First-half wait well worth it for Gleplay, Penn Wood

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YEADON — Elijah Gleplay had waited nine months, had weathered doubt and physical pain, and had wondered at moments if he’d even have a senior season.

In the grand scheme of that perspective, holding off another 13 minutes while Chester monopolized the ball Friday night didn’t seem that long, right?

“I was too anxious,” the Penn Wood running back said. “I was like, damn when are we going to get this stop? Can we get this stop? When we finally got that stop, we stuck to it, and I felt great.”

Gleplay ended up spending a lot of time on the sidelines Friday, through no fault of his own knee, the ACL of which tore in the District 1 playoffs against West Chester Rustin last fall. Instead, it mostly owed to a football oddity at Kerr Field: A 20-play (plus seven pre-snap infractions), 13-minute, 38-second, first-half Chester drive that didn’t involve a first-and-goal much less points.

But once Gleplay got on the field, he was there for good, up to his old ways to lead Penn Wood to a 15-6 Del Val League win.

Part of the reason was necessity, with the Patriots (4-3, 1-1 Del Val) down several bodies on defense. Part of it was Gleplay’s sheer will not to leave the field, having worked so hard to get back. And while the 10 carries for 49 yards and 10-yard reception don’t jump off the page, his defensive contributions were part of a game effort by the Penn Wood unit.

“I didn’t think I was going to play defense that much,” Gleplay said. “But we saw they were going to the pass a lot, and then I play defensive back, so I’ve got to do what I can do for my team.”

The necessity part on defense extended beyond Gleplay. Friday was the first game out for end Christian Suber (hand). It foisted a larger burden on Jacquez Mabin, who had a tremendous game, including a fourth-down capture of Anton Sterling on a screen play in the fourth quarter. His bookend most of the night was junior Denire Williams, wearing No. 82 and listed as a receiver/defensive back. You get a knowing look and a shrug of the shoulders from coach Ato Troop as to how he matriculated to the line, but it didn’t stop Williams from notching the tackle that ended the infamous 20-play march.

And the other new face in the defensive-end rotation? All-Delco quarterback Desman Johnson, again partially out of necessity, and maybe a little from first-half boredom.

“Just sitting on the sidelines, you lose momentum,” Johnson said. “I was ready to play. I was ready to get in on defense. The fact that I was on the field even though (Chester) had the ball the whole game, it was important.”

Johnson did what he usually does under center. Though he was picked off twice, he connected on 7 of 12 passes for 141 yards, which leaves him 108 shy of the Delco career passing mark, set in 2017 by Marple Newtown’s Anthony Paoletti.

Johnson threw for a touchdown, as both teams scored in a wild final minute of the first half. The imposing QB escaped pressure and, with a would-be tackler draped on him along the sideline, found Daniel Doegan in the corner of the end zone for a 45-yard score as time expired.

Johnson also bulldozed a defender to tack on the decisive score in the fourth, an eight-yard run. It came one snap after he’d hit Jordin Jones on a 37-yard deep post pattern.

But Johnson’s biggest play might have come on defense. In addition to a tackle for loss, his quarterback pressure knocked Chester starting quarterback Dymiere Stevenson from the game.

Stevenson accounted for Chester’s only score, both of his completions coming on consecutive snaps, after Jakai Boegerty recovered a muffed punt. Stevenson found Malachi Langley on a deep sideline route for 39 yards, then hit Malik Langley for a 23-yard touchdown on a back-shoulder fade with 45 ticks left to half to open the scoring.

But Stevenson’s third-quarter exit threw the offense out of whack. Though Sterling picked up 93 yards on 18 carries and backup QB Cy’heem Brown picked up 46 yards on eight carries, the balance wasn’t there.

“It was very difficult, but it’s our backup quarterback,” Sterling said. “He knows what he’s doing, and we depend on him to take us through the game.”

Such was the game’s pace that Chester had only four second-half possessions. All four reached Penn Wood territory, getting as close as the 15. But even two fourth-down conversions by Brown on the final march couldn’t forestall a third straight setback.

It also wouldn’t rain on the parade for Gleplay’s return.

“Once I got that first carry and I saw what I could do,” he said, “the adrenaline just started rushing.”

Matthew De George

Matthew De George
Matthew De George is the Asst. Sports Editor and the lead Union writer for The Daily Times.

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