Gibson, Glen Mills too much for Pottsgrove to handle

THORNBURY >> After a disappointing start to its season, Glen Mills looks to be on the rebound.

For the second straight week, the Battlin’ Bulls overwhelmed their competition, this time posting a 27-14 victory over visiting Pottsgrove.

“I can’t say enough about this team,” Glen Mils coach Kevin Owens said. “This is a team that we put together about six months ago and they’ve gotten better and better every week. It’s like anything else here at Glen Mills. Sometimes it takes us a little while to get together, start believing in ourselves, and for things to start to work out.”

After losing consecutive games to Springfield and Bishop Shanahan, respectively, to start the season, the Bulls (2-2) have upset Great Valley and Pottsgrove in succession.

“I think you see a different football team,” Owens said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys believing in what they’re doing and who knows what can happen? We know that every time we go out there we’re going to battle and we’re going to battle hard.”

Clearly, that win gave Glen Mills the confidence it needed entering Friday night against the Falcons, who dropped to 2-2.

Quadir Gibson was a dominant force for the Bulls as he tallied 142 yards on 18 carries. Gibson started off the scoring with a run that showcased all of his best attributes as a runner.

“Gibson is a kid that refuses to lose and loves to compete,” Owens said. “He’s got all the positive things that make him a good football player. He loves the game and he’s never afraid to take the ball. He wants the ball all the time and sometimes we’ve got to pull him back and out of the game just to give him a blow. That just tells you about his character and how the kid wants to be a football player.”

The 6-0, 233-pound junior ran through several attempted tackles before bursting away for a 60-yard touchdown run to give Glen Mills a 7-0 lead with 20 seconds left in the first quarter.

“We wanted to pound the ball at them and when they started playing the run, we had the pass open and we just executed to the best of our abilities,” Gibson said.

Just 2:50 later, Gibson hauled in a pass from James Timmons (2-4-1, 90 yards) and dashed 80-yards for another touchdown.

“I just saw grass in front of me,” Gibson said. “I got a great block from my wide receiver and great blocks from my o-line. This is very big for us. We worked hard at practice and got the outcome we wanted.”

The Falcons simply had no answer for Gibson or his backfield mate Keon Rantin, who had five carries for 53 yards and a 32-yard scoring run to give the Bulls a 20-0 lead at halftime. Rantin then boosted that edge to 27-0 in the third quarter when he returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown.

“We’ve got a good team, we work hard, and we keep our team uplifted,” Glen Mills defensive lineman Bomani Branson said. “No matter what the situation is on the field, we just keep grinding, and giving it our all.”

Branson, and fellow defensive linemen Hassan Elliott, Daryl Williams, and linebacker Jeremiah Jefferson were just a few of the Glen Mills players making life extremely tough for Falcons quarterback Ryan Finn and star running back Rahsul Faison.

“We studied (Faison) on film every night this week,” Branson said. “We studied their offense and their every move. He was a good player, I can’t lie.”

Faison finished the game with 109 hard-fought yards on 27 carries, but was bottled up until late in the game. The talented junior thinks this was just the wake-up call his team needed.

“I think we need to come together as a team,” Faison said. “I think after our two wins, we got a little up on ourselves and now that we go back into our league this will be good for us. We’re going to have to bounce back. I think we came out slow and we can’t do that. We have to play all four quarters.”