Pennsbury peppers way to win over Rock South
For BucksLocalSports FAIRLESS HILLS — It’s the last go-round for the amazing Pepper family in Pennsbury High School sports and it sure looks like senior Shawn Pepper intends to make the most of it.
The youngest of three brothers who are all oustanding athletes, Pepper continued to tear it up as he ran for 214 yards on just 10 carries and scored three touchdowns as the Pennsbury football team rolled over Council Rock South, 28-7, Monday night at Falcon Field.
With the victory, the topranked team in the area improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the Suburban One National League. Rock South, meanwhile, continued its nightmare of a season by dropping to 0-5 after having to postpone this game from Friday night because of skin disease issues on the squad.
“They put in a couple of new plays for me and the line did a great job,’’ said Pepper, who stands 6-3, runs the 40 in 4.56 and is receiving Division 1 interest. “It’s exciting to be part of this.’’
After Pennsbury’s first possession resulted in a fumble in Rock South territory, the Falcons opened the scoring when Division 1 fullback Daquan Mack (61, 255) bulled his way into the end zone on a 9-yard run. This came after Pepper ripped off an 80-yard run from his own 7 to the Rock South 9 yard line.
The lead grew to 16-0 early in the second quarter when sophomore quarterback Breon Clark lofted a perfectly thrown 49-yard pass to a wide open Pepper over the middle.
“The other teams are not expecting that,’’ said Pepper when asked about his TD reception. “And Breon throws a really nice ball.’’
Pepper and Pennsbury did not score again in the first half, but this was because an 85-yard run by Pepper for an apparent touchdown was wiped out by a holding call.
No problem as Pepper scored in the second half on a 2-yard run following a 35yard pass from Clark to Dan Chaudri, and a 74-yard burst at the end of the third quar- ter on a buck sweep.
Add it all up and that’s over 20 yards a carry for Pepper, who had nearly 300 yards in total offense when you include his TD reception and punt return. Mack, meanwhile, plowed ahead for 97 yards on 15 carries before departing with an ankle injury.
While it was very much business as usual for powerhouse Pennsbury last evening, Rock South continued to struggle after making it all the way to the district final a year ago.
In addition to the skin problems, the Hawks were without their top two running backs and were able to pass for only two yards against the active Falcon defense. Pennsbury also got an interception from Ryon Muse at the end of the second quarter.
Tyler Anderson did get Rock South on the board late in the fourth quarter on a 14-yard run, but by that time Pennsbury had inserted subs.
“I’m happy.’’ said Pennsbury coach Galen Snyder. “We played hard and did what we had to do.’’
Things figure to get tougher later in the week when Abington (4-1) comes to Falcon Field. The good thing is the game is on Saturday night, giving the Pennsbury an extra day to pratice following the unusual Monday night game.
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