Crazy Knight: #11 West to Host Second Round Friday

Written by: Don Leypoldt on Saturday, November 5th, 2022. Follow Don Leypoldt on Twitter.

To run in the November 10^th, Bucks County Herald

CB West finished the regular season winning five of their last six games. A Buck playoff run would not have surprised anyone.

But are the #11 Bucks hosting one of those playoff games? That’s a surprise.

Yet that is where the Bucks (7-4) find themselves after Friday’s 42-26 District One 6A first-round playoff win over archrival #6 CB East (8-3), and after #14 North Penn upset #3 Pennsbury 22-21. Friday’s second-round West/North Penn tilt is a rematch of West’s September win at Lansdale.

The Bucks, who topped East 21-14 the prior Friday in the regular season finale, scored touchdowns on their first four possessions. Two long Ganz Cooper passes got the Bucks inside the East-10 on their first two drives.

“I have to give all credit to the line,” deflected Cooper, who finished six of eight for 121 yards. “They gave me time to throw the ball. We’re getting that connection going.”

Conor McFadden caught three balls for 71 yards. “We didn’t know how they were going to play Conor,” added Cooper, who scored twice on sneaks. “Last week, they had a guy over top. This week, they weren’t as aggressive. We saw that and we thought we had to take a shot.”

West’s next two drives, with the exception of Vinny Cherubini’s two-yard plunge to make it 28-0, were nothing but Eli Boehm runs.

“Eli is a great playmaker. He makes people miss,” Cooper praised.

“I thought we executed really well in the first half on both sides of the ball,” West coach Rob Rowan said. “Defensively, I thought we contained them. In the first half, the execution was strong. In the second half, not so much but what I was proud of is how the kids responded. That was a tremendous play by Cooper Taylor. He is a key piece of what we do defensively.”

East did everything right to open the second half: adjusting to a pass-oriented offense to score twice while stopping West twice defensively. The play of the night took place with 1:50 left in the third quarter and East was down 28-12 with the ball. Taylor’s hit on an East receiver popped the ball loose and into the arms of Buck teammate Jackson Estes.

“I think it definitely sealed the game,” Estes said. “It was a big momentum shift. They were starting to come back a little bit.”

Four plays later, Boehm ran into the end zone from the four to give West an insurmountable 35-12 lead.

East outgained West 426 to 335. Patriot quarterback Pat Keller completed 16 of 26 passes for 282 yards and two scores. Jack Donnelly’s eight catches and 112 yards paced the Patriots.

East running back Ethan Shine (20 carries, 133 yards, two touchdowns) had nearly identical stats to Boehm (23 carries, 134 yards, and three touchdowns). Shine ran for 1,900 yards this fall.

Rowan said that the Bucks “made some tweaks defensively” from the prior week. “I thought we gave up a little too much last week so we tried to contain (Shine) a little better,” Rowan shared. “I thought, at times, we did that. They came out in the second half throwing the ball and kudos to them. They made some great throws and catches.”

West got stops at key times: Estes’ hurry on East’s second drive forced a fourth down incompletion. Michael O’Hanlon recovered a fumble on a Keller strip sack two drives later, giving West a short, 13-yard field that they converted into a touchdown.

“They clearly out-sized us but we tried to beat them with speed,” Estes said. “We wanted to get low, get to the quarterback. We were playing with a high motor all night. That was the plan.”

Friday concluded one of the best seasons in recent memory for East. The Patriots opened with five straight wins before falling to Pennsbury on September 30^th. A high-octane East offense scored 30 or more points five times in the regular season.

“I said in the post-game huddle that this is not the ending we wanted,” East head coach John Donnelly said post-game, “but it was a great year. I don’t want the last two games- especially for the seniors- to define them and what they’ve done.” East had signature wins over Neshaminy and North Penn.

“My hat is off to Rob Rowan and his staff,” Donnelly added. “They do a great job and get the most out of their kids.”

Elsewhere, #10 CB South (7-4) quietly put together an excellent fall. The Titans won their final four games, including a 27-14 win over West, to earn their trip to #7 Souderton. The Titan defense played well, but Souderton’s D was just a little better in the Indians’ 10-0 win.

The #16 Quakertown Panthers (5-6) could have mailed it after three straight blowout losses, albeit too high-quality teams, in weeks 2, 3, and 4. The Panthers righted the ship and won four of their next five games. Going to Garnet Valley proved to be daunting, and the Jags moved on with their 63-14 win over Quakertown.

In 2A, New Hope-Solebury (2-9) had a chance to end their season on a high note in their sub-regional playoff game with Bristol. The Lions fought but fell 44-22.