“Grandy” finale for North Penn: Knights rout William Tennent to close out regular season

TOWAMENCIN >> Kenneth Grandy caught six passes for 186 yards and a touchdown, returned a punt all the way back for a score, and even added an interception, as North Penn did everything it could to finish the regular season in strong fashion.

“It was huge. We really needed it,” Grandy said of the 54-14 victory over William Tennent Friday night. “I think this is a great way to go into the playoffs, get that playoff atmosphere going. It was a great win.”

North Penn closed out the regular season 7-3 overall, finishing in a three-way tie (CB South, Souderton) for second in the Suburban One League Continental Conference with a 4-2 mark. The Knights gained 165 yards on the ground, 224 through the air, and built a 41-7 lead by halftime.  

“It was good to see us get out and be explosive,” said Knights coach Dick Beck, who has guided NP to the playoffs for the 17th time in his 18 years at the helm. “(Quarterback Ryan) Zeltt did such a great job for us all year and it was great to see Kolby (Barrow) come back and do a little bit too.”

Barrow started under center for the Knights, and he quickly found Grandy, who raced underneath a rainbow from Barrow, sprinting 62 yards for a score that lifted NP’s lead to 14-0 in the first three minutes. Nate Brown’s nine-yard run had put the Knights on the board earlier.

“The quarterbacks threw some really good balls, the receivers ran some good routes, and the defense played great,” Grandy said of the contest. “A lot of things went well for us. Kolby was throwing some amazing passes. That was huge.”

Barrow completed 7-of-10 passes for 153 yards in his half of work. Zeltt went 2-of-4 for 71 yards and a score after the break.

Grandy was soon back in the end zone, returning a punt 70 yards for a score to make it 35-7 in the second quarter. Evan Spann (46-yard run) and Barrow (seven, five) added rushing scores to widen the gap to 41-7 by the break.

“We blocked it really, really well,” Grandy said of the special-teams score. “Once I got the ball, I saw the seam, the wall was there, and I was just gone.”

The Knights pushed the game into mercy-rule territory by the fourth quarter, with TD’s by Brown (21-yard pass from Zeltt) and Danny Harkins (four-yard run) padding the lead.

Grandy’s interception had helped close out a dominant first half for the Knights.

“He’s been good all year. And Evan Spann is finally healthy and I thought he had a really good night running the ball,” Beck said. “I’d like to be a little bit better on defense but I thought we were pretty good.”

Tennent (3-7) got its two scores from Tom Santiago (two-yard run) and Owen Clark (8-yard pass from Matt Miller).

“North Penn is North Penn. They’re a good team, play physical football, and ran the ball right at us,” Panthers coach Rich Clemens said. “They did everything a football team’s supposed to do. But our guys fought hard to the very end.”

The Panthers played tough this year in a stacked conference, with possibly better things ahead.

“We’ll finally be playing teams (next year) that are our size,” Clemens said of the conference re-shuffle next year. “That’s gonna be big.”

A strong regular season now behind them, the Knights get ready for another postseason. 

“Can’t wait. Everybody’s gonna be 0-0 next week,” Beck said. “It should be fun. Hopefully whoever we play, we’ll prepare well and play well.”

North Penn 54, William Tennent 14
Tennent     7 0 7 0 – 14
North Penn  14 27 6 7 – 54
First Quarter
NP – Nate Brown 9 run (Daniel Moon kick), 11:43.
NP – Kenneth Grandy 62 pass from Kolby Barrow (Moon kick), 8:57.
WT – Tom Santiago 2 run (Zach Devor kick), 1:24.
Second Quarter
NP – Evan Spann 46 run (Moon kick), 11:51.
NP – Barrow 8 run (Moon kick), 7:51.
NP – Grandy 70 punt return (Moon kick), 4:37.
NP – Barrow 5 run (kick failed), :31.
Third Quarter
WT – Owen Clark 8 pass from Matt Miller (Devor kick), 6:07.
NP – Brown 21 pass from Ryan Zeltt (pass failed), 4:13.
Fourth Quarter
NP – Danny Harkins 4 run (Grace Macnamara kick), 10:11.
                        WT         NP
First Downs             6           16
Rushes-yards            36-144      33-165
Passing                 4-5-1       9-14-2
Passing yards           78          224
Total Yards             222         389
Punts                   1           0
Penalties-yards         9-83        5-38
Fumbles-lost            1-1         0
Rushing
WT: Tom Santiago 18-91, TD; Fernando Delgado 7-28; Matt Miller 8-4; Ricardo Delgado 3-21.
NP: Derrick Lynn 5-13; Dylan Verwey 1-0; Nate Brown 1-9, TD; Zayd Ward-Richardson 1-0; Evan Spann 8-70, TD; Kolby Barrow 3-16, 2 TD; Sam Behr 1-1; Donovan Williams 4-9; Nick DiPippo 1-(-1); Danny Harkins 4-27, TD; R.J. Macnamara 1-7; Rasheed Smith 3-14.
Passing
WT: Miller 4-5-78-1-1.
NP: Barrow 7-10-153-1-0; Ryan Zeltt 2-4-71-1-0.
Receiving
WT: Delgado 2-67; Ryan Emmerich 1-3; Owen Clark 1-8, TD.
NP: Grandy 6-186, TD; Justin DiPietro 1-7; Evan Spann 1-10; Brown 1-21.
Interceptions
NP: Grandy.