ANNVILLE >> The biggest game of the season awaits the Little Dutchmen at home next week against Northern Lebanon in L-L Section Three. They tuned up for the showdown in a non-conference matchup against Kutztown (0-7) Friday at home, topping the Cougars 52-6.
Annville-Cleona improved to 6-1 on the season, earning their fourth consecutive win. The Dutchmen have recorded at least 37 points in the past four games and have allowed just six points over their past two contests.
“We just came out clicking on all cylinders and took the game over in the first quarter,” Dutchmen head coach Terry Lehman said after the decisive victory. “We worked on some things this week and coach (Matt) Gingrich did a great job calling plays. The kids just executed.”
The Dutchmen scored 21 points in the opening frame to jump out to an advantage that would be insurmountable. Annville-Cleona scored in every quarter, including two rushing touchdowns apiece from Noah Connor and Adam Fox.
“Last week was a little rough and I think we stuck to what we do best,” the senior quarterback said. “That’s running (the ball).”
Fox also connected with speedy junior receiver Alec Barr for a 25-yard pass that gave the Dutchmen a 14-0 lead with 4:01 remaining in the opening quarter. The touchdown materialized from a play-action fake by Fox to Connor, finding Barr in the end zone without a Kutztown defensive back in sight. Victor Hoffer and Dylan Bomgardner added rushing scores in the second half with the game’s outcome decided.
“A lot of people touched the ball, and a lot of people had success tonight,” said Lehman. “That comes from up front, our line. We were just clicking and executing.”
With already two shutouts on the season, the Dutchmen defense conceded only 65 rushing yards and limited Kutztown to under 200 total yards.
“They’re not worried about who’s making tackles,” Lehman said. “The people making tackles are designed to make them like that. Our secondary is coming up big sometimes, we’re just playing good team defense tonight.”
Kutztown dropped its 44th consecutive game, with the majority of their losses coming in blowout fashion since their last victory. The Cougars last won on Sept. 17, 2010 against Freedom Village.
“Kutztown, they’re feisty,” Lehman said. “They were a little outmanned. It’s high school football. Could we have scored more points? Absolutely, but it doesn’t help anybody. It was much more fun having our young kids in there, it gave them a shot to get a little better.”
Freshman quarterback Brayden Eck scored the lone touchdown for Kutztown, rushing for a score from the 1-yard line in the third quarter. The left-handed Eck finished the game with eight completions and 133 passing yards.
“We work on the same stuff all the time,” Kutztown head coach Ben McKnight said. “We are getting better, we’re young, really young. We have basically four freshmen playing, we just have to keep working on the small things. It’s gonna happen eventually. We just got to keep pushing forward and keep doing the little things, and it’s eventually going to come to us.”
The Dutchmen face Northern Lebanon next Friday in a huge Section Three showdown.
“They’re a good team,” Lehman said. “A lot is going to be on the line, but we’re here on our field, which is nice. It’s going to be a great high-school football game.”
