White, Edwards power North Penn past Pennsbury

TOWAMENCIN >> Julian White slipped out of one tackle, barreled through two more.

“It’s nice to know I can make a play, get my team rolling,” the senior said with a smile, speaking of his 41-yard run that sent North Penn on its overpowering way. “When I had the ball in my hand, it just felt like I had to do something to get the team moving.”

Fast forward to the fourth quarter, when teammate Shamar Edwards burst through a hole and sprinted away to the finish line – 49 yards for a game-clinching touchdown. 

“I just bounced it to the outside and ran as fast as I could,” the senior would say afterwards. 

The rain had finally passed, but two other forces of nature were imposing their will in Saturday’s non-conference clash between the Knights and visiting Pennsbury. 

“We’re like ‘Thunder and Lightning’ – interchangeable,” White said of he and Edwards. “We can do a lot of stuff. When we’re both in the backfield, coach (Dick Beck) can use us in any type of way.”

“We have a little bit of both in us,” Edwards said. “We’re just a one-two punch.”

The Knights scored a clean knockout, winning 33-7 over the rival Falcons to raise their unbeaten record to 3-0. White and Edwards combined for 302 yards rushing and four touchdowns in a game that was moved from drenched Crawford Stadium to the North Penn turf field due to Friday’s rain.  

“It was exciting. The fans were right there on the sideline and everybody was right there, real close,” a happy Edwards said. 

“I could feel their energy and I just wanna thank the crowd for supporting,” White said. 

North Penn led 12-7 at the end of the first half and then dominated the second. 

“The team’s got a real good chemistry,” Beck said. “It’s a ‘we’ attitude, which is nice. And the team has been a lot of fun.”

North Penn’s first possession of the day began with a 35-yard run by White and was capped by his 10-yard touchdown run, giving the Knights an early 6-0 lead. North Penn doubled its lead to 12-0 in the second quarter when quarterback Solomon Robinson dashed to the left corner and found his way in from four yards out. 

Robinson’s next big play was through the air, when he connected with Jon Haynes 41 yards downfield to set up a two-yard blast by White (113 yds).

“It was nice to see him bounce back after (throwing a second-quarter interception) and throw that bomb to Jon,” Beck said of Robinson (100 yds passing, 55 rushing). “Jon made a great catch and Solomon threw a great ball.”

Ahead 19-7, North Penn began to put the game out of reach when Edwards (189 yds) broke away on a 33-yard touchdown up the middle.  

“I give props to the o-line. They work real hard during the offseason and in practice this week, and it just showed on the field,” Edwards said of a unit that cleared the path to 413 yards on the ground. 

Edwards’ 49-yard run in the fourth wrapped things up for the Knights, who open Suburban One League Continental Conference play on Friday at Pennridge. Pennsbury (0-3), which got within 12-7 in the second quarter on a 25-yard pass from Josh Boyda to Drew Hensor, has another non-conference game next week, at home against Central Bucks East.

“(In the first half), we limited big plays, which had been a big issue for us,” Falcons coach Dan McShane said. “We started flying around on defense and the offense held the ball a little bit. A 12-7 score at the half is pretty good, but we don’t do moral victories.”

Hensor, who turned into receiver on the touchdown for Pennsbury, completed 13 of 30 passes for 149 yards. The North Penn defense held Pennsbury to 88 yards rushing while the Knights rumbled for over 400.

“Julian’s a monster and now Shamar’s back to being healthy,” Beck said.