Wissahickon comes up short to Penncrest
LOWER GWYNEDD >> First-year Penncrest head coach Ryan Smith preached patience and understanding coming into the season.
Smith represents the third head coach in the last four years for the Lions. They are coming off a 1-9 season in 2018. Perhaps a doctrine of hope and stability can be instilled in a program seemingly mired in constant turnover. After all, the Lions have matched their win total from last season one game into the 2019 season, beating Wissahickon 16-10 on Friday night.
It wasn’t glamorous, and understandably so. It is asking a lot of players to learn yet another playbook and buy into yet another coaching philosophy. Despite the inevitable imperfections, Smith was all smiles following the game.
“It feels great,” Smith said. “We still have a big road ahead. We made a lot of mistakes out here tonight. This wasn’t very clean. We were able to get away with some things. Our kids played hard. They competed.”
Penncrest quarterback Jimmy Cage did enough to keep the Lions afloat after beating out fellow sophomore Nick Chelo for the starting job. It is fitting that Cage’s first touchdown pass of the season was a 14-yard connection with his older brother, senior wideout David Cage.
“(Jimmy Cage) ran the offense,” Smith said. “He did what we asked him to do. He has to be a little bit tougher in the pocket. I think his reads were a little bit off. But, he led. We’re proud of that.”
Penncrest’s best unit on the night was arguably its special teams. Kicker/punter Kevin Mills drilled a 26-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. It put the Lions up 10-7 and drained Wissahickon of any momentum it had built. The field goal came as a result of a lost fumble by Trojans’ running back Jalen Smalls.
Later, with 6:23 left in the game, Mills delivered a punt that pinned Wissahickon inside its own 3-yard line. It ensured the game would remain out of reach for the Trojans.
“(The punt) was huge,” Smith said. “We knew we were going to have to play the field position game. You saw early (Wissahickon) was getting chunks of yards. So, that punt was enormous.”
Wissahickon’s second-year head coach Bruce Fleming has aspirations of taking a step forward this season. Like Penncrest, the Trojans were 1-9 last season. He has mentioned winning five games in 2019 as the benchmark for success. Tonight, they were not crisp. Aside from two lost fumbles, they committed two personal foul penalties and had two critical drops down the sideline.
“It’s something we’re going to talk about in practice,” Fleming said. “We can’t have self-inflicted wounds with personal fouls. The excitement of the game is part of football, but you need to know when to walk away and let your play do the talking more than your actual mouth.”
Fleming has implemented an up-tempo offense led by junior quarterback Nick Santo, who already had 13 varsity starts to his credit coming into this season. Fleming admitted it is still a work in progress.
“There are things we need to work on in practice to pick the tempo up a little bit more,” Fleming said. At times, it was a little bit slow. It’s the first game of the season. There were a lot of jitters from young guys stepping up on a Friday night. I think as the games start to move forward, we are going to pick the tempo up a little bit more.”
Terms like “success” or “progress” can be subjective. These are two programs trying to inch their ways toward however they define those visions and benchmarks.
“We have to be diligent,” Smith said. “It sounds so corny, but we can’t be too high. We have to say, ‘Listen man, it’s back to work.’”
Penncrest 16, Wissahickon 10
Wiss – Smalls 8 run (extra point successful)
PC – Cage 14 catch (extra point successful)
PC – Mills FG
PC – Vaughn 15 catch (extra point unsuccessful)
Wiss – DeVincent FG
Individual Stats
Passing: Penncrest: Cage 9-20, 129 yards, 2 TDS. Wiss: Santo 4-17, 72 yards.
Rushing: PC: Vaughn 10 carries, 38 yards; Kaut 5 carries, 15 yards; Mills 2 carries, 15 yards; Stancheck 3 carries, 24 yards; D. Cage 1 carry, 7 yards. Wiss: Smalls 11 carries, 97 yards, 1 TD; Baldwin 4 carries, 21 yards; Santo 2 carries, 17 yards; Benjamin 1 carry, 4 yards.
Receiving: PC: Cage 4 catches, 39 yards, 1 TD; Vaughn 2 catches, 55 yards, 1 TD; Hines 2 catches, 35 yards; Douglas 1 catch, 0 yards. Wiss: Intrieri 1 catch, 35 yards; Quinn 1 catch, 32 yards; Dougherty 1 catch, 4 yards; Schreiner 1 catch, 1 yard.
