Penn Wood gets ‘smacked in mouth’ on road in shutout by Northeast

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PHILADELPHIA — Soggy conditions at Northeast High School called for jackets. More specifically, a couple of Penn Wood’s deep reserves opted for their 2018 Del Val League championship gear.

Those jackets dotting the Patriots’ sideline acted as a welcome reminder of where they have come from — and where they would like to be this season.

It’ll take a little while to get back there, if Friday’s game served as any indication. Penn Wood “got smacked in the mouth,” according to coach Ato Troop, and the Patriots got blanked, 32-0, by host Northeast.

How bad was it for Penn Wood? Northeast gifted Penn Wood (2-1) with half of its eight first downs, having earned them on defensive penalties by the Vikings. The Patriots committed four turnovers — two interceptions and two fumbles. They low-snapped a ball to their punter, leading to a first-half safety. A 10-man kickoff unit, on the ensuing play, permitted a 47-yard return that ultimately led to a Northeast touchdown.

“We’ve handed out games like this before and, today, we took it,” Troop said.

Penn Wood looked out of sorts all night. Its offensive line provided next to no protection for All-Delco quarterback Desman Johnson, Jr., who completed only five of his 14 pass attempts, and running back Jordin Jones. All told, the Patriots managed 41 rushing yards on 37 carries.

“The holes were there,” said Jones. “They just closed really quick. I tried to get there as fast as I could.”

“We only have two returning (linemen) from last year,” said tight end Christian Suber. “The rest are first-year football players.”

Northeast (3-0) picked up first-half rushing touchdowns from Jon-Luke Peaker and Kareem Seamon. That aforementioned safety, followed by the lengthy kickoff return by the Vikings’ Markell Gary, perfectly set up Northeast’s Zahir Wheeler for a 20-yard touchdown connection with Shoes Brinkley.

That gave the Vikings a 23-0 lead — more than enough in a lopsided game as this was.

“We had some open receivers we missed, but it all starts with the O-line,” Troop said. “We weren’t blocking, and it messed up the rest of our offense.”

To Penn Wood’s defense, Northeast appears to have put together a buzzsaw of a defensive unit. The Vikings have posted consecutive shutouts and have surrendered only 13 points in 12 quarters.

“We’ve just been playing together for a long time. Everybody is coming together,” said Northeast inside linebacker Nasir Young-Brewington, who had four tackles for loss.

Young-Brewington said he and the Vikings “did their homework” on Penn Wood, noting Johnson Jr.’s desire to pull the ball down and run when he cannot find an open receiver and finding gaps to exploit along Penn Wood’s line.

The closest Penn Wood got to scoring against Northeast came early in the game. Johnson Jr. kept alive a broken play in the second quarter, dodging two would-be tacklers and shifting from left to right in the pocket long enough to find Mike Price for a 45-yard connection. Ultimately, the Patriots’ drive stalled 11 yards short of the end zone with a turnover on downs.

Outside of that long catch-and-run for Price, the Patriots averaged 1.24 yards per offensive snap — or 62 yards on 50 plays.

“We looked at their quarterback. We had to stay home on him,” Young-Brewington said. “We saw their line was a little weak. We knew we had to keep hitting them where they were weak, and it would come together for us.”

And that meant a painful night for Penn Wood.

“We have to get better,” Suber said. “It starts Monday.”

“Nope,” said Jones, correcting Suber. “It starts Saturday in film.”

Christopher A. Vito

christopheravito

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