Football: Pennridge holds on to edge Pennsbury, end 2-game skid

EAST ROCKHILL – The Pennridge football team has not had many bounces go their way in close games this season.

But Friday night, holding a slim one-point lead in the fourth quarter and Pennsbury 17 yards from the end zone, the Rams got a literally bounce in the favor, as the Falcons’ could not connect on a pitch, the ball knocking off the Helman Field turf and into the hands of Sam Kuhns.

“Making the quarterback make last-second decisions,” Pennridge’s Joe Gregoire said. “Making him pull the ball when the running back thinks he’s keeping it. Just ball comes out in those situations and then us picking up and doing our job.”

Kuhns raced away down the field for an apparent touchdown but the scoop and score was negated by a penalty. The takeaway, however, still gave Rams possession with 3:51 remaining at the Pennsbury 28.

Pennridge seemed to cement the win when Gregoire hauled in a pass on 4th-and-7 from the 12 and slid down at the one but a flag for illegal man downfield wiped out the play.

An incompletion gave Pennsbury the ball back at its own 17 with 50.4 seconds left but on first down Chase Marshall snagged an interception to secure a 15-14 victory for the Rams that snapped a two-game losing streak.

“The last couple games we were either down by a couple, up by a couple at halftime and then we just lost it at the end,” Kuhns said. “So it just feels amazing also being a senior and winning my Senior Night it just feels awesome, just to finally get a win and in a close game.”

Along with the late recovery, Kuhns provided clutch plays throughout the SOL National Conference contest. He completed a pass for a two-point conversion in the first quarter then ran for a 15-yard touchdown on the second half’s opening drive to put the Rams up 15-8.

“It was just power I just hit right inside the wall off, split the safeties and I was in,” Kuhns said.

A punt Kuhns tried to collect slipped away from him and was corralled by Pennsbury (3-4, 1-3 conference) at the Rams’ one. Jordan Czerniak plowed over the goal line on the next play at 5:31 but Kuhns atoned for his miscue by blocking the extra point and the Rams (3-4, 2-2) stayed ahead 15-14.

“I just came off the edge, saw they were taking a little bit of time to block it,” Kuhns said. “I just dove, hit it – we kept our lead there so it just felt awesome to come back from that big mistake I made.”

Pennsbury did not have a completion but its option attack still outgained Pennridge by more than 100 yards, 265 to 155. But the visitors committed four turnovers, fumbling away the ball on their first two drives of the night.

Falcons QB Nathan Beighley had 119 yards rushing at halftime and finished with a game-high 136 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. Czerniak chipped in another 82 yards on 24 carries.

Kuhns, who is also a standout wrestler – twice qualifying for the PIAA-3A Championships – paced the Rams on the ground with 38 yards and a TD on 14 carries. QB Noah Keating was 7-of-13 passing for 84 yards and a touchdown.

Through six weeks in 2023, Pennrdge posted the same results as last year – losing to Downingtown East and Souderton, shutting out Bensalem and Abington, getting edged in double overtime by Central Bucks East then falling to Neshaminy.

A 27-24 loss to Pennsbury last season was part of a seven-game skid that had the Rams end 2022 at 2-9. But Pennridge finally deviated from the path by holding off the Falcons Friday night.

“We started off 0-2 last year both to Downingtown East and Souderton then we won our next two, same thing happened this year and we lost out last year,” Gregoire said. “We never won a game again but this team is just different. “The determination everyone shows, the heart everyone has.”

Both the Rams and Falcons host conference games Friday. Pennridge faces Central Bucks West, which stayed undefeated with a 31-7 win over Neshaminy. Pennsbury takes on North Penn, which topped Central Bucks East 14-7 to snap a two-game losing streak.

“Last year we just went down a horrible spiral and it just completely plummeted,” Kuhns said. “So the team chemistry is better than last year, just everything is better than last year and we’re trying to keep a high motivation the entire year.”

Early in the fourth, Pennsbury had a 1st-and-10 at the Rams 13. But the Falcons lost yards on consecutive rushing plays, the second seeing Beighley get injured – he returned the next series – Pennsbury flagged for a 15-yard penalty to back it up to the 33.

After Jordan Brensinger ran for seven, the Falcons tried a 43-yard field goal but the kick went left.

Pennridge, however, went three-and-out and Pennsbury got a piece of the punt, allowing it to begin the ensuing series at the Rams 24. A holding call on a first-down run from the 14 made it 1st-and-13 at the 17 two plays later a fumble off a pitch was recovered by Kuhns.

The Rams converted a 4th-and-2 at the Falcons 20 by drawing Pennsbury offsides. Another 4th-and-2 at the seven became a 4th-and-7 from the 12 after a false start. Pennridge seemed to move the chains as Keating connected with Gregoire, who slid down in front of the goal line but the Rams were called for an illegal man downfield on the play.

Pennridge proceeded to turn the ball over downs on an incompletion but Pennsbury’s chance at a last-minute comeback ended on the pick by Marshall, who returned it down to the one with 42.5 seconds left.

The Rams grabbed an early lead after its first fumble recovery that set the Rams up on the Falcons 35. On a 2nd-and-10 from the 22, Gregoire caught a Keating pass over the middle, stayed up after a hit then dashed away from another defender to the end zone at 6:59 in the first quarter.

“It was an RPO so I had a slant on it, they weren’t running the coverage that we had seen all week in practice, how we seen on film. Their outside backer was over way more so I had a lot of room to catch it. A safety hit me but I spun off of that and made the last guy miss and scored.”

Pennridge went for two, a pass from Kuhns finding Trevor Fuhs to make it 8-0.

The Falcons pulled even in the second quarter, Beighley capping a 12-play, 65-yard drive by going around the left side for a 4-yard touchdown run with 4:02 left in the first half. Czernick then got the ball across the goal line for the two-point conversion.

On the first play of the third, Keating connected with Jacob Arteaga for a 27-yard completion to the Pennsbury 37. Keating picked up two on a 4th-and-1 from the 17 and the next play Kuhns burst through the middle for a 15-yard TD run at 8:02 in the third.

Pennridge 15, Pennsbury 14
Pennsbury 0 8 6 0 — 14
Pennridge 8 0 7 0 — 15
Scoring
First Quarter
PR — Noah Keating 22 pass to Joe Gregoire (Sam Kuhns pass to Trevor Fuhs), 6:59.
Second Quarter
PBY — Nate Beighley 4 run (Jordan Czerniak run), 4:02.
Third Quarter
PR — Kuhns 15 run (Aidan Hatfield kick), 8:02.
PBY — Czerniak 1 run (kick blocked), 5:23.

TEAM STATISTICS
PBY         PR
First downs 9            15
Rushes-Yards                 52-255   24-71
Passing yards 0          84
Total yards 265          155
Passing 0-3-1   7-13-0
Punts 1               4
Fumbles-Lost 4-3            0-0
Penalties-Yards 6-55         5-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Pennsbury: Nate Beighley 18-136, TD; Jordan Czerniak 24-82, TD; Jordan Brensinger 8-36; Eric Davie 2-1.
Pennridge: Sam Kuhns 14-38, TD; Jacob Arteaga 7-32; Noah Keating 2-1; Ryan Rowe 1-0.
PASSING
Pennsbury: Nate Beighley 0-3-1, 0.
Pennridge: Noah Keating 7-13-0, 84, TD
RECEIVING
Pennsbury: None.
Pennridge: Joe Gregoire 2-31, TD; Jacob Arteaga 1-27; Nick Stolarski 1-12; Chase Marshall 1-8; Ryan Rowe 1-4; Sam Kuhns 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS
Pennsbury: None.
Pennridge: Chase Marshall.