Zimmerman’s clutch fourth quarter helps Soudeton outlast Pennridge rally
FRANCONIA >> Jared Zimmerman likes to think the clutch gene runs in his family.
The Souderton senior was certainly clutch in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s home opener against rival Pennridge, scoring a touchdown, ripping a big run to set up another, fielding an onside kick and running out the final seconds on the last snap. While it’s just his first year starting under center, growing up in a family of competitive athletes had Zimmerman ready.
Zimmerman’s clutch gene helped Souderton improve to 2-0, but not without some late stress as the hosts held off Pennridge 24-21 in a fiercely contested game.
“It really does run in the family,” Zimmerman said. “It was nice being able to step up tonight and make those plays.”
Zimmerman is showing what he’s got on the football field this fall, but he’s a one-sport athlete either. In the winter, he plays guard in basketball and in the spring, is a standout javelin thrower which is drawing him some college interest from Ursinus. Right now though, the 5-foot-11 senior is focused on commanding his offense.
Even after throwing a potentially costly interception late in the third, Zimmerman came back more determined to tap the clutch gene down the stretch. It makes sense, given where it comes from. Older sister Jordan had a knack for hitting clutch shots playing for Souderton’s girls’ basketball team and parlayed into her own college career, where she is currently a sophomore at Lebanon Valley College.
His dad Tom was a state champion baseball player for his high school team, and this is where it really all comes together, at Pennridge.
“It was a lot of fun,” Zimmerman said. “I just really wanted to beat Pennridge. It’s been such a rivalry with them in pretty much everything since I was like five years old.”
While Zimmerman’s numbers on the night, 66 rushing yards and a TD on eight carries and 63 pass yards with the pick on 5-of-9 completions, aren’t staggering — they came at key points. Following the interception, Pennridge (0-2) fumbled the ball and lost it to Souderton’s defense with Zimmerman capping the short field with a four-yard run for a 17-6 lead.
On the next drive, it was his 45-yard jaunt that spun field position and helped set up Chris Kearns’ 1-yard plunge that made it 24-6 with 7:16 to play. Souderton would need every one of those points, and for its senior QB to deftly field an onside kick, as Pennridge stormed back over the final seven minutes.
“He’s such a competitor and he always makes plays,” Souderton coach Ed Gallagher said. “If I asked him, he would go out and play defensive tackle. He just loves playing football and you’ve gotta credit his guts.”
For three-and-a-half quarters, it was an enormously frustrating night for Pennridge. Aside from a 15-yard run then a 13-yard run on their lone scoring drive before the rally, Rams senior running back Brennan Fisher was limited in his gains before he showed some guts of his own by breaking out in the fourth.
Combining for a grand total of six plays and two punts on their first two offensive possessions, Pennridge did finally sustain some momentum with a long drive spanning the first quarter gap and another long possession in the second. However, despite holding Souderton to seven total snaps in the second quarter, the hosts led 10-6 at the half.
“They had a million reasons to lay down in that second half and they didn’t,” Pennridge coach Chuck Burgy said. “We needed this one, we needed to take a step forward, be competitive, be in a fight and not quit. We had opportunities, it was cleaner this week than last week in my opinion and all our kids were moving in the same direction.”
Souderton scored on its first drive, a six-minute, 16-play march that ended with a 31-yard field goal by Ty Quintois. Souderton also scored on its second possession, a 13-second single play that saw senior Shaun Purvy do what he does best, hit and hole and take off for a 97-yard scoring run.
Gallagher was still trying to process the last seven minutes of the fourth quarter after the game, but the longtime Souderton coach had plenty of praise for his own team’s fortitude. By the end of the game, the hosts had three sophomores playing offensive line and with Purvy cramping up on the sideline, it was anyone available on deck.
“It was like the dam that keeps cracking, I’m trying to put my finger into each spot and plug it as they kept popping,” Gallagher said. “I love the kids, they gave great effort the entire night and for us, it was enough.”
Fisher had his team’s lone touchdown in the first half but also fumbled twice, the second coming just after Sam Kuhns had picked off Zimmerman and spotted Souderton an eight-yard field to cover on the first of the hosts’ two fourth quarter scores. The thing about Fisher, who will play at West Point next season, is that every touch he gets is potentially a gamebreaker and that he responds well to adversity.
Thanks to a nice kick return by Xavier Dantzler after the Kearns run put Souderton up 24-6, Fisher had one of those gamebreakers, making a sharp cut in the backfield and took off for a 56-yard touchdown run. The senior finished the game with 127 rush yards on 18 totes and 30 receiving yards.
“He’s not going to stop fighting, the kid’s not going to quit,” Burgy said.
The two plays, both by seniors, seemed to rally the Rams sideline and the bleacher of fans behind them. From there, the defense forced a stop and the offense put together another resilient drive, with Fisher turning a screen pass into a 30-yard gain on a 3rd-and-20 and ending when Pat Burdick found Nate Mossbrook — who had a game best 62 receiving yards — for a 20-yard score on 4th-and-10 with any hope the Rams had hanging on that last throw.
“Our senior leadership picked up,” Burgy said. “We had guys who were vocal on the sideline, in the huddle and showing it by example. That’s what I’m expecting from them and it came out. I think we’re trending in the right direction.”
Putting a starting quarterback on the hands team for onside kicks might seem crazy but Gallagher said Zimmerman has some of the best hands on the team and that the senior would make for a great receiver if needed. All Zimmerman wanted to do was make the play, so he read the way Pennridge’s kick team was lining up, adjusted and cleanly handled the short kickoff.
“Fielding that kick, I knew we had won the game,” Zimmerman said. “Running the clock out, that’s when everyone else knows you won the game. We handled adversity, we were up 24-6 and they came back but we didn’t hang our heads.”
Zimmerman knew he was taking a big step up to starting a quarterback this fall, but he was ready for it. Having a clutch gene that runs in his family helps, but when the time comes, he’s the one that has to go make the play.
“When you make a mistake like that, it’s easy to get down on yourself,” Zimmerman said. “The best thing you can do is come back out, make the next play and be the best player you can be.”
SOUDERTON 10 0 0 14 – 24
PENNRIDGE 0 6 0 15 – 21
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
S – Ty Quintois 31 field goal 3:36
S – Shaun Purvy 97 run (Rylan Zuk kick) 1:34
2nd Quarter
P – Brennan Fisher 13 run (kick miss) 8:42
4th Quarter
S – Jared Zimmerman 4 run (Zuk kick) 11:52
S – Chris Kearns 1 run (Zuk kick) 7:16
P – Fisher 56 run (Fisher two-point run)
P – Pat Burdick 20 pass to Nate Mossbrook (Aidan Hatfield kick) 1:16
Team Stats
S P
First Downs
Rush-Yards 39-249 27-143
Passing 5-10-0-1 7-16-1-0
Passing Yards 63 111
Total yards 312 253
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 5-2
Penalties-Yards 8-42 5-25
Individual Stats
Rushing S – Ryan Sadowski 9-29, Chris Kearns 13-51, Shaun Purvy 7-102, Jared Zimmerman 8-66, Bryce Williams 2-1; P – Brennan Fisher 18-127, Nate Mossbrook 2-8, Connor Lelii 1-0, Tyler Wetzel 5-21, Pat Burdick 1-(-13)
Passing: S – Zimmerman 5-9-63-0-1, Purvy 0-1-0-0-0; P – Burdick 7-16-111-1-0
Receiving: S – Winday Dawson Jr 1-12, Williams 1-7, Joey Nase 2-32, Purvy 1-12; P – Mossbrook 5-63, Xavier Dantzler 1-13, Fisher 1-30, Jake Holt 1-6
Interceptions: P – Sam Kuhns
