Quakertown sends message in rout of Tennent

WARMINSTER >> Through their first three games both Quakertown and William Tennent had absolutely dominated the competition. Both teams had allowed less than 10 points per game and had scored more than 40 points per game on offense coming into their matchup.

But when they met on Friday only one team lived up to that hype as Quakertown won in dominating fashion 56-7 in the SOL Continental opener.

“It feels good.” Said Quakertown head coach George Banas “We came in here with some extra motivation tonight and I think we needed to lay a solid foundation week one (of the conference schedule) to see where we were at personally and to share that with others.”

The story from the opening kickoff was senior running back Rob Burns, who finished the game with 242 yards and 5 touchdowns on just 12 carries, which all came in the first half. Simply put, he couldn’t be stopped.

“He’s a phenomenal back.” said Banas “He put on some weight this year and added some more power to his running so now it’s not just that he can burst and go, or make a jump cut and a move and a spin or something but now he can lower the shoulder and get north and south in between the tackles so to add that to his arsenal is a very positive thing for us.”

It was an absolutely fantastic performance from Burns but he was quick to praise his offensive line for opening up the holes for what was arguably his bes game ever.

“The closest one to this was probably Council Rock North last year in the championship game but I didn’t have anywhere near that amount of yards in the first half but that’s the O-line not me so I’ve got to thank them,” said Burns. “If they (his line) are able to give me the room I’m going to try my best to do what I can with it and there was a lot of green out there tonight, that’s all I saw, so I just can’t thank those guys enough.”

For Tennent, some of the same undisciplined plays that hurt them in their first three games were on display again Friday.

On Quakertown’s first possession Tennent was actually able to force a three-and-out and looked to gain some early momentum, but a muffed punt immediately following the stop was recovered by Quakertown and led to Burns’ first score of the game just a few plays later.

“I think the same problems we had with those games that we did win we carried over today,” said Tennent head coach Leo Plenski “We were looking for a quick start and we got the three and out and then one botched punt return turns into everything going downhill. I’m not going to say if we actually catch it things turn out differently but that definitely killed the momentum.”

Tennent’s number one problem, even before all the mental mistakes, was their inability to move the ball on the ground. The offense averaged 43 points per game in their first three contests, but tonight they met a brick wall in the Quakertown defense.

The potent three-headed rushing attack of Dan Costello, Christian Mendez, and Sean Bragen had nowhere to go as they managed just 22 yards between the three of them, which may have been a product of some mid-week adjustments from their opponent.

“I thought we had a good game plan (on defense),” said Banas. “The kids were very receptive, we put something new in for this week against their spread and it worked out well for us.”

Whatever it was that Quakertown did, it worked. They looked more prepared and just all around more polished in just about every aspect of the game.

Not only was this game a huge win because it was the SOL opener, but it also sent a message to the rest of the conference that last year’s championship for the Panthers was no fluke, and they intend to be right back at the top when the season is over.

“Yeah we’re definitely coming in here trying to send a message,” said Burns. “You know seeing twitter and all the social media, they had a lot to say that I’m sure they’re going home now to delete that before anybody can see that, but it felt good coming out here, it’s a beautiful night and we just came out here with confidence and we knew this would be our first real challenge here in league play and we came out and made a statement and we’ve got to be happy about that.”