GAME THREE
GAME THREE
GAME THREE

Strange things:
CR South beats Pennridge, 2-0



By Ed Kracz
Staff writer

PERKASIE — Right from the start, the game had an odd feel.

That was when three of the four Pennridge football captains went to midfield for the pregame coin toss wearing either blue jeans or shorts. Two of the three limped and the third had a cast on his arm.
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Then it got stranger.

Council Rock South, one of the top-ranked teams in the state, had played three quarters and hadn’t scored a point. Its offense never did dent the scoreboard, but the defense blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety early in the fourth quarter. They would be the only points either team would score as the Golden Hawks remained unbeaten with a 2-0 win over the Rams in a nonleague football game Friday night at Poppy Yoder Field.

That’s right, football game. That’s right, 2-0 final score.

“Pennridge is a great team, they came out ready to play,” said CR South quarterback Brian Donnelly. “They did a great job stopping our offense. It seemed like they did some hard work, really had us scouted out. They did a phenomenal job on defense. We couldn’t get anything going on offense. It was nice that our defense could put some points on the board when we weren’t able to.”

Donnelly, who had run for 412 yards and averaged 13.7 yards per carry as the Hawks won their first two games of the season, was held to just 56 yards on 17 carries. As a team, CR South managed just 173 yards of offense.

But its defense allowed Pennridge just 160 yards. Not only did the D score the only points, but defensive lineman Andrew Cohen blocked a 35-yard field goal try on the Rams’ first possession of the game.

“I fired off the ball and stuck out my left arm,” said Cohen. “It felt great. If I didn’t block that they would’ve won the game. That was a key moment for us. If I don’t block it, the game is lost.”

As it turned out, yes it would’ve been. But who knew?

Cohen was also in the middle of things when he sacked quarterback Alex Krivda on a fourth-and-six as the Rams tried to rally for a winning touchdown. The play came with 2:14 left in the game after Pennridge had moved to its own 33.

“I knew they weren’t going to run it,” said Cohen. “They had to get that first down, so I lined up wide, put on a move and sacked him.”

Earlier, CR South had a shot at a field goal, moving the ball to Pennridge’s 7 on 15 plays, but the ball was bobbled and the Hawks never got the kick off with 1:14 to play in the third quarter.

Pennridge, though, couldn’t turn the field position game around from there, taking over at the 8 after the failed CR South field goal.

The key miscue for the Rams on the series was a high snap over Krivda’s head that Krivda fell on at the 1. But it was fourth down and, without a lot of room to launch the ball, Pennridge punter John Dubyk hit the ball into the middle of the line. It caromed backwards out of the end zone just 58 seconds into the final quarter.

Asked if he had ever been part of a 2-0 game before, Pennridge coach Randy Cuthbert, who played at Central Bucks West, Duke and briefly in the NFL, said, “Never. I’ve been in a 3-2 game before.”

Oddly enough, that 3-2 game was back in 1986, Cuthbert’s junior year at CB West. West won that game against Council Rock of all teams.

Cuthbert was encouraged by his team’s performance. Even though the team remains winless at 0-3, they are playing a lot of sophomores, more than Cuthbert said he can ever remember playing.

With captains James Worthington, Stefan Krause and Anthony Fecondo injured and out indefinitely, the Rams started two sophomores on the offensive line — Shane Kraynik and Ryan Anton. Also, top running back Mike Class, who gained 87 yards, is just a tenth-grader.

“I think,” said Cutbert, “we grew up a lot tonight.”

.Pennridge                    0   0   0 14-14
Bensalem                      7 14  7   0-28

Scoring Summary

B-Snetter 86 punt return (Rosenfeld kick)

B-Lebesco 33 run (Rosenfeld kick)

B-Newkirk 24 pass from Hopkins (Rosenfeld kick)

B-Snetter 8 run (Rosenfeld kick)

P-Supp 6 pass from Krivda (Midgett kick)

P-Class 6 pass from Krivda (Midgett kick)

Team Statistics
  P B
First Downs   10 7
Yards Rushing                   154     135
Yards Passing                    88 55
Total Offense                     242      190
Comp. Passes, Int    7-17-3 5-7-1
Fumbles-lost                     5-2        4-2
Penalties-yards               3-25    10-70
Punts-Avg.                      5-33.2  2-34.0
Sacked-Yds. Lost            1-5 0

Individual Statistics

Pennridge

Rushing: Class 14-103; Krivda 5-30; Crawford 4-25; Peters 4-8; Marrero 1-8; Kim 1-1; Pasquale 3-(-6); Dubyk 1-(-11).

Passing: Krivda 7-16-2, 88 yards, 2 TDs; Pasquale 0-1-1

Receiving: Class 3-55, 1 TD; Psomiadis 1-13; Stutzman 1-13; Supp 1-6, 1 TD; Kim 1-1

Interceptions: Class

Bensalem

Rushing: Lebesco 8-69, 1 TD; G. Nieves 4-28; Hopkins 10-23; Snetter 3-13,1 TD; Newkirk 1-2

Passing: Hopkins 5-7-1, 55 yards, 1 TD

Receiving: Newkirk 3-50, 1 TD; Snetter 1-10; Lebesco 1-(-5).

Interceptions: Walker, Avakame, J. Nieves
GAME SUMMARY
COURTESY OF THE INTELLIGENCER