EAST ROCKHILL – Without his helmet on, Souderton’s Ben Walsh looks every bit the young quarterback he is.
The sophomore is all of two games into his high school career, but he’s already showing up in moments often reserved for upperclassmen and delivering. It’s not all going to be perfect, and it certainly wasn’t Friday night, but a gamer knows how to make up for those miscues.
Walsh came through when needed, helping lead three second half scoring drives as the Indians rallied away from home to beat Pennridge 19-14 at Helman Field.
“I’m a young kid coming into a big game, so I just wanted to stay mentally composed,” Walsh said. “Obviously the (Pennridge) student section isn’t helping over there but a great team win. Offensive line really picked it up in the second half.
“The first half, it wasn’t looking so great so as an offense we knew we had to come out and fire on all cylinders.”
Walsh overcame two interceptions to throw for 132 yards and a score while connecting on 13-of-17 passes on the night. He hit on at least one key completion on all three of Souderton’s scoring drives and picked up a crucial fourth down conversion on a quarterback sneak as the Indians closed out the win.
Souderton coach Ed Gallagher liked the way Walsh responded on Friday, especially following a collectively rough first half by the offense.
“He’s a very talented quarterback and at the same time, he’s a sophomore and he’s going to make some sophomore mistakes,” Gallagher said. “The kid just plays football and he competes. I’m really excited for the next three years having him under center.”
The Rams’ Week 2 efforts didn’t yield a win, but they went much better than their opener, a 43-0 hammering against Downingtown East where they totaled just 19 yards of offense. Paced by a terrific game from senior tailback/safety Sam Kuhns, Pennridge not only led at half, it had a two-score lead just 15 seconds into the second half thanks to an electrifying kick return by Kuhns.
With an entirely new coaching staff and turnover at several key positions, it’s been a frustrating start for Pennridge. While the Rams couldn’t quite get the break they needed in the fourth quarter, Kuhns did see a huge turnaround from a week prior.
“We were more prepared, last week, we went in nervous and thinking we were going to lose,” Kuhns said. “We came in thinking we were going to win this game and made it really, really close.
“They beat us every year, we really wanted this one. We got close and we wanted to avenge last year and prove we’re not really that bad.”
Sometimes, a final box score from a prior game can be a coach’s worst enemy. As much as Gallagher could impress the need to be prepared for Pennridge, hiding the Week 1 final score was impossible.
He knew the Rams would be ready for them. It turned out his players learned that once the game started.
“We have a very good, veteran offensive line and they weren’t good enough in the first half so we pretty much called them out,” Gallagher said. “We told them you’re better than this, you go out and execute, we’re going to run these couple plays and you go out and do it right.”
Gallagher credited Pennridge for being the more physical team in the first half. The Rams’ physical play led to the fumble that set up the home team on a short field and ended with Kuhns pushing in from three yards out for the 7-0 lead.
“It’s a rivalry game,” Gallagher said. “It’s hard when you’re showing 16, 17-year-old kids film of 43-0 and telling them (Pennridge is) a proud football team and a proud football program, because they are.”
Kuhns lit the crowd up on the second half kickoff, fielding the ball on the five, following his blocks to the far sideline then jolting away from the pack for about the final 25 or so yards. He’d add an interception after Souderton recovered an onside kick following its first scoring drive, trying to give his guys a spark to bring home a much-wanted win.
“We saw the potential we have out there, we just fell apart for a series or two,” Kuhns said. “If we play how we did the first half, we can win most of our games.
“I’m trying to do everything I can, trying to put our team in good position to keep the ball moving.”
Following the runback, Souderton went right down the field and scored. Most of the work was done by the running attack, but Walsh’s one completion on the drive was massive as he hit Danny Dyches for 45 yards to flip the field before Michael McCormick went in from a yard out.
It was a drive before the end of the half, which ended in a missed field goal, that helped Walsh get the groove he carried in the second half.
“We hadn’t really moved the ball before that, but we definitely knew we could after that drive,” Walsh said. “It really sparked us up, but we knew we had to come back and make plays.”
After Walsh got picked off by Kuhns, his second throw to the Rams of the game, the defense got him a stop. The sophomore paid it back by leading a 12-play drive that carried into the fourth quarter
Again, he didn’t have to do it all, but Walsh finished it with a gorgeous throw to Chase Johnson in the corner of the end zone for a five-yard TD. A missed extra point left Souderton down, but the visitors had figured things out.
“We ran that play before halftime, it got called back for holding but we knew if we ran it again, it’d be wide-open,” Walsh said.
Souderton’s defense, which played a very strong game overall, came up with another stop. A rushed punt gave the Indians a short field and they gladly took advantage, Walsh hitting Johnson for 14 and Dyches for 15 to the one before James McCoy scored the go-ahead touchdown.
One more stop by the defense allowed the offense to close it out, Walsh again making a key conversion when he got the forward progress on a fourth-and-inches sneak in the final minutes.
Ben Walsh may look like a young quarterback. His play and demeanor so far haven’t been anything close to that.
“It all matters, even the small plays too,” Walsh said. “Every yard we get matters. It’s the small plays that go into the big plays and get us touchdowns.”
Souderton 19, Pennridge 14
Souderton 0 0 7 12 – 19
Pennridge 0 7 7 0 – 14
Scoring Plays
2nd Quarter
P – Sam Kuhns 3 run (Aidan Hatfield kick) 4:02
3rd Quarter
P – Kuhns 95 kick return (Hatfield kick) 11:45
S – Michael McCormick (Rylan Zuk kick) 8:05
4th Quarter
S – Ben Walsh 5 pass to Chase Johnson (kick miss) 10:40
S – James McCoy 1 run (Two-point fail) 7:21
Team Stats
S P
First Downs 20 11
Rushing-Yards 46-151 32-88
Passing 13-17-1-2 6-12-0-1
Passing Yards 132 64
Total Yards 283 152
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-1
Penalties-Yards 4-30 7-43
Punting Avg 1-38 4-32.5
Individual Stats
Rushing: S – Ryan Sadowski 24-88, Houston Marshall 6-22, Ben Walsh 4-10, Michael McCormick 3-9, James McCoy 9-22; P – Sam Kuhns 8-41, Blaze Lewis 1-5, Jacob Arteaga 9-30, Ryan Rowe 8-22, Chase Clontz 1-3, Noah Keating 5-(-13)
Passing: S – Ben Walsh 13-17-1-2-132; P – Noah Keating 6-12-0-1-64
Receiving: S – Danny Dyches 7-92, Chase Johnson 3-26, Sadowski 3-14; P – Joseph Gregoire 2-26, Clontz 1-18, Aidan Bell 1-9, William Wallace 1-11, Chase Marshall 1-0
Interceptions: S – Hunter Smeltz; P – Sam Kuhns
Sacks: S – Jack Potson
