Wissahickon has no answer for Quakertown
QUAKERTOWN >> Quakertown dominated both sides of the ball in its 32-13 Suburban One League American Conference win over Wissahickon Friday night at Alumni Field.
The Panthers ran for 268 yards, threw for 124 yards and held the Trojans scoreless for more than 39 minutes.
After an interception on their opening drive, the Panthers scored four straight touchdowns to take a 25-0 lead into the half. Michael Terra ran the first one in from 12 yards away late in the first quarter and quarterback Brad Bryan hit a diving Tim Shevlin midway through the second to make it 13-0. Christian Patrick scored from two yards out and Bryan connected with Christian Morano for a six-yard score in the final minute before halftime to make it 25-0.
After their first punt of the game, Patrick scored his second touchdown — a 13-yard run — early in the fourth quarter to make it 32-0.
“(Quakertown) did a good job controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and that’s really where the game was won for them,” Wissahickon coach Randy Cuthbert said. “We had a hard time running the ball. When you have to throw all the time it’s never good.”
While Quakertown’s offense was marching up and down the field, Wissahickon’s offense wasn’t doing much to match them.
The Trojans (2-2, 0-1) gained just one first down in the first half and totaled -5 offensive yards at the break.
Wiss running back Antaun Lloyd entered the game averaging more than 120 yards on the ground. He had -7 rushing yards before the Trojans final drive and finished with 13.
“We have to be able to run the ball better,” Cuthbert said. “That’s why we got down — we weren’t really giving Antaun a lot of holes. It was some tough sledding. Quakertown did a good job up front with their defensive front.”
“I was ecstatic with the way our defense played,” Quakertown coach George Banas said. “We watched a lot of film this week. We had a pretty good gameplan going in. (Lloyd) is very talented — he’s lightning in a bottle. If you can contain him for almost the entire game, you’ve done something well. (Wissahickon) has a bunch of athletes out there, so you can’t just solely focus on (Lloyd). (Maurice Willis) will burn you, (Rahsheed Wright) will burn you, (Andre Mack) is a really good athlete. There’s a bunch of kids on that team that are good players.”
Wright’s night
Senior Rahsheed Wright was a bright spot for Wissahickon on an otherwise tough night. He patrolled the secondary as a single-high safety and ripped an interception away from a Quakertown receiver. He gave the Trojans their first touchdown early in the fourth quarter when he returned a kickoff 82 yards to the endzone. As a receiver, he caught two passes for 26 yards.
“Rahsheed’s had a really good year for us,” Cuthbert said. “He does a little bit of everything for us. On offense he’s had some big catches, big kick returns. He blocks, he catches. Playing in the secondary he’s having a good year.”
Quarterback experience
Wissahickon freshman quarterback Nick Santo made the second start of his career against Quakertown. He finished 10-for-17 for 159 yards and a touchdown. Most of his numbers came in the second half — 132 yards and the touchdown — but that doesn’t change how helpful a road game in a hostile environment can be for his development.
“It’s his second start,” Cuthbert said. “He’s been tested. Protection broke down and he’s handled those things really well and made good decisions with the ball. He made some plays throwing the ball … He scrambled out of some pressure and made some nice plays. He’s developing and I think he’s going to be a good one.”
Room to improve
Despite the lopsided win, Banas wasn’t too happy with the Panthers performance. They committed nine penalties for 50 yards. The special teams unit allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown and a fake punt to gain 28 yards.
“I’m happy that we won the game,” Banas said. “I’m happy we scored 32 points. I’m happy our defense played well. But in actuality, we’ve got to get so much better mentally as far as players and coaches. We have to be a better team than what we were tonight on the field.
“We drove the ball well but we still had a bunch of miscues. We’re still not lining up correctly on every play. There’s little things by Week 4 that we should be doing right. It’s just agitating.”
No favors
Quakertown will not be thanking the schedule-makers this season. They play at Upper Dublin next Saturday and follow that with a Thursday game at Hatboro-Horsham.
“Whoever made these schedules, it’s a little ridiculous,” Banas said. “To be able to play back-to-back that quick, it’s not a really good situation for high school football or high school kids.”
Quakertown 32, Wissahickon 13
Wissahickon 0 0 0 13 — 13
Quakertown 6 19 0 7 — 32
1st quarter
Q – Terra 12-yard run (two-point failed) 3:26
2nd quarter
Q – Shevlin 10-yard reception from Bryan (Croissette kick) 7:27
Q – Patrick 2-yard run (two-point failed) 3:12
Q – Morano 6-yard reception from Bryan (kick failed) :41
4th quarter
Q – Patrick 13-yard run (Croissette kick) 9:08
W – Wright 82-yard kickoff return (two-point failed) 8:50
W – Lloyd 24-yard reception from Santo (Fortescue kick) 1:09
Passing: W: Nick Santo 10-17-159-1-0. Q: Brad Bryan 5-8-90-2-1. Matt Fugitt 1-1-34-0-0.
Rushing: W: Antaun Lloyd 11-13-0, Nick Santo 5-(-36)-0, Andre Mack 4-19-0, Brian Menhardt 1-28-0, Marco Rivera 1-3-0. Q: Christian Patrick 25-149-2, Zach Pint 2-3-0, Michael Terra 5-72-1, Jeremy McGuigan 3-8-0, Delbert Ross 4-21-0, Matt Fugitt 1-3-0, Mike Friel 4-16-0, Brad Bryan 2-(-4)-0.
Receiving: W: Antaun Lloyd 3-38-1, Tyler Caso 2-49-0, Rahsheed Wright 2-26-0, Andre Mack 2-13-0, Maurice Willis 1-33-0. Q: Will Chenowith 1-9-0, Tim Shevlin 3-55-1, Jacob Bardnt 1-54-0, Christian Morano 1-6-1.
Interceptions: W: Rahsheed Wright.
