Suder scores two as Hatboro-Horsham takes down Cheltenham
CHELTENHAM — The fullback position isn’t the most glamorous on the football field. In fact, it’s all but extinct in the NFL. But in high school a “secondary” back can be pivotal to an offense.
Particularly if you have a fullback like Adam Suder.
“He’s a guy that doesn’t get a whole lot of a limelight,” Hatboro head coach Mike Kapusta said. “He’s Mr. Consistency for us…Suder is in there day in, day out, week in, week out for us making plays.”
Suder scored a pair of touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving, in the Hatters’ 35-14 win over Cheltenham Friday night.
“All to the line. They made great blocks, they opened up the holes for me,” Suder said after the game, as any good fullback would.
Suder’s receiving touchdown came on a 31-yard screen pass from quarterback Chris Edwards. Edwards finished the game 10-15 for 141 yards and two touchdowns. Both of his TDs came in the third quarter, as Hatboro was able to double its point total after going into the locker room with a 14-7 lead.
“We took a look at what (Cheltenham was) giving us defensively and made a couple small adjustments,” Kapusta said about the second half. “I think the main thing was that our kids were ready to play and came out and made plays.”
Anthony Kwiatanowski had the first score of the game for Hatboro, a 34-yard run, after Cheltenham struck first on a trick play. Brandon Crews finished the game with 3 catches for 51 yards and a touchdown, all in the second half.
Cheltenham did score first, but was essentially shut down for the rest of the game. Hatboro-Horsham (5-5 overall, 5-2 SOL American) outgained the Panthers 309-179 Friday night.
“Very proud of the defense tonight, particularly the linebackers,” Kapusta said. “They had a rough couple of weeks and it was a point of emphasis this week…tonight (the entire defense) did a really good job of beating blocks, playing their positions and reading their keys.”
Hatboro even got production in some unexpected places. Freshman Jordan Collazo finished the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown run, and Eddie Schultz was bringing solid production in the return game all night long.
“It was a very good team win,” Kapusta said. “Well executed…I’m just very proud of the team as a total team effort.”
Self-inflicted wounds for the Panters
Down 14-7 at the half, Cheltenham (3-8, 2-5 SOL American) felt as though it was right in the game. A different team appeared in the second half. Unfortunately for coach Joe Gro it wasn’t all that different to his eyes.
“Not to take anything away from (Hatboro)…we made an inordinate amount of mistakes. Which we’ve tended to do all year,” Gro said. “Penalties, execution, all of it. That falls back on us…Either we’re putting our kids in situations they can’t handle or it didn’t get done. Give (Hatboro) some credit. They did some nice things.”
Cheltenham was penalized six times for 60 yards in the game.
The Panthers’ opening touchdown was one of the plays they executed well. Yasin Abdul-Haqq, who has played quarterback during the season but was playing running back Friday, took a pitch and threw it to Andre Williams for a 25-yard touchdown. Abdul-Haqq finished the game with 120 all-purpose yards.
“He’s a guy that we have to get a lot out of, so that wasn’t that much of a surprise,” Gro said. “I actually was trying to get him more but we were kind of limited.”
