Dominant first half, defense lifts Owen J. Roberts 35-0 over Methacton

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BUCKTOWN >> It’s understandable why children were chanting Danny Cashman’s name from the bleachers at Wildcat Stadium Friday night.

The Pioneer Athletic Conference’s leading wide receiver entered Week 9 with 40 catches, 570 yards and seven touchdowns on the season. Against Methacton, it was much the same story.

“I just want to keep performing the way I am. I don’t want to let anything slip,” Cashman said. “Winning comes first obviously. I don’t care if I have zero touchdowns, zero yards, zero catches, as long as we win.”

That’s exactly what the Wildcats did. Owen J. Roberts put up 25 first-half points in a 35-0 shutout of the Warriors. Cashman padded an offense that didn’t punt once with six catches for 68 yards and two scores.

Cashman’s first of the night came early in the second quarter on a 21-yard reception from Michael Reed. His second was off a 25-yard heave from Reed 34 seconds before halftime.

“Whenever coach (Rich Kolka) calls the go route plays, I love it because I know it’s a touchdown,” Cashman said. “(Reed) is great at passing, always puts it in the right spot.”

Reed threw 10-for-11 for 107 yards to go with his two touchdown connections with Cashman. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound senior signal caller opened up the scoring with a 16-yard keeper three minutes into the game.

Throughout the first half, the Wildcats were able to convert on third and fourth down with QB sneaks, keeping their offense out and making the most of their opportunities.

“We were pressing all week that we needed to play more physical,” Owen J. Roberts coach Rich Kolka said. “Last week I thought we played really poorly on both sides of the ball. When you do that, good teams come out and make a statement game, and that’s what this one was. They decided they were gonna be more physical up front. They were able to do so tonight.”

Owen J. Roberts wide receiver Danny Cashman celebrates a touchdown against Methacton at Henry J. Bernat Field on Friday. (Evan Wheaton – MediaNews Group)

Brandon Kelley, Christian Gregory, Steven Swierczerk, Doug Keck, Trent Long, Alexander Karnbach and Colin King all contributed to a dominant offensive line that controlled the line of scrimmage for quick conversions from Reed’s sneaks.

The offensive line also opened plenty of holes for senior running back Hunter Rhoads, who torched Methacton for 177 rushing yards on 24 carries and a pair of touchdowns.

“All week in practice, it was all about intensity,” Rhoads said. “We wanted to be better. This was a game we could not afford to lose. With homecoming, senior night and pink-out, this is a game we needed so we all came out fired up.”

A fumble recovery set up Rhoads’ first touchdown, a 9-yard run up the middle with 6:14 to go in the first quarter for a 13-0 lead. His second came midway through the third frame with a 5-yard rush that capped off an eight-play, 70-yard march.

Joe Kish, fresh off of helping OJR win the PAC boys soccer title Thursday night, capped the scoring with a 23-yard field goal with 21 seconds left in the third quarter as the clock continued to run and reserves came off the bench.

“As the game went on and we put up more points, it was an awesome feeling and I think that fired us up even more. After halftime, we just wanted to finish the game so we came out with a lot of intensity again,” Rhoads said. “We just wanted to put it away, and our defense did great. Much improvement from last week.”

Methacton’s shutout comes on the heels of a loss to Spring-Ford in which its lone touchdown was on a kickoff return. The Warriors ran just 10 offensive plays in the first half compared to 31 for Owen J. Roberts as the latter racked up time of possession.

The Wildcats picked up 20 first downs altogether as Reed, Cashman and Rhoads kept the chains moving. With what time the Warriors had with the ball in their hands, they managed six first downs.

“We’re out of rhythm. That’s a good way to phrase it,” Methacton coach Brian Kennedy said. “We gotta go back as a coaching staff and do a better job of getting our kids focused to play the game and come out and play harder maybe. We gotta coach them up better. We didn’t do a good job coaching them up and getting them ready.”

A win would have clinched a District 1 postseason berth for the Warriors in their first season as a Class 5A program. Ranked No. 12 in the District 1 5A field, it isn’t curtains quite yet for Methacton.

“We try to be open with our communication. We know that even if we lose out, there’s a possibility that we could be in,” Kennedy said. “But we’re looking at it like, we have to take it game by game. We wanted to beat this team because they beat us last year by a point. We felt this would be a good bounce-back game from last week.”

Owen J. Roberts 35, Methacton 0
Methacton 0 0 0 0 — 0
Owen J. Roberts 13 12 10 0 — 35
SCORING
First quarter
OJR — Reed 16 run (Kish kick), 9:05
OJR — Rhoads 9 run (kick failed), 6:14
Second quarter
OJR — Cashman 21 pass from Reed (pass failed), 7:40
OJR — Cashman 25 pass from Reed (run failed), 0:34
Third quarter
OJR — Rhoads 5 run (Kish kick), 5:11
OJR — Kish 23 field goal, 0:21
TEAM STATISTICS
M OJR
First downs 6 20
Rushes-Yards 20-86 39-291
Passing yards 15 107
Total yards 101 398
Passes C-A-I 4-8-1 10-11-0
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards 4-20 5-40
Punts 3 0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Methacton — Conover 6-27; Chapman 2-9; Wolbers 4-16; Weil-Kasper 6-34; Grove 2-0.
Owen J. Roberts — Rhoads 24-177, 2 TD; M. Reed 10-73, TD; Brower 4-41; J. Reed 1-0.
Passing
Methacton — Wolbers 4-8, 15 yards, INT.
Owen J. Roberts — M. Reed 10-11, 107 yards, 2 TD.
Receiving
Methacton — Conover 1-(minus-6); Chapman 1-2; Cancro 1-20; Weil-Kasper 1-(-1).
Owen J. Roberts — Cashman 6-68, 2 TD; Sterner 1-6; Daubert 2-20; Hinrichs 1-13.
Interceptions: Owen J. Roberts 1 (Raymond Bolger).
Sacks: Owen J. Roberts 1 (Lorenzo Satiro).

Evan Wheaton

ewheaton

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