Harmon presents another weapon for power Penn Wood
YEADON — One facet that has made the Penn Wood offense so difficult to slow down this season has been receiving contributions from a variety of players when the opposition keys on standout wide receiver Kennedy Poles.
Last season, Poles paired with Rahiem Bowens, now at Maine to create a dynamic one-two punch on the outside for quarterback Desman Johnson Jr. When the season began, the Patriots were not sure where the alternate looks to Poles would come from. But Friday night’s 50-29 Del Val League victory against Interboro continued to demonstrate that more than one player has the ability to stretch a defense.
On the Patriots’ second drive of the game, Johnson found running back Tayshon Harmon for a 53-yard score down the middle of the field, which pushed the lead to 22-0 with 4:50 left to play in the first quarter. Johnson found Harmon again just before halftime on a nine-yard touchdown.
Harmon finished with four catches for 98 yards and two scores. A major reason for Harmon’s success has been that opposing defenses are keying on Poles, leaving the opportunity for others to take advantage.
“Teams are going to try and take him away and when they do that we have a lot of other weapons,” Patriots coach Ato Troop said. “Tayshon is having a really, good year. We have so many options it makes it so easy to call plays.”
Johnson finally finds Kennedy Poles and it ends as a 65-yard connection to the Interboro 10-yard line. Two plays later, he finds Poles again for the 10-used TD. That’s Johnson’s 4th pass of the game and @Penn_WoodFB leads @ihsbucsfootball, 44-14 with 11:04 left #Delcofootball pic.twitter.com/Ivo7FAe4Ar
— Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33) October 6, 2018
Another player who found his niche was receiver Edmund Dennis, who caught a 55-yard score from Johnson Jr. early in the third quarter to put the game out of reach at 38-14. While Harmon and Dennis made their presence felt, Poles still exploited Interboro’s secondary with 114 yards and a touchdown. On a single drive, he caught a 75-yard pass from Johnson then two plays later found the end zone on a 10-yard connection.
Johnson, who finished 9-for-16 for 279 yards and four touchdowns to go along with a 33-yard rushing score, knows opponents are going to monitor Poles but the chemistry between him and his teammates has been the difference.
“Some players had to step up since Rahiem left but I’ve built chemistry with every player,” Johnson said. “Tayshon had two touchdowns today but last year he barely scored. It’s just chemistry with other players other than Kennedy because they want to focus on him.”
Penn Wood (6-1, 2-0) was in control from the start but the Bucs (2-5, 0-2) fought back in the second quarter. They put together two 10-plus play drives in the quarter, both capped out by goal-line touchdowns from quarterback Jared Dellipriscoli, the second of which made the score 22-14. Running back Mike Moore had 53 rushing yards for the game, 45 of which were gained on those two drives.
Harmon’s second score and Dennis’ touchdown catch on the two ensuing possessions put the game out of reach.
“We tried to control the ball and shorten the game so they had fewer opportunities,” Bucs coach Steve Lennox said. “They do have some playmakers.”
