Pennridge Holds Off C’Ville; Will Play for Title

To run in the November 20th Bucks County Herald

Boom!

If ever one single play changed the momentum of a multi-act football game, it was Will Dougherty’s hit in the second quarter. A hit that helped the host #1 Pennridge Rams (12-1) gut out a win in Friday’s District One 6A semi-final over #4 Coatesville 17-14.

Pennridge will host a surging North Penn- in a rematch of week 5’s Ram win- for the District title next Friday.

“What a game. That’s a phenomenal defense over there,” credited Pennridge head coach Kyle Beller. “They are awesome in person. We knew they were a heck of a football team. They would probably be undefeated if (quarterback Matt) Ortega hadn’t gotten hurt.”
Trailing 7-0, but having backed the Red Raiders to their own two, Pennridge’s Dougherty barreled running back Sage Bradshaw two yards deep in the end zone and drove him past the back line for a safety.

“I was just exploding through the line. I didn’t even know it was a safety at that moment until I saw I was in the end zone and my teammates were celebrating,” Dougherty remembered. “It changed the momentum of our team and our attitude in this game.”

On Pennridge’s next play, from a drive that started in Coatesville territory, Noah Keating hit Ryan Rowe on a wheel route. The Princeton-bound Rowe took it to the house and then took the pitch for the conversion to put the Rams up 10-7 midway in the second quarter. Pennridge would not relinquish the lead.

Coatesville received the opening second half kickoff, which they fumbled away to Pennridge’s Nate Derstine. The Rams completed an eight play, 38-yard drive when Keating hit Blake Landherr in the end zone on a one yard jump pass.

Coatesville’s Andre Watson answered immediately with a 59-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to 17-14. But there would be no more scoring in the game’s final quarter and a half.

Thomas Ginnetti’s pressure on Coatesville quarterback Matt Ortega impacted a throw that was picked off by Sean Leuthe, killing a drive. Michael Ferguson turned a Red Raider screen pass into a four-yard loss, forcing a punt on the next Coatesville drive.

“All year, every game, it has been: who is going to make the big play. In the first District playoff game, a senior who didn’t play much has to go in and causes a huge fumble. Every time, it has been like that,” Beller pointed out.

Coatesville moved the ball to the Ram-40 with 40 seconds left, but the fourth down pass fell incomplete and Keating knelt into victory formation.
“It’s who they’ve been and who they are. They grind it out,” Beller noted. “They’re a great bunch of kids. They’ve put in the work and they bought in three years ago. They believe.”

Keating completed 11 of 22 passes for 96 yards. Coatesville outgained the Rams by nearly 100 yards, but Pennridge’s plus three turnover ratio and mistake limiting football couldn’t be overcome.

“Honestly, it’s the same thing week in and week out. We’ll hit reset on Monday and make some minor tweaks,” Beller shared. “But we do what we do and I think it helped us stay level headed.”

Sophomore Trevor Picciotti led the Rams with 12 carries for 65 yards. Picciotti, who got nicked up late in the game, had to replace Rowe who had also gotten hurt.

Third running back option? No sweat for a deep Pennridge team.

“All of these players on this team know it is the next man up,” Dougherty said. “One person doesn’t make our entire team. We keep chugging away.”

The Rams opened this season winning two high scoring affairs against Liberty and Bensalem. But since then, Pennridge has embarked on an 11 game stretch where they yielded just 11.3 PPG.

On Friday, Pennridge surrendered three explosive plays. Coatesville got just 137 yards on their other 46 plays.

“We were very physical,” said senior lineman Ian Gallagher. “We were able to hold them when we had to. They broke off a couple of plays but we came out with the victory.”

Pennridge did this despite surrendering size. 6’6” 300 pound Coatesville lineman Max Hiller is rated by some services as the top junior in Pennsylvania.

“Our game plan was to keep their big dudes under control and work around them to win the game,” Gallagher shared.

Pennridge held Downingtown East to just 86 yards in their second round win. Halloween was spooky indeed for the Rams. They needed a Rowe touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minute to hold off upset minded #16 Plymouth-Whitemarsh 22-21 in the first round.

Gallagher reminded that this is now the first Pennridge team to win three playoff games. “The attitude and chemistry is the best since I’ve been in high school and it just carries on each week,” he said. “We keep getting better and better.”