Special teams spark Hatboro-Horsham past Plymouth Whitemarsh
- HORSHAM >> If you had trouble finding parking or had to stop at the bathroom before finding your seat at Hatboro-Horsham Friday night, you missed out.
Hatters receiver Ben Ejimonyuegwo returned the game’s opening kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown to kick-start a 49-28 Suburban One League American Conference win over Plymouth Whitemarsh.
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Hatters’ Calvin Broaddus Jr. said about jumping right out to a 7-0 lead. “It makes us more energetic and makes us all hype. It sets a tone.”
Less than four minutes later, the special teams were changing the game again. This time it was Broaddus returning a punt 80 yards to the house.
“The ball was in the air and the left gunner was very, very close to me and I was debating on catching it.” Broaddus said, describing the play. “My brother (Cameron Broaddus) was sealing him off from what I saw, so I was just going to go for it. The whole right side I saw daylight. I just took off and used my speed and believed in my blockers and got the job done.”
Broaddus did it again in the second quarter. He returned a PW kickoff 85 yards — somehow staying in bounds — to give the Hatters a commanding 35-6 lead.
“Big plays,” Hatters coach Michael Kapusta said of his special teams. “Great individual efforts by the kids that had the ball in their hands and the other 10 guys blocked their butts off — a couple times they were holding blocks for a long time. Huge momentum swings and just phenomenal athletic plays.”
Broaddus, a senior, never had two return touchdowns in a single game before. He hasn’t had any returns for scores since a game against PW his sophomore year.
“Special teams were a killer for us today,” PW coach Dan Chang said. “Three touchdowns on special teams. That changed the whole way the game went. We have to fix those things. We have to do the right things next week. It’s something we’ll definitely practice.
“(Hatboro-Horsham) has really good skill guys over there. It was a combination of both — they were good and we didn’t do our job on all 11 spots.”
New look Colonials
Plymouth Whitemarsh senior Dontae Wilson spent most of the game against Hatboro-Horsham taking snaps out of the shotgun like a quarterback. That’s the first time the Colonials used that look as their every-down offense.
The result? Wilson rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries. He threw one pass and complete it for five yards. He lined up as a slot receiver at times and caught two passes for 77 yards and a score.
“We wanted to get our most dangerous guys with the ball in their hand,” Chang said. “For us, that’s Dontae. We found a way to get him the ball more.
“He played well — especially for being thrown into (the new position) right away. I was proud of him, battling.”
Confident Hatters
The Hatboro-Horsham first-team offense didn’t punt at all Friday night. Josh Smith scored rushing touchdowns from 15 and 31 yards away on their first two possessions and Ismael Colazo ran one in from 13 yards out on the third.
In the second half, starting quarterback Chris Edwards was taken out of the game with a 42-6 lead and the next two drives ended in a turnover on downs and a punt. Plymouth Whitemarsh scored a pair of touchdowns to make it 42-21 with nearly nine minutes left in the game and the starters returned.
Edwards led a six-play, 50-yard touchdown drive to take away any slim chance the Colonials had at a comeback. Edwards connected with Ejimonyuegwo for a 13-yard score to cap the drive.
“We were very confident,” Broaddus said. “The week of practice we had was really, really focused. It was about focus and intensity — that’s what coach (Kapusta) always tells us. All we have to do is do our job and good things will happen. That’s what we did tonight and the results really paid off. The o-line tonight — hats off to them. They really, really blocked their butts off and really, really worked their butts off at practice. We came together as a team tonight and it showed.”
Playoff hopeful
Hatboro-Horsham imrpoves to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in SOL American play. The team entered Friday’s game ranked No. 18 in the District 1 Class-6A power rankings. The top 16 teams qualify for playoffs.“We’re pretty confident,” Broaddus said.
“We’re just going to keep playing football and we’re just going to hope for the best. If we don’t get it, we’re still going to play our butts off and we’re not going to give up at all. I’m a senior and a lot of us are seniors on this team. We’ve been here for four years and we just know never to give up no matter what is in front of us. We hope that we can make playoffs, but if not, we’re going to keep our heads straight and just keep playing football to the end.”
“We just want to stay alive,” Kapusta said. “If we win out, that’s what we can control. We think our chances are pretty good there if we do win out. We’re just trying to control what we can, practice hard and keep coming together at the right time.”
Finishing strong
Plymouth Whitemarsh is 1-6 overall and 1-3 in SOL American play. It won’t be making the district playoffs or making a run to defend its league title. The team will play its final two games for its seniors.
“Those guys have busted their butts,” Chang said. “They’ve been on two very successful teams prior to this year. We want to make sure we go out winning. We have two more games that we can focus on one game at a time. That’s what we’re doing. We’re getting better each week for our seniors and making sure that they go out strong.”
Hatboro-Horsham 49, Plymouth Whitemarsh 28
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0 6 8 14 — 28
Hatboro-Horsham 21 21 0 7 — 49
1st Quarter
HH – Ben Ejimonyuegwo 70-yard kickoff return (Jin Kim kick) 11:48
HH – Calvin Broaddus Jr. 80-yard punt return (Jin Kim kick) 8:09
HH – Josh Smith 15-yard run (Jin Kim kick) 4:16
2nd Quarter
HH – Josh Smith 31-yard run (Jim Kim kick) 11:53
PW – Dontae Wilson 36-yard run (kick failed) 10:16
HH – Calvin Broaddus Jr. 85-yard kickoff return (Jin Kim kick) 9:57
HH – Ismael Colazo 13-yard run (Jin Kim kick) 1:42
3rd Quarter
PW – Dontae Wilson 4-yard run (Dontae Wilson run for two) :2.4
4th Quarter
PW – Dontae Wilson 65-yard run (Stephen Longo kick) 8:39
HH – Chris Edwards 13-yard pass to Ben Ejimonyuegwo (Jin Kim kick) 3:26
PW – Larry McLaughlin 48-yard pass to Dontae Wilson (Stephen Longo kick) :48.1
Individual Statistics
Passing: PW: Larry McLaughlin 4-6-79-1-0, Dontae Wilson 1-1-5-0-0. HH: Chris Edwards 4-4-66-1-0, Will Riemenschneider 1-2-8-0-0.
Rushing: PW: Dontae Wilson 26-190-3, Larry McLaughlin 1-(-8)-0, Kirk Bell 9-60-0, George Rocchino 6-20-0. HH: Adam Suder 3-23-0, Will Riemenschneider 3-(-12)-0, Josh Smith 8-75-2, Amir Ali 1-4-0, Anthony Kwiatanowski 2-17-0, Chris Edwards 2-2-0, Ismael Colazo 7-32-1.
Receiving: PW: Kirk Bell 1-(-3)-0, Dontae Wilson 2-77-1, Kai Allen 1-5-0, George Rocchino 1-5-0. HH: Ben Ejimonyuegwo 3-58-1, Calvin Broaddus Jr. 1-8-0, Amir Brookard 1-8-0.
