He used to scurry around the Pennridge locker room as a 10-year-old when his grandfather was the Rams’ head coach, and is currently the Rams’ offensive coordinator. Keating remembers those times. He is so intertwined with Pennridge football his mom used to attend Rams’ games when she was pregnant with him.
So, this fit.
On Friday night, Keating scored a career-best three rushing touchdowns, and threw for another in leading the Rams to a historic 34-10 victory over perennial Southeastern Pennsylvania powerhouse North Penn.
It marked the first time the undefeated Rams beat North Penn since Oct. 19, 2012, a 28-21 Rams’ victory—when the juniors and seniors on this current team were being introduced to football as pee-wee four- and five-year-olds, and the ball was as big as they were.
Pennridge is now one of only two undefeated teams in PIAA District 1 Class 6A with Ches-Mont League contender Coatesville, both standing at 5-0.
With the Rams, however, their 5-0 carries a larger significance. Pennridge has not been a valid District 1 championship contender since that 2012 season (discounting the 2020 COVID-19 season).
They are now.
This season’s 5-0 record already exceeds Pennridge’s victory total for all of last year (4), and the way the Rams are trending, led by Keating, they could equal and possibly exceed the combined total number of victories the program has had combined the previous three seasons (9).
Keating, a Marist commit, rushed for 75 yards on 12 carries and scored on touchdown runs of five, 20 and 17 yards on a basic quarterback sneak. He opened what had been a close game into a surprising blowout.
“Pennridge football has been a huge part of my life, and it’s crazy to think I was five the last time we beat North Penn,” Keating said. “This is incredible. On the quarterback sneaks, North Penn didn’t put anyone in the middle, and it was my call. It was great blocking by Ian Gallagher, our center, and I saw the middle wide open and took advantage of it.
“There is something special going on here. We had to learn how to win. This senior group has been together since grade school. We all began playing together our sophomore year and took a lot of hits. It’s an unreal feeling beating North Penn. We’re really starting to get it.”
North Penn turned the ball four times, two interceptions and two crazy kickoffs that the Knights failed to field.
Pennridge led from start to finish, but the Knights (3-2) had a chance to go ahead at the end of the first half with the ball sitting at the Pennridge two with no timeouts left and the clock winding down. North Penn never got a chance to get off another play and had to retire to the dressing room trailing 6-3.
“They created the mistakes for us, tip my cap to them, they played great, and they caught us in those quarterback sneaks where they were suckering us where our guys were running up field and didn’t read it,” North Penn coach Dick Beck said. “That was a little tough. We were not good in all phases. They did some really good things. The end of a half was a tough one, too, because I should have gone spread and run the ball, instead of going play-action. That’s on me. I have to be smarter than that. The end of the half is on me.”
Pennridge scored on four of its first five possessions in the second half. The Rams, who were outgained 126-63 in the first half, gained 232 yards in the second half. North Penn gained 92 yards the rest of the game, 80 yards of which came in the Knights’ lone touchdown drive that pulled them to within 20-10 with 10:38 to play.
It looked like the Knights would make a push, but it was Pennridge that pushed back. A Rams’ stop at the North Penn 42 was converted into a six-play drive that ended with Keating’s second rushing touchdown. The Rams backed that up when on the ensuing kickoff, a crazy bounce off the chest of a North Penn player led to a loose ball at the Knights’ 20, recovered by Pennridge.
Two plays later, Keating muscled his way to his third rushing touchdown from 17 yards out.
The turning point in the game came on a fake punt when Keating, who is also Pennridge’s punter, hit a wide-open Michael Ferguson for a 43-yard gain to the Knights’ 16 in the third quarter. It’s when Keating scored the first of his three rushing TDs, giving Pennridge a 20-3 lead with 37 seconds left in the third quarter.
“I haven’t call a blocked punt all year, and I called blocked punt, and we didn’t cover the receiver that was split out, which was a backbreaker,” Beck said. “That was my fault. I have to review that more.”
For now, many Pennridge players basked in the glow of something the program had not accomplished in a generation.
“I’m 17 until November and I was four the last time we beat North Penn, and it is crazy to think about,” said Pennridge linebacker Ryan Rowe, who had one of the Rams’ two interceptions. “This group of seniors have been together since we were seven and it’s a team that has great chemistry. I was thinking about what it would be like to win this game.”
Pennridge was reminded all week that it had been since 2012 that the Rams last beat North Penn. Rams’ coach Kyle Beller, who is in his third season, made sure facing North Penn was like any other game.
“Coming off the field after the first half, the kids did not have their heads down, and we knew we could fix what went wrong,” Beller said. “North Penn is a great program. Coach Beck does an amazing job. They know they get everyone’s best game. As the final seconds were ticking away, I was thinking my kids have something that they’ll remember for 20 years. Our team comes and plays, and they will battle.
“Monday we will hit reset and start over again. For now, this is a great memory that these kids will talk about until old age.”
Scoring Summary
North Penn (3-2) 3 0 0 7-10
Pennridge (5-0) 3 3 14 14-34
1st Quarter
P – Luis Nunez 36 FG, 5:51
NP – Matt Marnier 27 FG, 1:31
2nd Quarter
P – Nunez 41 FG, 6:06
3rd Quarter
P – Sean Leuthe 45 pass from Noah Keating (Nunez kick), 7:11
P – Keating 5 run (Nunez kick), :37
4th Quarter
NP – Rylei Gray 6 run (Marnier kick), 10:38
P – Keating 20 run (Nunez kick), 5:14
P – Keating 17 run (Nunez kick), 4:23
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.
One Response
Beller is the man!