Council Rock South steamrolls Bensalem
BENSALEM – A week after falling to defending District 1 champion Pennsbury, Council Rock South (1-1) rolled over winless Bensalem (0-2) by a 43-13 score Sept. 11 on Hulmeville Road.
How dominating was the Golden Hawks first win of the season over the Owls?
Consider, they rolled up nearly 300 yards of offense in the first half, despite the fact they began only two drives on their own side of the field.
“The Pennsbury game was the Pennsbury game; we had to move on. We had a great start; we didn’t finish,” said Hawks head coach Vince Bedesem. “We had to do what we needed to do to get the win and we looked good doing it so we’re real happy with our performance here tonight.”
South registered five first-half touchdowns including two rushing TDs by sophomore running back Elias Mayo and two by quarterback Shaun Stackhouse. Defensively, the Hawks forced Bensalem to go three-and-out on every single drive in the first half.
Except for two times when the Owls fumbled the ball right back on the first play of the drive. That happened on two of Bensalem’s first three possessions.
“Anytime you can shut them down with no first downs, it’s a good thing,” said Bedesem. “We’re playing hard, getting bodies to the ball – that’s what we’ve been preaching in practice.”
On the Owls’ fourth possession, South senior Georgio Koulouris and junior Alex Benner sacked Bensalem quarterback Kenny O’Connell in the end zone for a safety. Benner also forced a punt with a sack on the Owls’ second possession.
Up 22-0 at the end of the first quarter on Mayo’s two scores and a 27-yard scoring jaunt by Stackhouse, the quarterback scored again on a 12-yard keeper and senior Brendan Patterson ripped off a 7-yard TD run to put the visitors out in front 36-0 at the half.
The score would have been more lopsided than that had not Bensalem stopped Mayo at the 1 yard line as time ran out in the second quarter.
The sophomore running back finished with 142 yards rushing on just eight touches to lead South’s rushing attack.
“He’s a great player, he has great vision. He’s doing great now as a sophomore,” commented Patterson. “I can’t imagine how good he’s going to be the next two or three years.”
“He’s a young buck who keeps finding his way and he’s looking better and better every day,” added Bedesem. “A game like this is a good confidence builder for him.”
Meanwhile, Stackhouse finished with five rushes for 45 yards and two scores. He also threw for 13 yards.
“He’s gaining more and more quality experience,” added Bedesem. “It’s paying dividends for us in his senior year. It’s kicking in and he’s done a lot of nice things for us.”
The Hawks also received 78 yards and a touchdown on nine carries by Patterson, along with 29 yards on four carries by senior Brandon Broe. In the second half, they got 15 yards on four carries by sophomore Alex Nordenholt and sophomore QB Christian Jabbar added 31 yards and a TD on just three touches.
“This offense is really geared toward spreading it out and making sure you have to defend all four of our running backs,” said Bedesem.
In the second half, against South’s second team defense, the Owls got a couple of touchdown runs from its senior quarterback Kenny McConnell, who reached the end zone once in each of the last two frames.
The Hawks capped the scoring with a 24-yard scoring jaunt by Jabbar, a sophomore playing third string quarterback who reached paydirt with 5:06 remaining in the game.
Also of note was the fact that South junior placekicker Brett Gold after shanking his first point-after attempt, made five consecutive extra points after that. The Hawks’ kicking game lagged last year and it sometimes cost the team dearly in 2014.
“After his first attempt that missed, he finally got his point and he just kept at it,” said Bedesem. “We were able to get him some work tonight and he did a nice job. He even had a couple of pressures.”
Next up, South faces Neshaminy (1-1), which lost 20-13 to Downingtown West. The Hawks will host the non-league affair at Walt Snyder Stadium in Newtown 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18 at Walt Snyder Stadium.
Contact Steve Sherman at ssherman@buckslocalnews.com, or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter
RESULTS
Council Rock South 43, Bensalem 13
(Sept 11 at Bensalem)
BENSALEM 0 0 7 6 – 13
CR SOUTH 22 14 0 7 – 43
SUMMARY
CRS – Elias Mayo 32 run (kick failed)
CRS – Shaun Stackhouse 27 run (Brett Gold kick)
CRS – safety
CRS – Mayo 3 run (Gold kick)
CRS – Stackhouse 12 run (Gold kick)
CRS – Patterson 7 run (Gold kick)
B – Kenny McConnell 1 run (Tom Peagler kick)
B – McConnell 9 run (pass failed)
CRS – Jabbar Christian 24 run (Gold kick)
TEAM STATS
CRS B
First Downs 15 5
Yards Rushing 371 127
Yards Passing 13 17
Total Offense 384 144
Comp. Passes, Int 1-2-1 2-5-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-2
Penalties-yards 5-50 1-5
Punts-Avg. 2-24 3-23.3
Sacked-Yds. Lost 0-0 3-15
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Council Rock South
Rushing: Mayo 8-142, 2 TDs; Patterson 9-78, 1 TD; Stackhouse 5-45, 2 TDs; Jabbar 3-31, 1 TD; Broe 4-29; Diaz 3-22; Nordenholt 4-15; Checchia 3-7; Scannapieco 1-1; Lauletta 2-1
Passing: Stackhouse 1-2-1, 13 yards
Receiving: Mayo 1-13
Interceptions: None
Bensalem
Rushing: O’Connell 13-78, 2 TDs; Bennett 2-25; Haffner 7-16; Morris 1-7; Persela 2-4; Fund 1-1; Peagler 1-0; Whea 2-(-1); Parrish 1-(-3)
Passing: O’Connell 0-2-0; Fund 2-3-0, 17 yards
Receiving: Murray 1-11; Persela 1-6
Interceptions: Parrish
