Moultrie, Academy Park turn out Pennsbury’s lights

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SHARON HILL — There’s a new quarterback at Academy Park, and a new set of running backs. But it’s the defense, in mentality if not personnel, that manages to stay the same year after year.

So it was Friday night, in the Knights’ opener against Pennsbury, a game that featured three punts in the first quarter and begged for something to jolt the momentum. Samaad Moultrie obliged, busting into the backfield to blow up an off-tackle run by the Falcons’ Jeremiah Sawbo, stripping the ball and falling on it to give the AP offense a short field.

Seven plays later, Academy Park had all the points it would need on the way to a 13-0 nonleague win.

“I went through my keys from watching film,” Moultrie said. “I knew what they were kind of running, so based on what they were lined up in in the formation, I took a key, I read it and I came down, made a play.”

While offenses on the young season struggle to find a rhythm, the ability of the AP defense to put its hand in the ground and get after it from the first snap is something special. The Knights’ D held Pennsbury to 186 yards and forced five punts.

Pennsbury quarterback Drew Hensor was 10-for-22 for 90 yards — and could’ve thrown three interceptions had AP defensive backs hung on to balls that hit their hands — and led the Falcons with 53 rushing yards, most on a fourth-quarter drive that was their only penetration to the red zone. This from a spread offense that rotates three backs, four receivers and is largely intact from the one that won five games and made the District 1 Class 6A playoffs last year.

Yet the AP front line of Utensee Nankay, Skylar White and Isaiah Rogers had Hensor on the run all night and forced many of the Falcons’ seven penalties for 85 yards in the trenches trying to slow the upfield bum rush. As frustration mounted, so did the hawking ability of the AP defense.

“Being able to make plays is wonderful,” linebacker Brian Daniels said. “We’ve got to trust our guys to do their job and we stick together as a team and execute.”

Daniels provided the big stop on fourth and long in the third quarter. Rogers had forced a fumble that Pennsbury recovered but still slowed a promising march up to the 32, after which Hensor came up limping, one of the legion of cramping players. Nafees Fox threw Brad Mickels for a loss on third down, and Daniels and Kabba Kamara converged on backup Azijon Paxton for the sack on fourth down.

Hensor picked up 42 yards on the ground in a promising fourth-quarter march to the 19. But two straight incompletions in the red zone ended Pennsbury’s final possession.

“I feel we’ll always be the No. 1 defense in the county,” quarterback/defensive back Barry Brown said. “Our offense gets our energy from our defense. Our defense always brings everything, so if the offense messes up, we know they’ve got our back so we can get another chance to go down and score.”

That was more than enough for the offense that Brown orchestrated. He was 7-for-15 through the air for 34 yards, with a one-yard touchdown to Kamara in the flat on third-and-goal. He also ran 20 times for 132 yards, including a vital fourth-down conversion on the first scoring drive.

Brown’s 22-yard scamper set up Devon Covert’s touchdown in the second quarter, the only frame in which points were scored, a 24-yard tackle-breaking jaunt with 5:14 left until half. Covert ran 13 times for 90 yards as the Knights picked up 269 yards on the ground.

A potent ground game and defense are a familiar and effective recipe for AP, one that stands the test of time.

“I feel as though it’s just the beginning of our legacy,” Moultrie said. “We came in here to make a name.”

Matthew De George

Matthew De George
Matthew De George is the Asst. Sports Editor and the lead Union writer for The Daily Times.

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