GAME ONE
GAME ONE
GAME ONE

Growing pains in Pennridge's loss to Haverford School

By Ed Kracz
Staff Writer

HAVERFORD — One day, Pennridge’s underclassmen will be upperclassmen and experiences like they had Saturday morning will be recounted.

With three sophomores playing key skill positions, the Rams began their season in the heart of the Main Line and got about what one might expect with such youth all over the place — an uneven 48 minutes that coach Randy Cuthbert hopes will straighten out sooner rather than later.

As it was, Pennridge’s opening-game ride was exhilarating, but ended in a disappointing 26-21 loss to Haverford School.

There were four lead changes along the way, a kickoff return for a touchdown and an interception return for a touchdown. Alas, there were also a season’s worth of penalties from a flag-happy crew.

“It was back and forth, we had a lot of opportunities, but we shot ourselves in the foot too many times,” Cuthbert said.

Pennridge was flagged 11 times for 72 yards. Six of those penalties were for illegal motion, two for offside and one for delay of the game. The Fords committed 12 penalties for 83 yards.

The Rams seemed destined to overcome the mistakes, fighting back from a 3-0 first-quarter deficit to grab a 14-3 lead midway through the third quarter. The advantage was thanks in part to some nifty play from sophomore quarterback Matt Pasquale, who relieved junior starter Alex Krivda and fired touchdown passes of 18 yards to fellow sophomore Micah Stutzman and 7 yards to junior MacKenzie Crawford.

The second TD was set up by a 49-yard deep pass from Pasquale to senior James Marrero that put the Rams at the Fords’ 14. At one point, Pasquale was 5-for-6 for 109 yards.

Things came apart from there, as he forced his next three throws while under pressure from Haverford’s defense. The result was three straight interceptions, one that went for a 22-yard TD that tied the game at 14 with 2:23 to play in the third quarter.

“I made some bad mistakes, but I need to shake it off and come back next week and (rely on) my team to help me get through it,” said Pasquale, who finished with seven completions in 16 attempts for 149 yards.

Afterward, Cuthbert wasn’t ready to anoint either Pasquale or Krivda the permanent starter.

“Nothing is set in stone there for a while,” the coach said. “It might be a situation where you see both of them. (Pasquale) is an athletic quarterback. They are two very different quarterbacks. Alex is a strong, pocket kid. Matt is more of a runner.

“With some of the problems we were having up front, we needed someone with more running speed. Both are first-year starters. Hopefully they learn form this and perform better next week.”

Krivda was 1-for-3 for 24 yards, but his first throw was intercepted and set up Haverford’s field goal. The 6-foot-5 junior also ran three times for 8 yards, while Pasquale had 17 yards on seven carries.

Haverford would go ahead 20-14, but on the ensuing kickoff, sophomore Mike Class raced 95 yards for a score. Zach Midgett’s PAT gave Pennridge a 21-20 lead with with 9:59 to play in the game.

“I knew if I got the ball I had to do something big with it,” said Class, who added 42 yards rushing on 11 attempts and caught three passes for 58 yards. “I found some blocks and cut it upfield.”

Pennridge’s defense seemed to wear down as the game wore on. Zach Rego was held in check in the first half, gaining just 32 yards, but in the second half, he gained 122 yards and ran for two touchdowns.

His last score, an 8-yard run up the middle, gave the Fords a 26-20 lead with 3:18 to go.

Pasquale led Pennridge down the field and put them in a fourth-and-five situation at Haverford’s 15 with just under 30 seconds to play. But a throw over the middle to the 5, intended for John Kim, was broken up on a collision just as the ball arrived.



.Haverford School 26          Pennridge 21

   Pennridge            0  7  7  7   -21
   Haverford School 3  0 11 12 -26

         Scoring Summary

   HS - FG 22 Morgan

   P - Stutzman 18 pass from Pasquale (Midgett kick)

   P - Crawford 7 pass from Pasquale (Midgett kick)

   HS - FG 22 Morgan

   HS - Rego 22 interception return (Rego run)

   HS - Rego 18 run (pass failed)

   P - Class 95 kickoff return (Midgett kick)

   HS - Rego 8 run (pass failed)


Team Statistics
                                                  P     HS
   First Downs                          12     13
   Yards Rushing                     100   174
   Yards Passing                     173    90
   Total Offense                        273   264
   Comp. Passes, Int              8-19-4       7-15-1
   Fumbles-lost                         1-0    0-0
   Penalties-yards                  11-72 12-83
   Punts-Avg.                              3-45 4-34.5
   Sacked-Yds. Lost                    0-0 1-8
   Individual Statistics

   Pennridge

   Rushing: Class 11-42; Crawford 8-19; Pasquale 7-17; Peters 4-8; Krivda 3-8; Marrero 1-4; Kim 1-2.

   Passing: Pasquale 7-16-3, 149 yards, 2 TDs; Krivda 1-3-1, 24 yards.

   Receiving: Class 3-58; Stutzman 2-42, 1 TD; Marrero 1-49; Kim 1-17; Crawford 1-7, 1 TD.

   Interceptions: Reimel.


   Haverford School

   Rushing: Rego 20-154, 2 TDs; Morgan 1-10;
Chakey 4-8; Brown 3-6; Hollman 1-1; Hill 1-(-1).

   Passing: Chakey 7-15-1, 90 yards.

   Receiving: Rego 2-10; Radico 1-23; Hollman 1-21; Watson 1-15; DePietro 1-13; Hill 1-8.

   Interceptions: Hollman; Mathis; Rego, 1 TD; Morgan.

GAME SUMMARY