Fisher out in front as Pennridge runs over CB South
WARRINGTON >> Brennan Fisher had been waiting all night to hit the second level and just take off.
Finally, one the first play of the fourth quarter, the Pennridge running back got the lane he had been seeking and there was no catching him. Two minutes later, thanks to a nasty cutback in the backfield, he did it again on an even longer touchdown run and in a blur, a still-close game had turned into a runaway Rams win.
Fisher’s 210 yards and two long scores led the way as Pennridge ran past host Central Bucks South, 35-10 on Friday night for the Rams’ third straight win.
“We’re the type of team that will run the ball over and over and by the end of the game, you’re not going to want to play against us anymore,” Fisher said. “Any team that steps on the field, we want to continue to run and run and eventually run them over.”
Both teams definitely needed the win on Friday as they battle to get into the District 1 Class 6A playoff field. South (6-3, 3-3 SOL National) entered No. 13 in the rankings while Pennridge (6-3, 4-2 SOL National) was No. 12, so the points for a victory would go a long way toward locking down a bid and possibly a home game in two weeks for the first round.
While they never led, the Titans didn’t let the Rams pull away until Fisher broke loose in the fourth quarter. Seeing the junior, who eloped to touchdown runs of 62 and 74 yards on consecutive carries in the final period, finally hit that big play was enough to get Rams coach Cody Muller running with him down the sideline on the second score.
“All night, we were waiting for it to crack, kept doing what we’re doing and didn’t want to get away with it too much and it let Fisher hit the cuts, find the opening, find the hole and turn it on,” Muller said. “A lot of it is great blocking up front but he made some great plays himself and I’m really proud of him.”
The Rams had to shuffle a couple things in their lineup, with a new starting quarterback the most noticeable, but once they got going it was hard to tell what was different who was in a spot they usually aren’t. Senior Logan McGowan, normally a linebacker, stepped under center for the injured Xavier Dantzler and did just what his team needed.
McGowan only completed one pass, but it was a big one that set up his quarterback keeper for a 14-7 lead the Rams never gave back late in the first quarter.
Filling his spot at linebacker was Tyler Wetzel, who also remained part of the tailback rotation. Wetzel gave the Rams a defensive spark in the first half, rocking Titans quarterback Brett Szarko to force a fumble that Ryan Kirkwood recovered to set up Pennridge’s first scoring drive and later planting the South quarterback for a big sack late in the second frame.
“There’s another kid who we put in there and did a great job,” Muller said. “I thought across the board we did a pretty good job defensively.”
The most telling stat of the game was Pennridge’s play selection. With a new quarterback, the Rams threw just three passes but they had no problem handing it off, racking up 52 carries and churning out 383 combined yards as an offense.
Fisher’s 210 yards, which came on just 13 carries thanks to his two game-breaking runs, was the high mark on the night but Brayden Landherr had a strong game as well with 104 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Rams runners carry the ball angry, but they also have that little extra boost they can kick in if they’re able to break past the initial line of attack.
“There’s probably a good eight of us backs who can all run the ball and do a lot of the same things,” Fisher said. “With our line, we don’t even have to put in a lot of work all the time. You saw it there at the end, I just had to cut and I was gone.”
In the past two weeks, the Rams’ big guys up front have mauled the way for their backs to more than 700 rushing yards. The unit has seen some changes as well, but the current group of tackles Loughlin Smith and Danny Fish, Ryan Gallagher and Nick Kraus and center Joey Rindone plus tight end Tyler Fuchs have been doing a consistently solid job.
“We challenged them to come off the football and play hard, we took the thinking out of it a little bit for them and just let them do that,” Muller said. “We moved some guys around and this group is starting to click a little bit while doing exactly what we need them to do getting off the ball.”
The running backs have noticed the work being done in the trenches too.
“The holes were like five yards wide tonight,” Fisher said, extending his arms out to emphasize the point. “They’ll just run right at the guy across from them and take him out of the play.”
After the forced fumbled and recovery, Landherr staked Pennridge to a 7-0 lead. The Titans tied it up on a four-yard run by Cole Maholtz but that was about it for CB South, which had its run game shutdown by the Rams and couldn’t get much through the air either.
McGowan put his team back up by a touchdown and Landherr added a second short touchdown to give the Rams a 21-7 halftime advantage. South scored on a 34-yard field goal to get within two scores, but it was all over in a flash early in the fourth quarter.
“The cutbacks were there all game, but the second level wasn’t,” Fisher said. “I saw the safety rolling over so I cutback and just ran it into the open space.”
Pennridge closes the regular season next week at Abington.
“We still have so much to cleanup,” Muller said. “I told the guys to enjoy this win tonight but its still scary to think how much we have to clea up, like I said to the kids, its the little things that add up to the big things.”
PENNRIDGE 35, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 10
PENNRIDGE 14 7 0 14 – 35
CB SOUTH 7 0 3 0 – 10
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
P – Brayden Landherr 3 run (Sean Curry kick) 7:39
CBS – Cole Maholtz 4 run (Kevin Carrigan kick) 5:42
P -Logan McGowan 2 run (Curry kick) 1:11
2nd Quarter
P – Landherr 1 run (Curry kick) 6:22
3rd Quarter
CBS – Carrigan 34 field goal 4:11
4th Quarter
P – Brennan Fisher 62 run (Curry kick) 11:48
P – Fisher 74 run (Curry kick) 9:37
Team Stats
P CBS
First downs 17 7
Rushing 52-383 20-28
Passing 1-3-0-1 10-19-0-0
Passing Yards 37 101
Total Yards 420 129
Penalties-Yards 9-56 3-15
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Individual Stats
Rushing: P – Brennan Fisher 13-210, Brayden Landherr 16-104, Nate Mossbrook 2-(-1), Tyler Wetzel 8-45, Logan McGowan 9-17, Connor Lelii 4-8, Adam Mossbrook 1-1; CBS – Cole Maholtz 9-23, Zak Fisher 3-6, Brett Szarko 5-(-20), Tyler Robinson 3-19
Passing: P – McGowan 1-3-0-1-37; CBS – Szarko 10-19-0-0-101
Receiving: P – Jack Holt 1-37, CBS – Maholtz 3-25, Jordan Becker 2-42, Robinson 2-21, Fisher 1-4, Anthony Leonardi 1-3, Jonathan Fitts 1-6
Interceptions: CBS – Ryan Smith
