Souderton’s expectactions still high after District 1-6A title

FRANCONIA >> To those that label Souderton as champions of circumstance, that want to throw an asterisk on their titles cause they came during a COVID-19-shortened season, the Indians are ready to show they still belong among the area’s elite.

“I know a lot of teams are going to say we only won because of the COVID-19 and we only had a certain amount of games and playoffs to get there,” said Sean Barrera, a senior center/defensive tackle. “But I definitely think we’re coming with a chip on our shoulder just as much as any other team.”

Big Red reached uncharted heights for the program in 2020, winning all five regular-season games to win the Suburban One League Continental Conference title then knocking off Spring-Ford and Pennridge to claim the District 1-6A crown and reach its first-ever PIAA semifinal.

And while the Indians graduated a few key members from that 7-1 side, a strong set of playmakers on the offense along with a veteran defense have the Indians ready for big things once again in 2021.

“It was still was a great experience for our kids just to get through and do what they did last year,” Souderton coach Ed Gallagher said. “So now the challenge is going to be are we going to be happy with that or are we going to try and repeat as league champs, contend again for a district championship. That’s what we got to find out. It’s going to be different, there were only four teams in the district (playoffs) last year, so it’s not the same as winning a 16-team playoff which we’ll hopefully qualify for this year but that’s the goal.

“We want to get there and we want to stay there. We had a couple of down years and now we’ve had a couple of good years where we’ve been a playoff team and been successful so we want to keep the program where it belongs.”

The Indians graduated starting quarterback Evan Kutzler and leading rusher Jalen White from last year’s offense that averaged 34.9 points per contest last season but Gallagher is confident in that this group will keep the Wing-T attack running at a high level.

“Even though we lost a decent senior class, a decent-sized senior class with some talented kids, we have a lot of kids coming back,” Gallagher said. “And when you look around and skill-wise we return Brayden Porter and Shaun Purvy and Sean McGoldrick and Elijah Goods and Winday Dawson. We have so many kids coming back from a skills standpoint that I think we’re going to be able to match up and complete with a lot of people skill-wise.

Porter, a senior, was Big Red’s second leading rusher with 609 yards and nine touchdowns on 91 carries, the All-SOL Continental first-team pick eclipsing 100 yards on the ground three times in 2020 including in both District 1-6A playoffs games.

“Just running between the tackles and picking up four to five yards each time,” Porter said. “And just trying to get those chunk yards for our team.”

Purvy paced the Indians in catches (24), receiving yards (265) and receiving TDs (three) as a sophomore, including hauling in a dozen catches for 158 yards and two scores against St. Joseph’s Prep in the state semifinals.

“We didn’t use him as much offensively last year because we had other weapons but this year between him and Brayden they should see the majority of the touches,” said Gallagher of Purvy. “But just an explosive athlete that we got to do a good job of getting him the ball in space and letting his athleticism take over.”

On the offensive line, Souderton graduated both of its tackles but returns three on the interior in center Barrera and senior guards Nick Curotto and Luke Pollock – both Barrera and Curotto selected to last year’s all-conference second team. Starting quarterback looks to be Nate Hageman with Gallagher liking the work of the senior during the offseason.

Defensively, the Indians return a number of all-conference selections from a unit that held opponents to 12.6 points in its five regular season games and 19.4 per game on the year.

At linebacker, Pollock earned first team while Porter was a second-team pick while Big Red returns both starting corners in Purvy (first team defensive back) and Goods (second team).

“Our linebacking corps is going to be tough,” Porter said. “We’re going to be really physical and big. We’re probably going to run more nickel so 3-4 cause we have a sophomore outside linebacker stepping up who’s going to pretty good, physical guy. Cause we don’t have ton of linemen so we’re going 3-4 and just picking up more linebackers cause we have a lot more skills guys than bigger guys.”

Up front, the Indians bring back senior Gabe Epps, an All-SOL Continental first-team pick at defensive end while Barrera should also see time at tackle.

“Just everybody do their job, make sure that they know what they’re doing every play and if we do that we’re going to have a great defense like last year,” Epps said.

Souderton’s 2021 schedule begins Friday on the road against North Penn, the Indians looking for their first win over the Knights since 1989 in the opening game at the rebuilt Crawford Stadium.

Big Red’s SOL Continental repeat bid may come down to road games in October against Quakertown Oct. 1 then at Upper Dublin Oct. 15.

“They’re still hungry,” Gallagher said. “It’s just this is a different team and they know they have something to prove and honestly they’re going to have a bullseye on them a little bit more than they ever did before. They are district champs, they won the league last year. Quakertown and Upper Dublin, they want a piece at us and want a shot at taking the league title away from us and I know there’s lot of people including North Penn that want to set a tone early here and figure out who’s going to be where in the district.”

“But it’s going to be an exciting year. I like our group and I think we’re going to be pretty good but there’s going to be some really good teams out there as well.”