Eaton, Carroll power North Penn past Souderton

TOWAMENCIN >> Levi Carroll found the end zone on big plays before and after halftime while Khalani Eaton carried North Penn in the second half as the Knights opened renovated Crawford Stadium with a season-opening win over Souderton Friday night.

Carroll hauled in a 34-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Zeltt as time expired in the first half to pull North Penn to within 17-14 at the break. The senior wide receiver then started the third quarter by scoring on a 97-yard kickoff return, giving the Knights their first lead.

Souderton answered with a Nate Hageman to Caleb Hageman 44-yard touchdown pass to go back up 24-21 at 11:04 in the third but the Indians could not slow down Eaton, who ran for 174 and three TDs after halftime — the senior finishing with 238 yards and four scores on 27 carries in a 42-27 North Penn victory.

“The first half it was kind of sloppy because it was our first time — the heat with the weather and everything,” Eaton said. “But soon as we went in, we went over a couple things, came back, I just had to pick my team up so I just felt like I had to take responsibility for that.”

Eaton’s 1-yard touchdown run at 7:56 in the third gave North Penn a 28-24 lead and after a Souderton three-and –out, Eaton broke away on 4-and-1 for a 40-yard scoring run at 5:02 as North Penn extended its advantage to 35-24.

“I’m not even going to lie, on my personal side my first half wasn’t that good,” Eaton said. “Second half, I corrected my mistakes and I ran it as I should.” 

Souderton made it a one-possession game after a fumble recovery set Big Red up at the Knights 16 — Rylan Zuk’s 28-yard field cutting the deficit to 35-27 at 11:11 in the fourth.

But North Penn went to Eaton to put away the game, the senior rushing on all nine plays of a 52-yard drive he capped with a 1-yard touchdown with 5:34 remaining.

“I thought the kids really persevered,” NP coach Dick Beck said. “You know, obviously ‘Lani had a great game but I thought the guys up front really blocked well. I thought Zeltt threw the ball at times really well. We were explosive.”

Souderton’s Shaun Purvy had a TD reception and returned an interception for another score but the standout junior went down with an injury returning a kickoff in the third quarter.

“He was returning the kickoff and just went  down, like someone shot him, so non-contact which you worry about with ACLs and stuff like that,” Indians coach Ed Gallagher said. “But they don’t think it’s ACL they think I don’t know patella tendon or something, I don’t know, something’s not good with his knee. They’ve got to go get it X-rayed so I don’t know what the outcome’s going to be.

“But hopefully, I’m praying because he’s really good and that changed our offense and obviously we had to adjust people around when he wasn’t on defense and he’s our best returner and everything else, he’s a really good football player.”

Zeltt finished 7-of-11 passing for 108 with a touchdown and interception with Carroll catching three passes for 58 yards and a score.

Nate Hageman went 10-of-20 passing for 121 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Caleb Hageman had two receptions for 63 yards and a TD.

“This was a rough night to play as many kids as we were playing both ways,” said Gallagher of a hot and humid night. “And like I said, we had a strategy, we had a plan to rotate kids in and like I said once two or three kids that were playing — when you lost a kid that plays both ways, it’s like losing two starters and that happened with a couple kids and all of a sudden you’re throwing in sophomores that have never played varsity.

“And they’re good football players this was a little bit bigger stage than they were ready for and that’s part of the growing process. They’ll learn from it and they’ll get back out there.”

A Ty Quintois 31-yard field goal put the Indians up 10-7 at 2:08 in the second quarter with Big Red quickly pushing the lead to 10 when Purvy took an interception back 39 yards for a pick six with 1:31 remaining before halftime.

“Let’s give Souderton credit man, they really played tough and hard,” Beck said. “I just think they’re going to be much better when it starts getting colder. But when they’re fresh, they’re good.”

North Penn, however, struck late to pull to within three at the break. A play after Carroll couldn’t haul in a pass, Zeltt went back to the senior as he streaked down the middle. Carroll made the catch a few yards short of the goal line but turned and got in for the 34-yard score with no time on the clock.

“I told him we’ve got to throw it again,” Carroll said. “I was like Zeltt you know where to look.”

Carroll did not waste time coming through with another huge play — finding a seam on the second half’s opening kickoff, darting left then racing past the kicker for a 97-yard TD return and a 24-21 Knights lead just 15 seconds into the third.

“They were telling me in the locker room, they were like you ran the fastest 40 on the team and you’re not running,” Carroll said. “So in the beginning I was looking for a hole and then they were like just run. And I just ran.”

Souderton had a fast response with Nate Hageman rolling left and connected with Caleb Hageman, who had open space down the sideline for a 44-yard touchdown only 41 seconds later.

But on the next series, Eaton broke a 54-yard run down to the Indians 6 and three players later scored on a 1-yard run at 7:56 to put the Knights in the lead for good.

“Obviously the last play of the first and first play of the second were just devastating,” Gallagher said. “Carroll, he’s a special athlete and so we teamed him, had a guy covering underneath and a guy covering over and he just made the play over both our kids. I don’t know what else we can do, we have good kids, I’d still call the same thing and put the same two kids covering him and the kid made a play.

“So hat’s off to him he made a play then he came out and made another play on the kid return. Kid’s really good. Khalani Eaton’s really good. That’s a good football team.”

The Indians took a 7-0 lead on the game’s opening drive — an eight-play, 46-yard series capped by Nate Hageman hitting Purvy for a 23-yard touchdown pass at 7:26 in the first quarter.

North Penn tied the game on its second possession. Zeltt kept the drive alive with a 16-yard completion to Nick Hoffman on 4th-and-7 from the Souderton 37. On a 3rd-and-5 at the 16, Zeltt scrambled and found Carroll for 15 yards down to the one. Two plays later Easton punched it over the goal line to make it 7-7 at 10:13 in the second quarter.