DOYLESTOWN — At halftime, No. 5 Central Bucks South held a seven-point lead over No. 1 Central Bucks West in the District 1-6A semifinals Friday night.
The first quarter was all offense — two South touchdown drives sandwiched around a West touchdown drive. The second quarter was all defense — five punts and a turnover on downs.
The third quarter was all CB South.
The Titans forced a fumble on the first play from scrimmage of the second half and scored a touchdown on the next play. Running back Anthony Leonardi carried the ball seven times in the quarter for 163 yards and three touchdowns. The defense forced a fumble, made a fourth-down stop and forced a punt on West’s three possessions.
South’s seven-point lead at the half grew to 28 points after three quarters and they never looked back, cruising to a 42-14 win over West at War Memorial Field. The victory earns the program a spot in the district championship game against No. 6 Downingtown West next week.
“We knew we were up,” Leonardi said of the third quarter. “We knew we had to finish out the game. We all came out with a downhill-mindset. We knew we wanted to run the ball down their throats and that’s what we did. The line executed perfectly. The perimeter guys, the fullbacks, everybody did their job. It made it real easy for me to be able to run through.”
On the first play of the third quarter, South (12-1) forced a turnover. Linebacker Jim Wade appeared to be the one to knock the ball away from West quarterback Cooper Taylor. Danny Gies was there to recover the loose ball and give the Titans great field position with a 14-7 lead.
“I just made first contact, looked up and the ball was on the ground,” Wade said. “I couldn’t tell you (if I forced the fumble).
“It was huge coming out of half. Get the ball back, score. We needed it.”
On the next play, Leonardi broke a couple tackles and was off to the races for a 41-yard touchdown, making it a 21-7 South lead.
West (12-2) responded with a long drive to set up a 1st-and-10 at South’s 29. A touchdown pass was dropped on first down before the next two plays resulted in a 4th-and-1 at the 20. It was a group effort by the South defense, but it was Jack Mauz who finished off the tackle short of the sticks to force a turnover on downs.
“To go turnover, touchdown in the matter of two plays,” CB West coach Rob Rowan said, “those are sometimes tough to rebound from, but even with that we drove down on the next drive. We had a wide open guy in the end zone there and couldn’t connect and then I thought it was a bad spot (on fourth down), but we came up short. It could have been 21-14 there if we respond, but we didn’t. Then we give up another score and it’s tough to rebound from that.”
“That was another huge momentum play,” Wade said of the fourth down. “After that, we knew we had them basically.”
Five plays later, Leonardi was off to the races again. This was a 52-yard touchdown run to make it 28-7 halfway through the quarter.
After a West 3-and-out, Leonardi made it 35-7 with another 41-yard touchdown run.
Leonardi ran for 301 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries in the game. Corey Moore added 90 yards and three touchdowns and Owen Pinkerton ran for 66 yards. As a trio, they totaled 57 carries for 457 yards and six touchdowns.
“Our coaches dialed up a really good scheme for us,” Leonardi said, “and the line, they were just getting the job done, giving me seams to cut through. I just made plays happen.
“I just woke up this morning and had a good feeling. I’m not really worried about my personal success. I was more worried about getting the team the win. That’s what we did and at the end of the day that’s all that really matters.”
“They have tremendous size up front,” Rowan said. “They’re coached extremely well. They have that three-headed monster in the backfield that run the ball extremely hard and are pretty electric when they get in the open field. We knew what we were facing coming in and we knew it was going to be a tall task. They’re a really good football team.”
West’s offense, which was shorthanded without star wide receiver Conor McFadden, was held to just 14 points. The Bucks scored 40 against South during the regular season on Oct. 20.
“We didn’t execute as well as we did the previous game,” Rowan said. “I think that is probably what it boils down to.”
West’s season ends in the district semifinals after winning the Suburban One League National Conference title.
“When you look back at it, I think we’ll be incredibly proud of the season that we had,” Rowan said. “Obviously in the moment it stings right now and it should, but I think when it’s all said and done and we look to celebrate this group we’ll be able to really look back at the heck of a run we put together this year. We just ran into a really good football team and they were the better team tonight.”
Central Bucks South 42, Central Bucks East 14
Central Bucks South 14 0 21 7 – 42
Central Bucks West 7 0 0 7 – 14
Scoring
First Quarter
CBS – Corey Moore 5-yard run (Brendan Hazell kick) 5:34
CBW – Jack Williams 6-yard reception from Cooper Taylor (Ryan Clemens kick) 3:15
CBS – Corey Moore 1-yard run (Brendan Hazell kick) 0:22
Third Quarter
CBS – Anthony Leonardi 41-yard run (Brendan Hazell kick) 11:41
CBS – Anthony Leonardi 52-yard run (Brendan Hazell kick) 5:52
CBS – Anthony Leonardi 41-yard run (Brendan Hazell kick) 2:19
Fourth Quarter
CBW – Jack Williams 27-yard reception from Cooper Taylor (Ryan Clemens kick) 8:25
CBS – Corey Moore 9-yard run (Brendan Hazell kick) 0:53
TEAM STATISTICS
CBS CBW
First downs 22 11
Rushes-Yards 57-457 27-144
Passing yards 7 61
Total yards 464 205
Passing 1-3-0 6-12-1
Punts 2 4
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 3-30 3-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
CBS: Anthony Leonardi 23-301, 3 TD; Corey Moore 20-90, 3 TD; Owen Pinkerton 14-66.
CBW: Ryan Clemens 8-23; Devin McGowan 2-54; Cooper Taylor 15-62; Vance Morelli 2-5.
PASSING
CBS: Owen Pinkerton 1-3-7-0-0.
CBW: Cooper Taylor 6-12-61-2-1.
RECEIVING
CBS: Anthony Leonardi 1-7.
CBW: Jack Williams 1-6, TD; Vance Morelli 2-16; Jack Fleisher 2-34, TD; Jaden Barone 1-5.
INTERCEPTIONS
CB South: Danny Gies.
