
SPRINGFIELD – Ryan Whitaker doesn’t have many opportunities to throw the football.
Whitaker is the quarterback for a Springfield team that runs the ball with a lot of success, behind one of the baddest offensive line units in Delaware County. Senior running back Mike Turner has run for 1,000-plus yards. A week ago Turner and Tanner Coll each cracked the 100-yard plateau in the Cougars’ District 1 Class 5A first-round drubbing of West Chester Henderson.
The third-seeded Cougars are so good at “ground-and-pound,” they were averaging better than 270 yards rushing per game entering Friday’s district quarterfinal against No. 6 Marple Newtown.
Whitaker showed that he can be a secret weapon. And on Friday he took the Marple Newtown defense by utter surprise with his timely passing, which proved to be a big factor in Springfield’s 20-7 victory.
Winners of 10 consecutive games, Springfield (11-1) will play another Central League foe, No. 2 Strath Haven, in the district semifinals next Friday. Strath Haven advanced with 26-21 win over No. 7 Upper Dublin.
Whitaker was 4-for-5 for 111 yards and two touchdowns. His first scoring strike was a 12 yarder to Chris Dolan in the corner of the end zone with 10:30 left in the second quarter, extending the Cougars’ lead to 13-0. Later in the quarter, with the Cougars backed up at their own 25, Whitaker executed a play-action fake to perfection. He found Ryan Johnston all alone in the middle of the field, and the senior tight end did the rest, sprinting 75 yards to the house.
Sure the Cougars can dominate teams by taking the air out of the ball. Turner was awesome once again, accumulating 186 yards on 36 carries, and scored on the opening drive of the game from nine yards out.
But opposing defenses shall not sleep on Whitaker and the Cougars’ sneaky good passing game.
“Their defense kept going for the run because we kept pounding it five yards a carry and, when you do that all the time, people are wide open by 30 yards,” Whitaker said. “The offensive line (Gus Bryan, Mike Miller, Dean Brown, Lucas Aaron, Ryan Benjamin), they are the greatest. They make everything happen. They’re fun to be around and they’re just great people. And they have great personalities and that’s what you need out of your teammates.”
Whitaker had thrown for only 406 yards before Friday’s game. His career high of 140 yards and two TDs came in the Cougars’ 22-0 win over Marple in September. So, it’s something about playing the Tigers that seems to bring out the best in Whitaker.
“I’m just happy we won,” he said. “It feels great. (Marple) is a great team, so to come out and beat them again feels amazing.”
Turner has run for more than 100 yards in six of Springfield’s 12 games. Fullback Nate Romano added 58 yards Friday, running over would-be tacklers at will. Springfield amassed 248 yards on 44 carries (5.6 yards per carry). While the Cougars didn’t find the end zone in the second half, their ground game successfully quieted Marple’s physical defensive front.
“Obviously we are a run-heavy team, but when we have the throwing game in our back pocket, we have plays that we can execute and it’s such a big help,” Turner said. “You saw it, the two passing touchdowns, that is huge in a game like this. We don’t do that every game. There’s some games where we throw the ball less than five times, but to have those passing plays in our back pocket, it’s huge.”
Marple Newtown (9-3) is a team known for its aerial assault. Senior quarterback David Bertoline struggled to find a rhythm with his receivers early on and was intercepted by Brian Delaney in the second quarter. But Bertoline and the Tigers started to hit their stride late in the half. After an unnecessary roughness call put the Tigers inside the Cougars’ 10-yard line, Bertoline (12-for-23, 205 yards) found Alex Gillan in the flat for an eight-yard touchdown to trim Springfield’s lead to 20-7 with two seconds to go before halftime. At that point the feeling was that Marple, which would receive the opening kick in the third quarter, had climbed back into the game.
“With them scoring right before halftime, it seemed that they would have the momentum. But once we got in the locker room, we all came together and we said that if we do what we did in the first half, we would win the game. And that’s what we did,” Turner said. “Even though we didn’t score points in the second half … we still executed. We did what we knew we were capable of. (Marple) is a helluva team. They can run, they can throw, they can do it all. But every single player on defense played so well. Our team chemistry is so good … and that’s what makes our offense and our defense so good.”
Whatever momentum Marple had at the end of the first half was essentially negated when the Tigers went three-and-out to start the third quarter. On their second drive they needed nine plays to get from their own 15 to the Springfield 20. Trey Saviour (four catches for 86 yards) was a big target for Bertoline. On fourth and short from the 20, however, Bertoline overthrew a receiver in the flat and the Tigers turned the ball over on downs. Chris Dolan intercepted Bertoline in the fourth quarter to help seal the win for the Tigers.
Marple Newtown will end its season against Cardinal O’Hara on Thanksgiving Eve.
“We were sloppy in the first half, so getting that touchdown was big for momentum. So we felt good also knowing we were getting the ball to start the second half,” Tigers coach Chris Gicking said. “We just didn’t make enough plays and they made the plays. They’re a really good team. It’s unfortunate, we had a few plays here and there, but we just didn’t play well enough.”