Zach Demarchis marches Pennsbury football past Truman

BRISTOL TWP. >> Much of the pre-game speculation between a pair of 5-1 teams Friday night centered on how Pennsbury’s defense would deal with Truman’s Double Wing-T offense that the Falcons ran with so much success for 14 years.

As it turned out, the answer was not all that well, but in the end, it didn’t matter because Truman was utterly helpless when it came to trying to stop Pennsbury’s high-octane attack.

The result was a 47-32 victory for the Falcons in front of a large crowd at the Tigers’ Henry Morgan C. Stadium in a game that all but assured Pennsbury of a playoff berth.

It certainly wasn’t hard to identify the star of this show. Front and center Pennsbury quarterback Zach Demarchis, who played a game for the ages as he continued to enjoy just an outstanding senior campaign.

How good was Demarchis as Pennsbuy remained tied atop the Suburban One National League standings with a 3-0 record in league play?

Consider Demarchis ran for five touchdowns on runs of 14, 1, 4, 2 and, in a real backbreaker for Truman, 90 yards. Often breaking loose on quarterback draws, Demarchis carried the ball 14 times in all for 162 yards.

It doesn’t stop there, however, Demarchis also completed 12 of 15 passes for 115 yards and threw a 27-yard TD pass to Austin Palmer in the fourth quarter when his team reestablished a three touchdown lead.

Nearly all of Demarchis’ huge gains were needed because Truman refused to go away in a game it never really appeared capable of winning, but was able to use its plethora of speed to hit the Falcons with big plays.

The first was a 27-yard run by Terrance Rogers that opened the scoring in the first quarter and gave the Tigers their only lead. Operating behind its huge offensive line that opened gaping holes all night, Pennsbury came back with the first two TDs by Demarchis before Truman struck again on a 27-yard, fourth-down run by QB Dylan Snelling.

Snelling’s scoring scamper allowed Truman to tie the score at 13-all with 2:33 remaining in the first half, but it was here where the game also turned.

Set up by a long kickoff return by Nasan Robbins, Pennsbury struck right back and scored with :09 before the intermission on a 4-yard sprint around left end by Demarchis.

Helped out by a sensational 52-yard punt return to the Truman 2 yard line by David Burke, Pennsbury took control with the first two touchdowns of the second half on short runs by Demarchis and good-looking sophomore back JayVon McNeil.

Truman then stayed in the game when Javeer Peterson burned Pennsbury with an electrifying 95-yard kickoff return, but all that did was lead to Demarchis’ 90-yard sprint down the right sideline against a shell-shocked Tiger defense that was overmatched the whole game.

Pennsbury 47, Truman 32

(Oct. 6 at Truman)

PENNSBURY (6-1)            7              13           14           13 – 47

TRUMAN (5-2)                 7              6              7              12 – 32

First Quarter

T — Rogers 27 run (Buckland kick)

P — Demarchis 14 run (Knop kick)

Second Quarter

P — Demarchis 1 run (kick failed)

T — Snelling 27 run (kick failed)

P — Demarchis 4 run (Knop kick)

Third Quarter

P — Demarchis 5 run (Knop kick)

P — McNeil 7 run (Knop kick)

T — Peterson 95 kickoff return (Buckland kick0

Fourth Quarter

P — Demarchis 90 run (Knop kick)

T — Rogers 60 run (kick failed

P — Palmer 27 pass from Demarchis (kick blocked)