CB East pulls away late in win over William Tennent

BUCKINGHAM >> William Tennent looked to get into the win column Saturday afternoon after dropping its first four non-conference games.

A trip to Patriots Stadium Saturday afternoon to play Central Bucks East in Tennent’s Suburban One League Continental opener was the not the answer for the Panthers as a second-half onslaught by the Patriots saw the Panthers record fall to 0-5.

“We were just a little bit inconsistent and it been like that all year long,” Tennent coach Leo Plenski said. “(If) we stop the penalties, stop the turnovers and get the negative plays into positive our season would be going a lot different right now.”

Tennent took advantage of an early East turnover deep in its own territory as Sean Bragin scored on a two-yard run. The Bragin touchdown pulled the Panthers to within one late in the first quarter.

After the teams traded a couple of possessions, it looked like the Panthers were going to get the game to halftime down only one point, but East’s Barney Amor kicked a school record 47-yard field goal with 2:28 left to go before the half.

“Barney is special,” East coach John Donnelly said. “There are not many guys that can do what he does. He’s a weapon. He going to score points for us, he’s going to change field position so we utilize him as much as we can.”

Despite the momentum-changing kick, the game was still just a four-point game at the half but Tennent failed to really put anything together offensively in the second half.

“We made a couple of adjustments, nothing crazy, we liked where we were at 10-6,” Plenski said. “Last year we were down 7-3 at halftime but it just felt like we came out a different team.”

It was Amor’s kicking and a ferocious defensive attack that helped the Patriots pull away in the second half. The special teams and defense of East helped the Patriots dominate field position.

“The defense has been really, really good all year long,” Donnelly said. “On special teams, we look to take advantage of opportunities. We’re aggressive on special teams.”

With the field position slanted greatly in it favor East started to cash in offensively as it scored three second-half touchdown.

“Our defense played their tails off,” Plenski said. “They’ve been consistent with that the last couple of weeks. It seems like we’re giving away good field position and we’re giving the offense on the other side too many chances.”

The road ahead of the Panthers is not getting any easier as they have another tough SOL Continental game with Central Bucks West Friday night.