth down and one, they fake the run, and Keating throws a nice kind of like a pop pass over the middle to Blake Landherr, the sophomore, in the back of the end zone and makes it 17-7.
“Coatesville does come back and scores and kept putting the pressure on, and Pennridge just kept making stops, making stops, and they go on to win in a 17-14 final, and now they're in the championship game. They’re at home again as the number one seed, and they play North Penn. So, it was a nice win by Pennridge.
“It was far from pretty. Very few of the Penridge playoff games have been pretty, but they're still playing, and win or lose on Friday, they say they're going to play on Thanksgiving against Quakertown. Win or lose, they say they will play. So, if they win, now you're playing Quakertown on Thursday, Thanksgiving morning. And then you're playing the La Salle/Easton winner on Saturday, two days later.
“I talked to a couple of Penridge players the other day. They were like, ‘Oh, yeah, hopefully we beat North Penn, but we're going to play Quakertown regardless.’ They lost four in a row to Quakertown, and obviously, that’s a huge rivalry. And the fact that they're going to do it – to someone like me who loves Thanksgiving football and wish more teams would do it, good for them. It’s a tough task, and you almost have to say - are we going to go all out to beat Quakertown or are we going to go all out to beat La Salle or Easton.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: In the other semifinal, North Penn had an impressive win over Neshaminy. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Neshaminy had beaten North Penn during the regular season 18-14. Neshaminy comes into the district tournament as an 11th seed. North Penn is the number two seed. So, they're at North Penn, and North Penn scored on its first five possessions and they win 35-7.
Matt Pownall, North Penn’s senior running back who is going to Navy, got 116 yards rushing and a couple touchdowns. Rylei Gray, the junior running back, was very dangerous. He had three touchdowns. Since North Penn lost to Pennridge 34-10, they've won eight in a row. They've outscored those eight opponents a million to nothing, and they averaging probably close to 41 points a game since that loss.
“I said to Dick Beck at North Penn, ‘How good of a loss was that for you?’ And he said, ‘It woke us up.’ And then I talked to Kyle Beller at Pennridge, who said, ‘That win over North Penn gave us legitimacy and really gave us a boost of confidence.’ And now here we are - we have them both playing each other for the district title. It's funny how things work out.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: On Friday, North Penn will travel to Pennridge for the District 1 6A title game. Your thoughts about the game.
Drew Markol: “At North Penn, Rylei Gray, who gets a little bit overshadowed by Matt Pownall, went over 1,000 yards rushing. He's thrown three touchdown passes out of halfback options, and he really gives North Penn a home run hitter with his speed. Dick Beck also said the first time they played Pennridge - Gray touched the ball four times. He said, ‘That's going to change.’ They want him with the ball.
“They realized after the Pennridge loss, they had to get faster on defense, which they did. They made some moves.
“One of the things – Matt Bucksar, the three-year starting quarterback, is a really good player for North Penn. He hasn't really been asked to have that big game yet. They’ve done it predominantly on the ground, but they do have that ace in their back pocket with Bucksar, who can throw it and run it. They haven't had to, but it's there. So that poses a lot of problems for teams.
“On the other side, Pennridge is playing well. Ryan Rowe, their best player at linebacker and running back, is going to Princeton. He’s had big play after big play. He got hurt in the second quarter against Coatesville, and he didn't come back. And they're hoping he'll be able to play Friday.
“Dick Beck said, ‘I hope he plays’ because you want to have the best players on the field.
“If you look at the first time they faced each other, I believe it was 6-3 at halftime Pennridge was leading in a very low scoring game. And then Pennridge scores four touchdowns in the second half and wins 34-10.
“North Penn avenged their loss to Neshaminy during the regular season last week. Now they hope to do the same to Pennridge to get what would be Dick Beck's eighth district title.
“Pennridge played for a district title in that Covid year in 2020, but they lost to Souderton. That was kind of a wacky year, but they're trying to get their first one. This was very good for the Suburban One League because you have three of four semifinalists.”
Drew’s pick
(Winner in bold)
North Penn @ Pennridge
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