Red Raiders declaw Lions
Pennington explodes with 3 TDs in the 3rd qtr.
By Steve ShermanSports Editor
High School football games in the rain are a funny thing.
Trailing Lower Moreland, 6-0, at home earlier today with a little over two minutes to go in the third quarter, Pennington exploded for 20 points by the end of the frame.
First, the Red Raiders scored on a 49-yard TD pass from junior QB Keith Dearden to senior WR Harold Spears to lock the score at 6-all. Pennington then got back to back touchdown runs down the left sideline by senior Malcolm Perry that all but put the game away by the end of the third period.
Spears and Perry – two of the team co-captains – say their side was confident despite trailing at the half and despite never having beaten the Lions.
Lower Moreland had gone ahead, 6-0, after a blocked punt and ensuing recovery gave the Lions a short field at the 21 yard line. A Brian Gerhart to Steve Turetsky scoring toss put the visitors on top with 2 minutes to go until intermission.
“[It was] first game jitters--some of the new guys on the field getting used to the high school game,” stated Spears. “Once we settled down and got the passing game going, that just opened up everything else from there.”
“I got the guys together and said ‘this may be the last game played on this field. We don’t want to be the team that lost the last game on Heritage field,’” said Perry.
“I honestly felt we were better than that team; we just had to come out stronger in the second half.”
In between the first and second Raider touchdowns, Pennington recovered a fumble at the Lions 20 when Spears hit Lower Moreland quarterback Gerhart so hard, he coughed up the ball. Spears recovered the ball as well.
“All week, the coach has been on me to hit the quarterback on the option; that’s what I did,” stated Spears. “When I saw the ball pop out, I just flipped over on the ball as fast as I could.”
Perry’s ensuing 20-yard TD jaunt put the Raiders up, 12-0. His 49-yard scamper – after a successful on-sides kick that gave them the ball back at midfield – put Pennington up, 18-0, and Spears’ one-handed grab of a Dearden 2-point attempt into the right side corner of the end zone put the Raiders on top, 20-6, and this game was over.
“It all started with that first touchdown pass to Harold. When they saw the first couple of passes that got it rolling, that backed the linebackers up a little bit. So they would back up and focus on that. We got great blocks on the outside from Sully Cavanaugh and Donte Johnson and that sprung me to the outside.
“All I need is a little bit of space.”
James Anderson’s 5-yard touchdown run up the middle of the Lions defense with two minutes to go in the game was just the icing on the cake on Pennington’s first ever win – a 26-6 triumph – over Lower Moreland.
Adding an ironic twist to a proud moment in Red Raider football history was the fact that it was these very same Lions that began Pennington’s downward spiral last season after the Raiders got off to a 4-1 start.
“We owed them from last year. We just played horribly and they just took our heart,” stated Spears. “We needed to come out and show them what Pennington pride is all about.”
Last year in this same matchup, the Raiders didn’t block and didn’t tackle well, took some dumb penalties and didn’t hold onto the ball in a 21-7 loss to Lower Moreland.
Pennington finished the season 4-5 after taking losses to ANC, Jenkintown and Perkiomen.
With 14 seniors on the current squad, Perry says this group wants to turn last year’s failures into this season’s success.
“As a senior group, we just have a confidence that last year was a season that should have been way better.
“This season, we have a core senior group that wants to win. We want to leave a legacy here at Pennington in our last year.”
Labels: Pennington
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