Defense lifts Pennsbury football past Frankford in Dan McShane’s debut

FAIRLESS HILLS >> The new offense may need some work, but that sure looked like the same old Pennsbury High School football team’s defense in its season opener Friday evening (Aug. 26).

On a night in which the offense squandered one scoring opportunity after another and didn’t move the ball until it had to in the fourth quarter, Pennsbury’s defense stood tall with a dramatic goal line stand at the end of the first half and a ferocious pass rush spearheaded by Matt Rosso.

The result was a 10-6 win over Frankford in front of a sizable home crowd at Falcon Field.

In addition to making it a successful debut under new head coach Dan McShane, the win was also important because Pennsbury will be in a decided underdog roll in its next two games against powerhouses La Salle and North Penn. For what it’s worth, North Penn beat La Salle, 33-24, last night.

It looked like Pennsbury might be ready to roll when Andre Burch ripped off a 39-yard run on the first play from the line of scrimmage, but the Falcon’s new spread offense did nothing from there for three quarters. In the first quarter, Pennsbury was unable to cash in despite having first downs on the Frankford 12 and 9 yard lines.

Set up by a fumbled snap punt, Pennsbury then took over on the Frankford 4 yard line. Once again Pennsbury could not move the ball, although it did get on the board when good-looking junior kicker Chris Knop drilled a 25-yard field goal.

As the game went along Frankford started to gain some offensive footing and this led to a first down at the Pennsbury 8 yard line on a tipped-pass reception. What followed was huge as Pennsbury just held Frankford out of the end zone, including stopping quarterback Mike Morrell inches from the goal line on fourth down on the final play of the first half.

The defense then came up big again in the third quarter after Frankford blocked a punt and took over at the Pennsbury 25 yard line. On Frankford’s next possession, however, Morrell threw a 25-yard pass to the Falcon 2 yard line and this time the Pioneers finally scored on a 3-yard run by Peterson Pierre.

Now trailing for the first time and with 9:21 remaining, Pennsbury replied with a clutch 67-yard drive in its only sustained march of the game.

A key was the insertion of Zach DeMarchis at quarterback and switching starting quarterback Nasan Robbins to running back. The resulting improvement in Pennsbury’s offense was dramatic as Robbins started ripping off 10-yard gains and DeMarchis started completing passes.

DeMarchis originally wasn’t supposed to be ready until later in the season after breaking his arm playing baseball, but he shook off the rust and completed some big passes. The biggest was a 21-yard strike to Matt Lewis, who went high in the air and made a great leaping catch near the goal line.

Tyrone Hodges Jr. did the rest from there by plowing in from one yard out for the winning TD with 6:58 remaining.

Although there was no more scoring, it was not the end of the dramatics. Helped out by a couple of stupid unsportsmanlike penalties on the Falcons, Frankford did not go away. And it would have been even more nerve wracking if a 70-yard Frankford pass had not been wiped out by a holding call.

Still, it was a strong effort by a Pennsbury defense that returned just two starters. And with an offense that seemed to come around with DeMarchis throwing the ball and Robbins running it, the Falcons should remain a formidable team.

Pennsbury 10, Frankford 6

(Aug. 26 at Pennsbury)

FRANKFORD (0-1)               0              0              0              6              —           6

PENNSBURY (1-0)              3              0              0              7              —           10

SUMMARY

First Quarter

P — Knop 25 field goal

Fourth Quarter

F — Pierre 3 run (pass failed)

P — Hodges 1 run (Knop kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

                               F              P

First Downs        13           13

Yards Rushing    54           141

Yards Passing     182         47

Total Offense    236         188

Comp. Passes, Int            14-28-0 5-7-0

Fumbles-lost      2-1          1-0

Penalties-yards 12-100   5-65

Punts-Avg.          2-32       3-23.3

Sacked-Yds. Lost              6-27       0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Frankford

Rushing: Morell 12-25; Pierre 15-29, 1 TD; Langford 1-3.

Passing: Morell 14-28-0, 172 yards.

Receiving: Pierre 1-31; Brooks 8-89; DeJesus 3-41;

Interceptions: None

Pennsbury

Rushing: Burch 4-48; Bost 6-21; Robbins 25-63; Hodges Jr. 3-2, 1 TD; Demarchis 2-6.

Passing: Robbins 2-3-0, 3 yards; Demarchis 3-4-0, 44 yards.

Receiving: Cook 1-0; Lewis 2-29, Basalyga 1-6; Burke 1-12.

Interceptions: None.