Souderton gets the Goods in win over William Tennent
FRANCONIA >> Ed Gallagher knew right away he wasn’t going to make Willie Goods play freshman football.
Goods, all 5-foot-9 and 134 pounds of him, was just too good for that. However, he is tiny and Gallagher wasn’t sure he was ready for a full varsity season. However, with Souderton’s offense in a funk, the Indians needed something, or someone, to be the spark.
Friday night, Goods got his shot and really ran with it.
“He’s such a likeable kid, and he’s about 130 pounds, so we’ve been trying to not throw him to the wolves too much,” Gallagher said. “He makes it hard to not put him on the field. He’s made plays every chance he’s gotten. We had him up in 7-on-7s in the summer, one kid got hurt and there he is. ‘He’s not playing freshman football’ was probably our first response.”
Goods rushed for 171 yards on just 10 carries and scored touchdowns of 55, 58 and 20 yards as the Indians held off visiting William Tennent for a 21-16 win on Homecoming. The Panthers were able to gash the Indians’ defense for big plays, but when needed, Souderton’s defense got the stops it needed, or at least didn’t give up touchdowns.
Still, it wasn’t enough to prevent a slow start and the sputtering offense that had averaged just five points per game since Week 1. Tennent took advantage, opening up a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
It was time to go with Goods, who earned his call-up a few weeks ago but who had yet to really make an impact. That changed on his first carry, a 55-yard reverse up the left side that saw him go all the way for a touchdown.
“We had a couple injuries, we had to move some people around, they decided to put me in and I knew I had to take advantage of it,” Goods said. “The plan was for me to get the ball in score. In practice, they told us the linebackers weren’t able to react to all of our plays, so we were going to run sweep a lot. We just had to execute, run hard and score.”
As noted, Goods isn’t physically imposing, but his linemen know that defenders who want to trifle with him will soon learn their lesson.
“He might be tiny, but he runs like a big running back,” lineman Austin Moyer said. “We are protecting him and he’s so young we try to do everything we can to make sure he’s getting to open field and doesn’t get hit a lot.”
Friday was also a much-needed positive showing for the Indians’ offensive line. Gallagher noted the play of his two offensive guards as the turning point and it was fitting all three of Goods’ scoring runs came on plays designed to take advantage of the guards’ blocking.
Moyer, a junior, said seeing one of the backs go off for a big night behind the line’s blocking means they did their jobs well and executed.
“That he can just break away like that in space is pretty cool and it gives us encouragement,” Moyer said. “We just need to keep executing and everyone on every play should be going 100 percent.”
Tennent (0-7, 0-3 SOL Continental) was able to move the ball quite freely between the 20 yard lines but once play got into the red zone, the Souderton (2-5, 1-3) defense managed to firm up enough to get what it needed. The Panthers settled for three field goals, and had a fourth converted into a failed trick play on a high snap, plus turned the ball over on downs twice deep in Souderton territory.
Quarterback Mitchell Vierling threw for 277 yards for Tennent and his favorite target, Dan Goodz, was practically unstoppable. Goodz ended the night with six catches for 175 yards, with a 57-yard grab his longest plus an interception on defense. Tailback Sean Bragen ran for 100 yards, but seemed to tire late in the game on the last few of his 26 carries.
Goods, on the other hand, never seemed to tire as he took his fourth touch of the game 58 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. The freshman again went around a Trevor Watts block on the left and skirted his way along the sideline as he ran fast toward the endzone.
“I have to be patient, when I get the ball, I’m not thinking about running as fast as I can,” Goods said. “I have to wait and find that hole and that’s when I’m thinking about going.”
Goods scored twice in the second quarter as Souderton took a 14-10 lead into the break. He felt like his runs gave a lift of energy to the team and Watts was quick to note that it very much did.
“It’s hard to watch Willie work and play and think he could have been on the freshman team,” Watts said. “He’s a great worker, a heck of an athlete. He earned his spot. We take pride when he runs behind us and scored three times on the same play running behind us. We’re going to have his back as the big brothers of the team.”
Tennent cut the lead to one on a Dakota Wherrity field goal in the third quarter. Wherrity had a good night, kicking field goals of 24, 35 and 39 yards, but the Panthers needed at least one of those kicks to have been a touchdown.
Goods scored the game-winner on the third play of the fourth quarter when he went 20 yards for the touchdown.
“I thought the defense would recognize it and stop it, but they didn’t, so I just ran,” Goods said. “I saw my blocks and I just knew I had to get a touchdown. I just tried my best to run as fast as I can and score.”
The Indians showed out with a big crowd for Homecoming, and Moyer said he felt motivated to play well for his whited-out student section. As Goods came off the field after his third score, the student section showed their support with time-honored “He’s a freshman” chants.
“Oh yeah, I heard it,” Goods said. “I was waiting for that.”
SOUDERTON 0 14 0 7 – 21
WILLIAM TENNENT 10 0 3 3 – 16
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
WT – Dakota Wherrity 24 field goal 5:02
WT – Sean Bragen 11 run (Wherrity kick) 1:13
2nd Quarter
S – Willie Goods 55 run (William Leyland kick) 8:11
S – Goods 58 run (Leyland kick) 1:33
3rd Quarter
WT – Wherrity 35 field goal 6:41
4th Quarter
S – Goods 20 run (Leyland kick) 11:05
WT – Wherrity 39 field goal 2:58
Team Stats
S WT
1st Downs 12 15
Rushes-Yards 34-222 33-100
Passing 6-9-0-1 13-24-0-0
Passing Yards 46 277
Total Yards 268 377
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 3-20, 3-30
Indvidual Stats
Rushing: S – Willie Goods 10-171, Xarminto Lubelo 11-21, Deandre Wakefield 8-32, Daniel Pineda 2-7, Dean Dipisa 3-(-9); WT – Sean Bragen 26-100, Mitchell Vierling 6-5, Dakota Wherrity 1-(-5)
Passing: S – Dean Dipisa 5-8-0-1-44, Kyle Walker 1-1-0-0-2; WT – Mitchell Vierling 13-24-0-0-277
Receiving: S – Pineda 2-5, Walker 1-10, Trevor Watts 1-2, Nick Guthre 2-29; WT – Dan Goodz 6-175, Gianni Washington 2-42, Tom Plunkett 1-18, Eddie North 1-9, Jason Schweizerhof 1-16, Sean Bragen 1-9
Interceptions: WT – Goodzert
