Central Bucks West’s basics best William Tennent
WARMINSTER >> Central Bucks West put the emphasis on the basics.
A week after a miscue-filled loss, the Bucks were determined to not beat themselves Friday when they visited William Tennent. Neither team was close to full strength, so whoever made the fewest errors and was most consistent on offense would win it.
Thanks to a determined running game and some quality special teams work, the Bucks emerged 35-14 in the SOL Continental clash.
“We went back to basics, kept the gameplan simple and challenged the offensive line,” Bucks coach Rob Rowan said. “We told them what we were going to do, challenged them to answer the bell and we felt like they did.”
With Syracuse recruit tight end Luke Benson out, and quarterback Jack Neri injured playing defense on the second Tennent drive of the game, the Bucks didn’t have a ton of punch in the passing game. They didn’t need it as the offensive line kept its work pretty basic, getting off the ball first, driving through blocks and using their feet to open holes.
The backs certainly appreciated it. Jack Fallon led a well-balanced ground game with 99 yards and was a big proponent of West’s right up the gut approach. Most of the CB West runs came between the tackles and the repeated emphasis made its mark in the second half.
“We came out and stopped them on the first drive, stopped them on the second drive and their third drive, they scored on a 30-yard field,” first year Tennent coach Rich Clemens said. “I think their running game kicked in more at the end. They had one score in the first half on a 30-yard field and a defensive touchdown. We started to wear down in the second half and that’s when you saw the gashing runs.”
Tennent didn’t have running back/linebacker Eddie North due to injury and also found themselves looking at a lot of long fields in the first half. West punter Sean Metzer and kickoff specialist Connor Garrison had their own bouncback game after a rough prior week.
West had two punts blocked in its loss last week, but Metzer was able to boom two long ones early, aided by a good coverage team and a flag on the Panthers to stick Tennent at its own one and two yard line. The first punt paid dividends when Tennent fumbled a snap and Jack Spradlin recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.
“There was some extra attention there this week, Sean is a heck of a punter and we have a lot of faith in him,” Rowan said. “Connor is our kickoff guy and we have the luxury of two kickers, so those guys can specialize in what they’re doing. Connor was on fire today, he’s not normally a guy driving it into the end zone for touchbacks but he had it going.”
Fallon scored the Bucks’ first offensive touchdown, catching a two-yard pass from Gavin Grondahl early in the second quarter and delivered the play of the game in the third quarter. After Tennent had scored to cut the Bucks’ lead to 21-7, and following a big pass play from Grondahl to Joseph Fay, Fallon broke off a 35-yard run where he broke out of three piles of Tennent tacklers down the left sideline and just bullied his way to the end zone.
“We wanted to come out and establish the run, our o-line came out and worked so hard and without them, we wouldn’t have had a good run game tonight,” Fallon said. “We focused on a couple plays we wanted to run and we just kept hammering with those plays.
“They executed up front, they did their jobs and just had a different mindset tonight.”
Fay had a solid game for West, recording an interception on defense, rushing for 72 yards and a touchdown and catching a pass for 30 yards. His 11-yard run right up the middle in the fourth quarter was the final score of the night for West.
Tennent has already made progress under Clemens, snapping a long losing streak in the season opener but this is still an inexperienced team. The Panthers were flagged nine times and although it only totaled 51 yards, the penalties stalled a couple of promising drives.
Clemens couldn’t his team’s effort and the Panthers did put together a late scoring drive when Jason Schweizerhof ( 41 rush yards, 206 pass yards) hit Delbaro Matunda for a three-yard pass in the final minute.
“The guys are growing as football players, the effort’s there, you can’t knock that, we just have to keep getting better,” Clemens said. “We didn’t help ourselves with field position, we turned the ball over in the end zone. Everybody had their ups and downs in the game, but I’m happy with the effort and they keep fighting.”
