Pennridge handles Norristown

WEST NORRITON >> Last year did not end pleasantly for Pennidge’s football team, which saw its postseason hopes dashed in the season’s final weekend.

The 2016 season, however, is off to a flying start, as Saturday afternoon’s 49-20 win over host Norristown showed.

The Rams got a monster first half from quarterback Jagger Hartshorn, who rushed for 187 yards and five touchdowns and passed for 69 more, as the Rams scored seven firsthalf touchdowns and then rested their starters in the second half.

“I said that to our guys (Friday),” said Rams head coach Jeff Hollenbach. “We wanted to get the taste of last year out of our mouths.”

And in doing so, the Rams had the Eagles gagging on the fumes.

Norristown had three scoring plays of better than 60 yards, but little else, as the Rams dominated, without having to dip too deeply into the playbook.

It took the Rams just 63 seconds to get on the board, but the whole game might have been the first snap from scrimmage, that saw Hartshorn gallop 42 yards to put the Rams where they seemed to be throughout the first half – in scoring range.

“I saw a big hole, hit it and it kind of set the tone for the whole game,” said the quarterback, who transferred back to Pennridge after spending a season in Georgia. “It just feels good to be back with all of these guys.

“I just jumped back in, didn’t have to learn any of the plays. It was great.”

The Rams defense stuffed the Eagles on each of their first two possessions, then capitalized on field position.

Hartshorn scored on runs of 17 and 26 yards, and it was 21-0 with 5:21 left in the first quarter.

Norristown cut to 21-6 when Shannon Carnard took a middle screen 92 yards to bring Norristown to within 21-6.

But the Rams owned all but one play of the remainder of the first half.

Meanwhile, Hartshorn rushed for touchdowns of 6, 17, and 26 yards.

And by halftime, the lead was five touchdowns.

Norristown got a 68yard scoring pass from quarterback Izaiah Webb to Boubacar Diawara and an 80-yard return of a fumble by Zhafir Satterwaite in the third quarter. But all for naught. “We have a very young team, so cutting our teeth on a team of that caliber is a good thing,” said Eagles head coach Jason Powel. “We have mostly sophomores and juniors, but the guys were playing hard in the fourth quarter, so that’s something to build on.”