Plymouth Whitemarsh seniors go out with win over Wissahickon
LOWER GWYNEDD >> The last two months have been a wild ride for the Plymouth Whitemarsh football program.
At the end of August, the school board voted to play fall sports with the exception of football. The football team and its supporters campaigned and, three weeks later, the decision was reversed and the season was back on.
The five-game season came to an end Friday night with a 35-19 Suburban One League American Conference win over rival Wissahickon at Wissahickon High School.
“I’m happy and I’m sad,” senior tight end and defensive end Dylan Duran said. “It’s a whole mix of emotions. I’m crying but I’m smiling. It’s everything. I wouldn’t want to go out any other way. It’s a young team –everybody pushed themselves. With the circumstances we had, it’s just crazy what we were able to do, especially tonight. It was surreal – it was awesome.”
The Colonials (2-3, 1-2 SOL American) entered Friday’s game knowing it was the last time their seniors would take the field with the playoffs out of reach. Duran set the tone from the opening kickoff – running through would-be tacklers and returning it all the way to the Wissahickon 42-yard line.
“Coach (Dan) Chang put me in for one rep (Thursday) for kick returns,” Duran said. “He was like, ‘all right we’re just going to try it tomorrow.’ I guess it worked out for the first time. It was awesome – so much fun.”
The Colonials never trailed in the game, but the outcome was up for grabs heading into the fourth quarter. PW forced a punt in the beginning of the fourth with a 21-19 lead and scored a pair of touchdowns while forcing two fumbles and grabbing an interception to close out the win and their seniors’ high school careers.
“That was our main goal,” PW coach Dan Chang said, “send these seniors out on a high note. They were such a huge part of our program and they always will be. Great group of kids – I’m going to miss them without a doubt. They’ve don’t great stuff for us both on the field and off the field as people.”
Ground attack
Plymouth Whitemarsh did almost all of its damage on the ground, running 60 times for 359 yards and five touchdowns.
“The offensive line here,” Chang said, “they’re getting better and better. We have three seniors on that line and two underclassmen. Only two of those are returners, so those other three guys were just getting better every week. I kept telling them we’re getting so close to clicking. Every game we inch a little bit closer. Tonight we finally started clicking on all cylinders – we were getting some good chunks.”
Tommy Hannon led the way with 24 carries for 163 yards and a score. Aiden O’Brien added 103 yards and three touchdowns on nine attempts and Zion East ran nine times for 61 yards and a score.
All three of O’Brien’s touchdowns and East’s touchdown came on the inside handoff option of PW’s triple-option attack.
“Our line did a great job kicking,” O’Brien said, “taking out the d-end. We were just able to find the hole.
“(The o-line) did a great job getting movement, controlling the line. Unfortunately a lot of them are seniors, but hopefully we can do the same thing next year.”
Quarterback Chris Mclaughlin added 30 yards on 13 attempts on the ground.
“Coach Chang runs that flex-bone triple option,” Wiss coach Bruce Fleming said. “It’s one of those things you don’t see every week. Trying to teach high school players how to read an option and how to really attack and understand to do their job and their responsibilities (is tough). There are one or two plays where they’ll find an open seam and be able to run. You have to really be locked in to understanding your responsibility and trusting that your teammates are doing their job as well.”
Schreiner’s 3rd quarter
Wissahickon honored its Homecoming Court at halftime Friday night. While senior receiver EJ Schreiner wasn’t named Homecoming King, he was a finalist and stood alongside classmates on the field during the ceremony.
His first play back on the field in the second half, he caught a 62-yard touchdown from quarterback Aidan Defeo to cut a 14-6 deficit to 14-13. Later in the third quarter the two connected again for a 71-yard score to get the Trojans (3-2, 2-1 SOL American) within two, 21-19.
“We saw on film that was something we can attack and connect with,” Fleming said. “We didn’t do it well in the first half, so we wanted to make sure that we exploit those things.”
Schreiner finished the game with four catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns.
Costly mistakes
Wissahickon had its chances to win the game in the fourth quarter. The hosts had two possessions while trailing 21-19 in the final frame but couldn’t get into the red zone.
The Trojans were forced to punt early in the fourth before fumbling on the first play of their next possession.
After PW took a 28-19 lead with 4:35 left in the game, Wissahickon fumbled the kickoff.
Trailing 35-19 in the final moments, Wiss threw an interception to finish any hope at a late-game rally.
“The game of football is about momentum,” Fleming said. “Momentum was going back-and-forth all night long. They’ll get a play – we’ll get a play. We can’t turn the ball over and expect to be on top – especially fourth-quarter turnovers really kill drives and kill momentum and sucks the life out of us. It’s something we’ll re-group and look at the film, see what our mistakes were, what the miscues were and try to correct them for next week.”
Playoff bound
Despite the loss, the Trojans will be competing in the District 1-5A playoffs. They entered Friday night as the No. 3 seed in the district and only fell to No. 4. They’ll face No. 1 Upper Dublin next week in the semifinals.
In the regular season opener, the Trojans lost to Upper Dublin, 31-27.
