Chaotic finish causes Souderton’s third straight loss
FRANCONIA >> After not trailing for the first 44:30 of its game Friday night, Souderton was down 30-28 after a CB East field goal with 3:30 left in the game.
Then the craziness started.
Souderton took the ensuing kickoff back to its own 48, and on the next play from scrimmage Koby Khan rumbled 52 yards for a touchdown. Just like that Big Red was back in front, 36-30, with 3:02 to play.
The home team scored too quickly, however, as CB East took the ball next and drove 70 yards, capped off by quarterback Matt Szczypiorski’s second rushing touchdown and fourth touchdown of the game overall. With 59 seconds left Souderton once again found itself trailing, 37-36.
Wait. Let me take back my original thought. THEN the craziness started.
Souderton’s return team, which was strong all night, took the ensuing kick back to its own 40 and started at East’s 45 thanks to a personal foul.
Fast-forward a few plays to quarterback Joey Curotto being sacked at the East 29 when Souderton didn’t have a timeout to use, causing a procedure penalty when Big Red tried to kill the clock with six-tenths of a second left. That led to the Patriots calling a timeout to ice the kicker. Then a whistle blew for an unknown reason while a 51-yard game-winning field goal was tried to repeat the down. Finally, a hook-and-ladder play failed to end the game.
Understand? Me neither. But add it all up and you get Souderton’s third consecutive conference loss and a bitter defeat.
“We gotta find a way to get this taste out of our mouths,” Souderton head coach Ed Gallagher said. “We’ve lost to some good teams but they’re still losses. We gotta find a way to win a game.”
A Tale of Two Weeks
After being shutout in a 7-0 loss to CB South last week, Souderton (3-3, 0-3 SOL Continental) was able to find its rhythm in putting up 36 points Friday night. That starts with the two Big Red stars, Koby Khan and Joey Curotto, and they were both clicking.
“(Khan) is a really strong runner. He’s a good football player,” Gallagher said. “We try to get the ball in his hands as many ways as possible. Taking a defense like East that was giving up like 40 yards rushing a game and doing what we did, scoring 36 points, it should be enough.”
Khan took 24 carries and went 185 yards with them, scoring two touchdowns along the way. That includes one of the most impressive runs of the season — where he went around, through, and over CB East would-be tacklers for 63 yards. The senior also caught two passes for 45 yards.
The Big Red gameplan isn’t going to set any passing records, but when Curotto is efficient the Souderton offense is at its best. The quarterback was just that Friday night.
“Joey played well again,” Gallagher said. “I’m happy for him because he struggled a bit the past two weeks. He bounced back with a nice performance tonight…he threw the ball well, ran the ball well, made some nice decisions tonight.”
Curotto was 11-17 passing in the game for 135 yards. He also had two rushing touchdowns of his own, both on quarterback keepers from close range.
Souderton totaled 370 yards of offense against CB East (5-1, 2-1), after gaining just 190 last week versus CB South.
