Pennsbury shut out by La Salle
WHITEMARSH >> Some losses hurt more than others and this was one of those times where it really wasn’t that painful at all.
Although the Pennsbury High football team (1-1) suffered its first loss of the year last night when it fell by La Salle by the score of 14-0, when you look at the big picture there’s no reason for the Falcons to feel all that depressed.
For openers it’s become very rare when any public school team in Pennsylvania beats one of the three big boys in the Philadelphia Catholic League of a group that consists of St. Joe’s Prep, La Salle and Archbishop Wood.
As such, it’s entirely possible La Salle (2-0) is the best team Pennsbury may very well play during the regular season. La Salle also beat Pennsbury’s Suburban One National rival North Penn last week.
Furthermore, Pennsbury’s defense was outstanding last night, especially when you consider it received very little help from the offense and both of La Salle’s touchdowns came off a short field.
Coming off a tight season-opening 13-6 win over Council Rock South, it’s the Pennsbury offense that once again struggled. But even here it figured it would take some time for this unit to come around as a rebuilt line gets it together and the team must learn to compensate for the loss of graduated home-run hitter Charles Snorweah.
Playing at the Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School, Pennsbury stopped La Salle the first three times the Explorers had the ball and looked to be in business when it recovered a fumble on its own 42 yard line. Three running plays and a Mike Alley bomb that was nearly caught came up empty, however, and from there La Salle was able to take the lead on a 50-yard drive capped by a 18-yard pass from Chris Ferguson to Nick Rinella.
Pennsbury actually looked pretty good throwing the ball at times and nearly struck right before the half when Alley hooked up with tight end Vinnie Ratamess on a 46-yard pass to the La Salle 15.
But once again Pennsbury came up empty with the clock running down late in the second quarter and its best chance to score was gone.
The insurance touchdown came in the third quarter and once again La Salle needed to go only 50 yards to score. This time La Salle got the ball off a fumble and six plays later Sy Madden reached the end zone on a 6-yard burst up the middle.
La Salle nearly got a third touchdown, but Pennsbury’s defense continued to play with pride and produced a goal line stand at the end of the third quarter. With Alley completing three passes, Pennsbury then put together a long drive into La Salle territory before once again stalling out in the final two minutes.
It was a loss, but a very respectable one in a game few people expected Pennsbury to win in the first place.
LaSalle 14, Pennsbury 0
(Sept. 11 at Plymouth-Whitemarsh)
Pennsbury (1-1) 0 0 0 0 – 0
LaSalle (2-0) 0 7 7 0 – 14
SUMMARY
L-Rinella 18 pass from Ferguson (Savage kick)
L-Madden 6 run (Savage kick)
