Shurmur and a Stingy D Elevates LaSalle Over North Penn

Written by: Armand Vanore on Saturday, August 30th, 2014. Follow Armand Vanore on Twitter.

Lansdale,Pa. Vanderbilt verbal commit Kyle Shurmur put on an aerial show with four touchdown passes and completing his throws to 5 different receivers and a stout Explorer defense shined in their 29-7 assault on the North Penn Knights last night at Crawford stadium in Lansdale.

Offensive coordinator Brett Gordon has the luxury of putting his quarterback in a multitude of offensive scenarios with unquestionably the most skilled player at that position he has ever had plus a plethora of receivers that will make life very very tough for opposing defensive coordinators. Defensively, coordinator John Steinmetz now appears to have a line that may not have to use players to line up on the other side of the ball giving him more time to spend with his players on the sideline.

LaSalle scored on its fifth play from scrimmage on a beautifully executed pass from Shurmur to Jordan Meachum to open the scoring. North Penn countered immediately on its first possession when Nick Isabella broke two tackles for a 56 yard TD.

The Explorers held a tight 13-7 lead at the half and Meachum, from his safety position jumped a route intercepting a Knight pass to start the third quarter which appeared to open things up for LaSalle. A 20 yard Matt Savage field goal was followed by the Explorers tenacious defense which held North Penn to four consecutive three and four and outs. Shurmur put an exclamation point on the game to start the 4th stanza after a Nyfease West fumble with his 28 yard strike to TE Charles Hemcher.

Both teams have very talented offensive lines which should show as their season’s unwind. LaSalle’s pass protection was spotless and North Penn’s run block scheme should open up things for RB’s West and Isabella.

LaSalle has a murderous out of conference schedule from this point then start their conference schedule in the extremely difficult PCL, AAA conference and number one ranked St Joe Prep down the road. North Penn themselves have two more difficult out of conference battles vs. West Catholic and Archbishop Wood before they open conference play in the reformatted Suburban One, National Conference.

Scoring by Quarter

1st Quarter

LS- Jordan Meachum- 41 pass from Kyle Shurmur-PAT- no good- 10:06

NP- Nick Isabella- 56 run- PAT- Matt Ammendola- 8:20

2nd Quarter

LS- Jimmy Herron- 10 pass from Shurmur- PAT- Matt Savage- 1:51

3rd Quarter

LS- Savage- 20 yard FG- 7:37

4th Quarter

LS- Charles Hemcher-28 pass from Shurmur- PAT- no good- 10:29

LS- Nick Rinella- 17 pass from Shurmur- PAT- Savage- 7:25

Late Hits: Shurmur final numbers were 23-36-346 Yards-4 TD’s- Meachum and Herron are real playmakers on both sides of the ball- North Penn’s Dion Robinson has elite speed and came close to braking a couple kick returns. Knights kicker Matt Ammendola has one of the strongest legs in the state. His two kickoffs traveled to the end zone. Hemcher looks like a real nice fit at TE in the Explorer attack. Explorer defensive coordinator John Steinmetz installed a five man front during every North Penn first and second down in the first half

Ted Silary contributed to this report

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