To Run in the October 1st Bucks County Herald
On a gusty night in Newtown, Quakertown quarterback Carter Tucholski sailed his first and second down passes in the corner of the end zone.
If air delivery doesn’t work, try ground.
With the mental clock in his head expiring, Tucholski tucked and ran from the Council Rock South 12-yard line, whacking the pylon for a touchdown with 22 seconds left as Quakertown (1-4, 1-1 SOL Continental) upset the Golden Hawks at CR South’s (2-3, 0-2 Continental) Homecoming 24-21.
“I saw I would get pressure on the edge. They were showing it. I was looking for my receivers but they weren’t there right away,” Tucholski described. “I knew I didn’t have much time and I had to do it myself.”
Tucholski converted two fourth downs- again by calling his number- to keep the drive alive and give Quakertown their first victory.
On a night of good defense, Gavin Handschumacher may have made the biggest play, getting South signal caller Cannon Benzio in the grasp on fourth down for a 17-yard loss early in the fourth quarter.
“At defense this week, we knew it was going to be hard going against a read option with their run and pass game, Handschumacher shared. “We had to play together as a team and work together in the big moments and wrap up the tackles.”
Quakertown’s punt pinned South at their nine. The Panther defense forced a three-and-out to give Tucholski and the offense starting field position at their own 47 for the game winning drive.
The game’s opening snap foreshadowed that it might be Quakertown’s night. James McFadden pounced on a Golden Hawk fumble. Lucas Furness burrowed into score from 14 yards out three plays later
Mason Pavone and Dom Ferrugio teamed for a 15-yard sack to kill South’s next drive. The Panthers responded with an 11 play, 60-yard march ending when Handschumacher scored from the four with 16 seconds left in the first quarter.
“This week, we had a group meeting with the captains. We needed more energy going into the game,” running back Handschumacher said. “If we get scored on, we can come back and keep driving forward. We lost a key running back in Damion (Lowande-Richardson), but Lucas and I stepped up to fill the role.”
CR South has a Navy-committed quarterback in Benzio and a big play threat in wide receiver Brody Walker. Benzio’s seven-yard touchdown run cut the Panther lead to 14-7. Ben Maugle’s 34-yard field goal extended Quakertown’s lead to 17-7 lead, but Benzio connected with Walker on a beautiful 24-yard aerial to cut the Panther margin to 17-14 just before halftime.
Benzio hit Logan Smith for a 16-yard score with seven minutes elapsed in the second half to give South their first lead of 21-17.
The Panther defense held serve, even if the offense went five straight drives between scores.
“The defense kept us hyped, which translated into our offense,” Pavone said. “That made us more confident.”
Benzio completed 10 of 19 passes for 170 yards with Walker grabbing 6 balls for 99 yards. Golden Hawk Jerry Rogers rushed for 96 yards on 19 carries but the Panthers held South to 68 yards on the ground.
“I think we didn’t put our heads down and stayed positive. Even if we allowed a touchdown, we stayed positive,” Pavone noted.
Ferrugio caught four balls for 62 yards to pace Quakertown. South’s tough defense held Quakertown to 116 yards on 37 carries- Tucholski’s 46 yards paced his team- but Quakertown had a +2 turnover ratio.
Besides junior Tucholski, entering Friday night the young Panthers’ leading rusher (Lowande-Richardson), receiver (Elliott Martin) and three leading tacklers were all underclassmen.
Quakertown hosts Bensalem next Friday. CR South gets a rare off week after SOL Continental rival Cheltenham canceled their season, and returns to action at Upper Dublin on October 9th.
“We have five more winnable games after this,” Tucholski concluded. “We just want to keep rolling.”