Patriots boxed in, and contained by Indians

SOUDERTON » Penn Wood certainly had Souderton’s full attention this week in practice.

The Indians knew how athletic and skilled the Patriots were going to be when they met Friday night, so they put a lot of effort into stopping Penn Wood. It started by containing Answered Gleplay and followed by keeping the Patriots’ quarterbacks in the pocket.

Souderton did its homework because it knew it had to.

Behind a stout defensive effort, Souderton handed the visiting Patriots a 37-14 defeat in their season opener Friday night. Five different players scored for Souderton while Penn Wood’s two scores came off of Desman Johnson Jr. to Kennedy Poles connections.

“It was tough,” Souderton coach Ed Gallagher said of slowing down Penn Wood. “We had to keep the quarterback in the pocket, which I think we did a decent job on. Gleplay is a heck of an athlete, so it was really a challenge to keep him bottled up. We watched him on film break off a 99-yard touchdown in a scrimmage on a play where they really didn’t have anything going.”

Poles had a huge game for Penn Wood, catching seven balls for 130 yards and two touchdowns. His best play of the game came in the final minute of the second quarter, when he snared a ball over a defending Souderton player for a 44-yard gain to set up his 11-yard touchdown.

The 6-foot-1 junior also reeled in a 25-yarder in the fourth quarter on a sliding grab along the goal line. Poles also helped force and recovered a fumble after a Souderton interception turned return.

Defensively, Penn Wood didn’t surrender many big plays while forcing and recovering a fumble and picking off Souderton quarterback Dean Dipisa. The Patriots couldn’t slow down the Indians however, and their own turnovers and penalties gave the Indians plenty of good field position.

Gleplay finished the game with 45 yards on 11 carries. Johnson, who split reps with Brian Parker, completed 10 of 20 passes for 138 yards and two scores.