Souderton holds off Pennridge to stay undefeated

FRANCONIA >> Nick Guthre did a bit of everything Friday night, even making sure to improve his reputation as a passer.

With Souderton holding just a three-point lead on Pennridge in the fourth quarter and facing a 4th-and-4 from its own 41, the Indians took a chance with a fake punt and Guthre made sure it paid off — tossing a strike downfield to Ethan Smerecki for a 23-yard gain.

“The funny part is I threw the ball last year against Pennridge and I threw a complete duck out of bounds,” Guthre said. “Me and coach (Ed) Gallagher were going back all back and forth this entire week just saying, ‘Are you going to get your passing rating up?’ whatever, whatever because we’re watching it on film like every day, me just missing that pass. And so I got my redemption.”

And Souderton got to keep its drive going, chewing up six minutes of clock on the series before turning the ball over on downs at the Rams 17 with 2:32 left in the SOL Continental Conference matchup. Big Red’s defense held on the ensuing drive, forcing an fourth-down incompletion four plays later as the Indians kept their perfect record intact by claiming a 24-21 victory.

“We were able to put that in this week,” said Gallagher of the fake punt. “And I talked to (assistant coach) John Dubyk, (he) runs our punt team and I told him to take a look at a couple different things and we ended up executing that pretty well in practice on Thursday and I said, ‘Look, if we get that look, we’re going for it, let’s take it, a shot.”

It was the second time the Indians went into their bag of tricks on a night they improved to 5-0 (2-0 conference) for the first time since 2006. Trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, Big Red’s double-handoff flea flicker had quarterback Andrew Vince connecting with Evan Kutzler for a 69-yard touchdown, tying the game at 6:27.

“They hurt us with two trick plays and it’s something that I talked to the kids all week about that it was going to come,” Pennridge coach Cody Muller said. “It was going to happen cause playing for Coach Gallagher I knew something like that was bound to happen. And his kids made great plays, they did it when they needed to.”

The Rams (1-4, 0-2) finally showed some spark on offense after scoring just a total of 40 points coming into Friday but it was not enough from stopping their losing streak extend to four.

“It took some time and like I told you before, I’m sick of using the young excuse,” Muller said. “I kept preaching it to our kids, it’s something that we worked on all week about just getting off the football and playing our game, stuff that we did last year. Our kids believed it, offensive line came off, did a great job, our backs were hitting holes. Kids gave everything.

GALLOPING GUTHRIE

Guthre ran 10 times for a game-high 101 yards and also caught three passes for 46 yards with the senior posting big yardage plays as both a rusher and receiver.

In the second quarter, Guthre hauled in a 39-yard pass to set up Jalen White’s 2-yard TD run to give the Indians a 14-7 lead at 5:44.

Then in the third, Guthre dashed 63 yards down the middle of the field before getting caught five yards from the goal line. Two plays later, Vince went around the left side and powered through a tackle attempt to dive into the end zone for a 5-yard score, putting Big Red up 24-14 Big Red with 57.5 seconds left in the quarter.

“As soon as I got to the second level, I knew I could do something with it,” Guthre said. “I knew I could break it. Obviously I hoped to go all the way, I mean that’s the goal. I was a little tired and got caught but I mean as long, again, as could set up my team, I’m cool.”

CROYLE COMES THROUGH

Quarterback Bobby Croyle helped the Rams pull back within three on the next series. On a 4th-and-1, he ran for 21 down to the Indians 25 then on a 3rd-and-11 Croyle found Connor Pleibel at the 1 for a 25-yard completion. Two plays later, Croyle crossed the goal line from a yard out on a QB sneak to make it 24-21 with 8:38 left in the fourth.

“You got to credit the quarterback over there, Croyle, he made so many plays with his legs and extending plays,” Gallagher said. “And hats off to him, he really did a nice job competing tonight.”

Croyle had a hand in all three Pennridge touchdowns, rushing for a pair of scores and also hooking up with Elias Dantzler for a 76-yard TD that had the Rams up 7-0 at 7:03 in the opening quarter. Croyle was 8-of-14 passing for 165 yards and one interception. Jack Ferguson paced Pennridge on the ground with 75 yards on six carries while Dantzler had three catches for 109 yards and a score.

“It’s something that we talked about probably after Week 2, I got pretty angry at our offense for lack of effort and kids took it to heart,” Muller said. “And they worked. And Elias did a great job of getting open and like you said Bobby was making plays with his feet, with his arm, he did a great job tonight.”

AIRING IT OUT

The Rams struck through the air on their first offensive drive as Danztler caught a Croyle third-down pass at midfield and broke free, racing down the left sideline for the 76-yard score. But the Indians’ answered on the second play of the next drive with the double-handoff flea flicker ending with a Vince to Kutzler 69-yard TD strike just 36 seconds later.

“It’s funny, we ran it on the first play of the game against them last year and dropped a wide-open touchdown,” Gallagher said. “And I felt bad cause Kyle Walker is standing on our sideline, he’s like, ‘Coach you had to run that while I was here.’ I’m like, ‘Well, I watched it this week and it was open so I figured we’d try it again. It was open again. So that worked out pretty well.”

Vince finished 8-for-17 passing for 158 yards and one touchdown.

FLURRY TO END THE HALF

Big Red took a 14-7 lead after a Kutzler interception, the Indians marching 68 yards on seven plays, the last White’s 2-yard touchdown run at 5:44 in the second quarter.

Ferguson began the Rams’ next series with a 63-yard run down to the Souderton 17. On a 3rd-and-21 from the 28, Croyle connected with Dantzler for 18 yards and Ferguson proceeded to collected four yards on 4th-and-3. Three plays later, Croyle’s 3-yard touchdown on a QB sneak level the score at 14 with 53.8 seconds left in the half.

Souderton, however, traversed 43 yards in the final minute to the Pennridge 20, allowing Will Leyland to knock through at 37-yard field goal as time expired in the half, sending the Indians into the break leading 17-14.

“Those are little things that people don’t realize but that was the difference in the game,” Gallagher said. “That one minute that we had to do that, we used two of our time outs and we were just able to get enough to get Leyland a chance and he’s got a strong leg and he’s been a weapon for us for the past three years, so we always have the confidence in him that he’s going to get it done.”

After forcing a Rams three-and-out, Souderton’s opening drive of the second half began at the Pennridge 34 but the Indians came away with no points after a missed 39-yard field goal.

The Rams drove inside the Souderton 40 on the next series but on 4th-and-5 from the 35, Pennridge came up two yards short on a completion. The next play, Guthre rumbled for 63 yards with Vince scoring from five yards out two snaps later to give Big Red a 10-point cushion.