Hartzell, fast start fuel Pennridge in win over CB West

DOYLESTOWN >> Shane Hartzell waited more than a year to strap the pads on again, so he wasn’t going to waste it.

The Pennridge senior, a Villanova recruit at linebacker, looked very much like his old self on defense and running the ball for the Rams in his first action since a season-ending injury last year. After a lighting flash start, the Rams put the weight on Hartzell’s willing shoulders Friday night and kept building.

Host Central Bucks West responded with a stronger second half, but Pennridge’s fast start was too much to overcome as the Rams topped the Bucks 35-14 at War Memorial Field in both teams’ season-opener.

“It felt great,” Hartzell said. “I’ve been waiting for it, it’s been over a year since I put the pads on and went in a game. Just being out there with my boys was amazing, but also winning, I give up to the line, they paved the way.”

Hartzell finished the night with 124 yards on 10 carries while scoring three rushing touchdowns, all in the first half. He added a catch for nine yards but didn’t have to overdo it on offense as the Rams rotated a handful of runners in throughout the game.

On defense, he looked like a former all-state selection and was in on close to a dozen tackles, had a fumble recovery with a 30-yard return and ended a West drive with a fourth-down sack in the first half.

“He’s a tough runner, he’s not going down easy and usually takes two or three, four guys to stop him,” Rams coach Cody Muller said. “It’s a credit to him and he, Jack Ferguson, Cornelius Shoemake, they make each other better in practice.”

Hartzell’s longest run of the night was a 47-yard TD in the first quarter and he broke off a 41-yard gain in the third but his most impressive was his third touchdown of the night. A handoff turned into a 13-yard scoring drive that had close to half the Bucks defense clinging to the future Villanova Wildcat as he crossed the goal line.

The senior said despite leading the entire game, the Rams kept looking at the scoreboard as 0-0 and he wanted to keep pouring it on. With a short season, his time as an offensive player is running out so Hartzell is hoping to make the most of it.

“We want to keep going, get the ball back and score,” Hartzell said. “It’s fun, I like it out there but I know defense is my position.”

KICK START

Pennridge couldn’t have asked to a better start.

Senior Joey Kacerik ran the night’s opening kickoff back 81 yards for a touchdown, giving the Rams a lead just 12 seconds into the season. On a night as the road team in a stadium with no fans, it was just the spark Pennridge was looking for.

“I really just followed the blocks everybody gave, I really didn’t do that much,” Kacerik said. “I can’t even put it into words; it was amazing seeing everybody else so excited.”

Senior Fabian Padin had a critical block to spring Kacerik on the run-back and the Rams didn’t look back after the wideout/defense back sprinted into the end zone. Pennridge’s defense forced a punt on the next series and the Rams went on to score on their first three possessions to go ahead 28-0.

While it was a great opening, it wasn’t something the team has been used to in recent years.

“It’s weird, in all my time at Pennridge, I don’t think we’ve ever started that fast,” Muller said. “We always seem to be a second half team but it was the opposite tonight.”

BUILDING BUCKS

Things were bound to look different for CB West this year after a tremendous 2019.

The Bucks are pretty young this fall but they won’t use it as an excuse and to their credit, they came out halftime a much stronger team. After falling behind by four scores, a terrific 96-yard kickoff return by sophomore Eli Boehm put West on the board before going to the break down 35-7.

After halftime, West held Pennridge scoreless.

“You have to give Pennridge credit, that’s a good football team with a lot of guys who have been playing for a while,” Bucks coach Rob Rowan said. “They had a big play on the first play of the game from special teams and I just felt like our guys didn’t respond right away and we went into a little bit of a shock and waited to the second half to respond.”

Boehm finished as the Bucks’ leading rusher while junior Dante Mancini and senior Payton Davis ran hard up the middle and around the tackles against Pennridge’s tenacious defense. West started freshman Cameron Cooper at quarterback and completed a couple nice throws for first downs in the second half.

Defensively, Casey Smith had a couple impact plays and Cole Young recovered a fumble.

“We didn’t respond early enough when things weren’t going our way,” Rowan said. “As a team, that’s where we need to take a step forward as a team. When bad things happen, we have to be able to respond immediately.”

Trot Lare scored West’s other touchdown on a five-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

After Young made the fumble recovery on a botched snap by the Rams, the Bucks moved the ball inside the 20. On a 4^th-and-4 from the Pennridge 15, Cooper took off on a keeper and tried to get out of bounds at the marker.

Despite drawing a flag for a late hit on the Rams, officials spotted the ball short of the sticks and Pennridge took over on downs, a big play as West could have cut the lead to two scores had it finished the drive.

“The explanation to me was that because the hit happened out of bounds, you don’t get the football back,” Rowan said. “My argument was (the penalty is) half the distance to the goal, it was 4^th-and-four and the ball was on the 15, so it’s seven-and-a-half yards so it should be a first down. I was told I was wrong and if I was wrong, then I apologize.”

UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES

With Doylestown Borough restricting the number of people even allowed into the stadium Friday, the Rams had to bring their own noise.

With 22 seniors on the roster who were eager to play football again, that wasn’t an issue.

“We brought the juice,” Kacerik said.

Neither team went to a locker room at halftime, with West going under the home stands and Pennridge staying on the field and once the game ended, the Rams went right to their waiting buses. Spectators were permitted to stand around the outside fence, but on the field, the players noticed the lack of fans.

“We did a good job making our own energy,” Hartzell said. “Every big play, we had guys on the sideline jumping up and down. That was a big part of it and everybody really played together.”

PENNRIDGE 21 14 0 0 – 35

CB WEST 0 7 0 7 – 14

Scoring Plays

Q1

P – Joey Kacerik 81 kick return (Brandon Shire kick) 11:48

P – Shane Hartzell 47 run (Shire kick) 4:37

P – Hartzell 2 run (Shire kick) 0.0

Q2

P – Hartzell 13 run (Shire kick) 5:24

CBW – Eli Boehm 96 kick return (Luke Shank kick) 5:06

P – Bobby Croyle 1 run (Shire kick) :34

Q4

CBW – Trot Lare 5 run (Shank kick) 8:58

Team Stats

P CBW

First downs 17 10

Rushes-Yards 36-214 42-78

Passing 7-11-0-0 4-6-0-0

Passing Yards 72 31

Total Yards 289 109

Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-1

Individual Stats

Rushing: P – Shane Hartzell 10-124, Elias Dantzler 7-28, Dillon Powles 9-36, Brennan Fisher 1-9, Jack Ferguson 3-7, Cornelius Shoemake 3-2, Fabian Padin 1-10, Sean Curry 1-6, Bobby Croyle 2-8; CBW – Jeremy Goldrick 1-1, Payton Davis 6-19, Eli Boehm 12-41, Dante Mancini 15-34, Cameron Cooper 7-(-22), Trot Lare 1-5

Passing: P – Bobby Croyle 7-11-0-0-72; CBW – Cameron Cooper 4-6-0-0-31

Receiving: P – Phil Picciotti 1-13, Adam Mossbrook 2-18, Powles 2-27, Padin 1-5, Hartzell 1-9;  CBW – Mancini 1-13, Boehm 2-7, Davis 1-11

Writer’s Note: Media was not permitted inside the facility until conclusion of the game, so some statistics may be misattributed.