Fehr’s gritty finish worthy of big rivalry
Green Knights pull away late to win 100th game against Slaters
Perhaps few have better perspective on what a rivalry game is all about than Pen Argyl defensive coordinator and associate head coach Doug Powell.
Powell is in his second season with the Green Knights after coaching at Easton for 37 years, where he was a part of the biggest rivalry in Lehigh Valley-area football: the Red Rovers’ annual Thanksgiving morning battle against Phillipsburg.
“Easton and P’burg are separated by a river, and it’s a special rivalry and game,” Powell said. “This one’s pretty special too. Remember, these communities are side-by-side.
“But when it’s all said and done, you put the hoopla aside and it’s a football game.”
Saturday’s much-anticipated 100th Slate Bowl rivalry game between Bangor and Pen Argyl will be more fondly remembered by those associated with the Green Knights after Pen Argyl started and finished strong in a 31-16 victory before a
standing-room-only crowd surrounding Paul Farnan Field at Bangor Memorial Park.
Conor Fehr was Pen Argyl’s MVP after he scored a pair of touchdowns 24 seconds apart in the final quarter to give the Green Knights breathing room after they saw a 14-0 lead trimmed to 17-14.
Powell’s Pen Argyl defense played a significant role in shutting down the Bangor offense after Kael Godshalk, the Slaters MVP with 81 yards, popped free for a 53-yard on the second play from scrimmage in the second half.
The lone Bangor points the rest of the way came on a safety when Fehr intentionally fell in the end zone with the Green Knights backed up in their own territory with 1 minute, 21 seconds left.
“I’m proud of the kids,” Powell said. “They’re tough kids. They play very hard and do everything you ask of them.”
Pen Argyl put the game away with three second-half takeaways. Jared Albanese had an end-zone interception, Jace Keenhold recovered a fumble and Gabe Hahn picked off another pass.
The Albanese pick ended a drive Bangor had going at the Green Knights 20 and the Slaters down by 3.
Pen Argyl responded with an 88-yard drive that featured two fourth-down conversions, the second going for a 26-yard TD by Fehr with 3:52 left.
After the fumble recovery by Keenhold, Fehr scored from 19 yards out to make it 31-14 with 3:28 to go, and the Green Knights could start celebrating their first win since 2016 and their 51st in the series that began in 1922.
Bangor has won 45 times and there have been four ties.
Pen Argyl coach John C. Smith said he has a rapport with Gavin Amerman and Fehr, who take the lion’s share of snaps in the team’s single-wing attack.
“We have such a great relationship that it’s like they’re both part of my brain,” Smith said. “It’s rare to have kids like that as a coach.
“We’re on the same wavelength. We talk about things together and they know what I want within seconds.”
Fehr, a senior who had 91 yards on 20 carries, said the win meant more to him than the MVP award.
“I could [not] care less about being MVP; it was a team victory,” Fehr said. “Coach Smith counts on me as a leader, and I wanted to take the leadership role and carry the whole team.
“Bangor didn’t stop fighting. They kept their foot on the gas and we had to keep fighting too. We knew how big the fourth quarter was.”
Pen Argyl finished 4-6 after a 1-9 2018 season. Injury-plagued Bangor finished 2-8 after starting 2-1.
“We were down 14-0, but we adjusted and the kids came back and fought,” first-year Slaters coach Paul Reduzzi said. “But I give Pen Argyl kids credit. Every chance they had to make a play in space they did.”
The Green Knights first two scores came on a 38-yard pass from Amerman to Collin McKeague in the first quarter and a 59-yard run by Antonio Reto early in the second. Reto finished with 95 yards on 13 carries.
No losers: Reduzzi, who was the Pen Argyl coach as recently as 2017, said the loss would stick with Bangor for a while.
But ultimately how the two communities came together to stage a special game will resonate even longer.
“It was just done the right way by both schools, both booster clubs, everybody,” Reduzzi said. “The whole week was something the kids will remember for a long time.”