North Penn comes up short to Methacton

TOWAMENCIN — North Penn scored the first goal and last two in Monday morning’s non-league matchup with PAC-10 opponent Methacton. Unfortunately for the Knights, 10 Warrior goals would bridge their opening tally from the final two as Methacton ran away with a 10-3 win.

“Methacton played outstanding. I thought they played a really, really good game,’ North Penn coach Rick Smith said. “There are no excuses, our guys didn’t come to play and Methacton, they played, and they played the whole 48 minutes.’

While the actual turnover count wasn’t that lopsided, North Penn committed a slew of sloppy and unforced turnovers with careless passes and inexplicable drops. Methacton exploited the Knights with the extra possessions given to them.

“Fundamentally if you catch or pick up groundballs nothing else matters,’ Smith said. “We weren’t doing the fundamentals right and we weren’t up for the game.’

The big difference between the teams offensively was Methacton had a handful of players that could make the North Penn defense slide and get out of position. Warriors’ sophomore midfielder Ryan O’Toole was one of the players responsible for breaking down the Knights’ D as he finished with three goals.

Junior attack Aidan Denecke was another thorn in the side of the Knights defense as he netted a pair of goals to go with a couple of assists. Connor Derrickson was the other multi-goal scorer for Methacton ending the day with three.

“Connor Derrickson at midfield is a tremendous athlete and he’s really starting to grow in his confidence,’ Methacton coach Nate Ryan said. “Aidan Denecke found a matchup and he exploited it. He had a couple really nice feeds. He’s a guy who dodges both with the intent to score and with his head up to feed and assist guys.’

As the game started to get away from North Penn the Knights tried to turn to some physical play and hope to bait the Warriors into some chippy play, but Methacton would have none of it an took advantage of some man-up opportunities.

“I tell our kids they always get the second one,’ Ryan said. “When you get a penalty opportunity the best way to shut the kid up is to bury it.’

The season is still very young but for a senior-laden North Penn squad it better figure out as why it has such a Jeckyl and Hyde personality if it wants to make a run or even get a shot at the District 1 playoffs.

“You expect the unexpected, it’s a challenge that I love,’ Smith said. “I don’t know who is going to come to play every day, I really don’t.’