CB South turns Plymouth Whitemarsh mistakes into touchdowns

August 26, 2022

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WHITEMARSH >> As Plymouth Whitemarsh’s mistakes multiplied, so did the Central Bucks South lead.

The Titans turned three Colonial mistakes into touchdowns and, with the way their defense played, that was more than enough to start the season with a road win, 21-6, Friday night at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

The first mistake was late in the first quarter. CB South was punting on 4th-and-9 from the Colonials 49-yard line. Back-to-back running into the punter and offsides penalties against PW gave the Titans a free first down and, on the first play of the second quarter, Brett Szarko found Jack Carver for a 27-yard touchdown and 6-0 Titans lead.

“We saw the defense they were in,” Szarko said. “Coach did a great job, he told me what side. We were practicing that look against our defense all week. I just got the ball to Jack and he made a play. Carver’s a heck of a player.”

Later in the second quarter, CB South recovered a fumble around midfield. It was the second of four PW fumbles in the second quarter, three of which the Titans recovered. On the third play of the drive, Szarko bobbled the snap, but got the ball to Tommy Donnelly over the middle. Donnelly weaved through defenders and into the endzone for a 26-yard touchdown. After PW went offsides on the extra point, South went for two and converted to make it 14-0.

The Colonials got the ball to start the second half and went three-and-out. The punt went straight up and traveled only four yards. The Titans made it 21-0 with a five-play, 33-yard drive capped by a Liam Goss 13-yard run.

“The defense did a great job tonight,” Szarko said. “Any time they can turn the ball over it’s easy for the offense. The way we rep things at practice with special teams, we’re probably more prepared than most teams are. Getting that shanked punt was huge. Offense just doing what we do. The farther up we are on the field, the easier it is.”

“It was sloppy,” PW coach Dan Chang said. “Being Week 1 is not an excuse. Turnovers are going to kill you all the time. We gave them short fields possession after possession.”

When the Titans defense wasn’t recovering fumbles, it was stopping PW’s option attack. They held the Colonials ground game to 166 yards on 30 attempts. Fifty-three of those yards came on one run in the fourth quarter.

“We were just playing by our alignment,” Titans senior lineman Kevin Dingas said. “Everyone just had a job and executed perfectly.”

After PW got within 21-6 early in the fourth quarter, CB South put the game away with a 14-play drive that took 9:11 off the clock. The drive ended on 4th-and-goal without any points, but the time of possession secured CB South’s win and 1-0 start.

“It was a big emphasis to keep two hands on the football,” Szarko said of the final drive. “We wanted a long drive, ran the ball down their throat. Our team is very well-conditioned. Our coaches do a good job conditioning us all year. I think we’re conditioned better than most teams are so when it comes to the fourth quarter we can still run the ball effectively.”

“We were just trying to chew the clock,” Dingas added. “It was a pretty good drive.”

SZARKO TO DONNELLY

Szarko and Donnelly connected on the 26-yard second quarter touchdown, but that was just a piece of what they did Friday night. Donnelley caught six passes for 103 yards. He made tough catches in traffic, diving grabs and a key 22-yard gain on the game-sealing drive.

“We’ve been friends for so long,” Szarko said. “Throwing backyard football in middle school, high school and he always makes me look better. Our offensive line did a great job keeping me up, didn’t really get touched that much.”

POSITIVES FOR PW

If Plymouth Whitemarsh needs to find optimism, it only needs to look at last season. The Colonials reached the 2021 District 1-5A semifinals after losing their Week 1 matchup against CB South.

“We were at the same spot here last year,” Chang said. “We ran 10 in a row with a league title and a district semifinal berth. It’s nowhere near the end for us. I told them it’s just one step in how we get better and how we learn who we are as a team. CB South is a good team, great competition. They’re going to do really good things. We’ll see how we rebound. We’ll see what our team is made of here.”

Despite allowing three scores, PW’s defense played well in the game, holding CB South to 3.7 yards per carry. They forced punts on South’s first three possessions before running into the kicker and jumping offsides to extend the third drive.

“I thought our defense did a nice job,” Chang said, “especially put into some poor situations. I thought our D played well.”

Luke Winterbottom grabbed an interception in the second quarter when it was 14-0.

Offensively, Aiden O’Brien made PW’s play of the game. He ran through and around defenders on a 53-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to give the Colonials their only points of the game.

“That’s Aiden,” Chang said. “That’s what you get with Aiden O’Brien. People wouldn’t call him the flashiest, but he is a gamer above all else. That kid makes plays when plays need to be made. We’re going to find ways to make sure that he gets the ball often for us in our offense.”