Goods, Porter each score 3 TDs, Souderton rolls past Council Rock North

FRANCONIA >> That Elijah Goods kept his feet inbounds dashing down the right sideline on his interception return surprised even the Souderton senior cornerback.

“I don’t even know – wish I could say I did ballet or something,” Goods said.

No pliés or pirouettes needed. After hauling in the pick in the middle of the field, Goods evaded one tackle attempt then slipped free of another before tip-toeing on the boundary and racing for a 90-yard return touchdown to break a 7-7 first-quarter tie with visiting Council Rock North.

“That was a heck of a return,” Souderton coach Ed Gallagher said. “I thought he was going to step out on our sideline but he somehow stayed in.”

Goods was just getting started. He followed the pick six by returning a punt for a touchdown then found the end zone again on a TD run in the first half’s final seconds as Souderton rolled into halftime leading 42-7 and went on to top Rock North 49-16 Friday night.

“He had a lot of energy all day,” said Gallagher of Goods. “He was really excited about the game and just you could see he still has energy at the end of the night so that’s a good thing even though he was cramping up a little bit tonight. “

Brayden Porter joined Goods in scoring three touchdowns in the SOL Continental Conference matchup, Souderton (2-1, 2-0) eclipsing 40 points for the second straight contest – the first time Big Red has accomplished that since 2010.

“It was a great game,” Goods said. “Every person on the team played their part, helped us get the win.”

Porter finished with 122 yards and a pair of touchdowns on seven carries while on the third play from scrimmage took a screen pass from quarterback Nate Hageman down the right side for 54-yard TD at 10:44 in the first quarter.

“Brayden Porter ran really well,” Gallagher said. “We could of run Buck a bunch of times just because he was running, they weren’t going to tackle him – he was running possessed. He was dancing a little bit running inside but all of a sudden we ran the Buck sweeps and he felt comfortable. So I’m like all right well I’m stupid if I don’t keep running it.”

After returning the ensuing kickoff to the Souderton 38, CR North (1-2, 0-2) went 3-and-out but its punt pinned Souderton at its own two. Big Red proceeded to fumble with North’s Dylan Siveter recovering in the end zone, pulling the visiting Indians even at 8:06.

A Surya Panneer interception set Council Rock North up at the Souderton 27 but three plays later Goods turned his pick on an overthrown ball over the middle into a 90-yard TD return at 5:44 as Souderton regained the lead and the momentum.

“I just sat there the play, saw the read, took it,” Goods said. “And then there was a couple defenders but it was like we just got a whole type of different energy off of that fumble so we had to come back and bounce back off of that.”

Big Red scored the first half’s final 35 points while its defense allowed just one first down. With a running clock after halftime, Rock North’s offense got on the scoreboard with Jagger Matera to Will Scibona 23-yard TD pass at 3:11 third then a Sawyer Koza 35-yard field goal with 5:54 left in the fourth.

“I’ve coached against Eddie for 20-plus years now, Eddie’s teams are always very well coached,” Council Rock North coach John Greiner said. “They’re always prepared. They run the Wing-T just like we do so they know our offense in and out. But I couldn’t be prouder of our kids. We competed all the way until the end.

“The outcome is not what we want, however when you take a look at the season, the season isn’t one week or two weeks long, it’s not even three weeks, it’s a 10-week season, there’s a reason for it. And as we play these games we’re going to get better and better as the season progresses.”

Matera was 5-of-11 passing for 85 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Scibona had 35 yards on 11 carries and caught four passes for 74 yards and a TD.

Both teams’ next games are on the road against SOL National sides. Souderton tries for a third straight win as it visits Neshaminy while Rock North look to snap a two-game skid at Pennridge.

“Realistically, we’re not that far off,” Greiner said. “The fact that we just got to limit our mistakes and do what we do well a little bit better. There’s a small difference between good teams and great teams and this is a great team that we’re playing against but we’re not that far off.

“And I believe in my hearts of hearts that the kids are going to continue to work hard, they always have that’s one of their strongest attributes and we’re going to come back next week against Pennridge. We’re not going to lay down, we’re going to go up to Perkasie and we’re going to give them a good fight, I guarantee it.”

After Goods’ interception return, Souderton forced a North punt on a 3-and-out. Goods fielded the punt on a hop near midfield, found space through the middle before side-stepping away from a tackle attempt and sprinted to the end zone for a 46-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead with 3:34 to go in the opening quarter.

“Luke Pollock, number 58 had a great block,” Goods said. “He held the block for like the longest time I’ve ever seen a block be held and that opened up a big hole for me to go through.”

Souderton added three more touchdowns in the second quarter, the first two from Porter. He capped off a six-play, 69-yard drive by taking a handoff right, cutting back into the middle then powering through a pair of tackle tries to get over the goal line on a 24-yard TD run at 9:06 in the second quarter.

Porter went on to make it 35-7 with 3:27 remaining in the half as he burst through a big hole on the left side, avoided getting tripped up and broke away for a 61-yard touchdown run.

“He has very deceptive speed,” said Gallagher of Porter. “Once he gets out in the open, he’s gone. And you saw that a couple times tonight, especially with the screen early on and then one of the runs he had. The other run was just phenomenal, he’s breaking tackles and there was no way he was not scoring on that run. It was just fun to see.”

 A botched punt gave Souderton the ball at the North 10 with 25.5 seconds left before halftime and two plays later Goods punched it in for a 3-yard TD run at 8.6 seconds.

After Rock North made it 42-13 in the opening drive of the second half, Souderton responded on the next series with quarterback Jared Zimmerman’s 17-yard TD run making it 49-13 at 11:46 in the fourt