What we learned, other highlights from Week 5
Saucon Valley’s offense performed best Friday under when the pressure was at its peak — on third and fourth downs.
ThePanthers were 3-for-5 with two touchdowns on third downinthe first half. Theonly two times the Panthers were stopped cameonTyler Houser sacks.
In the second half, coach Brad Trembler’s bunch was 3-for-7 on third down and 3-for-3 on fourth down. That means it kept drives alive six of seven times, even though they were in long-yardage situations.
The average yardage Saucon needed on those nine total conversions: 8.75 yards.
The average yardage gained on those nine: 23.6 yards.
“A lot of kids in a lot of spots grew up tonight,” Trembler said. “I remember saying this last year, that we’re growing up and winning at the same time.”
Saucon Valley won 34-33, thanks to a Dante Mahaffey 15-yard TD pass to Alex Magnotta with 84 seconds left.
2. K-Kids coming around: Northampton may be 0-2 after its 27-17 loss to unbeaten Nazareth, but the Konkrete Kids led 10-7 at halftime and were still up deep into the third quarter.
The K-Kids should have gained confidence from their effort with Liberty up next.
Coach Kyle Haas was pleased that his team was able to run for 229 yards, led by Michael Cruz’s 112. Nazareth held Allentown Central Catholic standout Jayden Williams to nine yards on Sept. 25 and limited Bethlehem Catholic to 97 yards on the ground in its Eastern Pennsylvania Conference opener.
“Our kids were physical and up front we really got after them,” Haas told Mike Blouse after the game. “We worked real hard in the weight room and I thought we were a lot more physical
tonight,” Trembler said. “I remember saying this last year, that we’re growing up and winning at the same time.”
Saucon Valley won 34-33, thanks to a Dante Mahaffey 15-yard TD pass to Alex Magnotta with 84 seconds left.
2. K-Kids coming around: Northampton may be 0-2 after its 27-17 loss to unbeaten Nazareth, but the Konkrete Kids led 10-7 at halftime and were still up deep into the third quarter. The K-Kids should have gained confidence from their effort with Liberty up next.
Coach Kyle Haas was pleased that his team was able to run for 229 yards, led by Michael Cruz’s 112. Nazareth held Allentown Central Catholic standout Jayden Williams to nine yards on Sept. 25 and limited Bethlehem Catholic to 97 yards on the ground in its Eastern Pennsylvania Conference opener.
“Our kids were physical and up front we really got after them,” Haas told Mike Blouse after the game. “Weworked real hard in the weight room and I thought we were a lot more physical tonight than we were last week [against Freedom]. That’s the difference in this league. If our kids can understand this is howwehave to play in order to hang in games and make them competitive, we’ll be better off.”
3. Closing in on1,000 yards: Senior running back Mason Smeland had another monster game. The reigning Morning Call/Coordinated Health male athlete of the week ran for 229 yards and four touchdowns in Palisades’ 35-0win over Bangor.
Smeland has 870 yards rushing (8.5 yards per carry) and 13 TDsin five games for the Pirates (4-1), whohave a big showdown next Friday night with visiting Notre Dame-GP (5-0). He also has two receiving scores.
4. Air Becahi takes flight. Even after his team was shut out for the first time since 2014 by Nazareth a week earlier, Bethlehem Catholic coach Joe Henrich remained confident in his offense. He said the team moved the ball against the Blue Eagles, but needed to complete a few more passes to be effective.
Henrich got the response he was looking for in Friday’s 42-17 rout of Liberty.
After completing just four of 13 passes for 18 yards against Nazareth, junior quarterback Jared Richardson was 13-for-17 for 189 yards and four touchdowns. Sophomore Eric Wert caught four passes for 104 yards and two TDs and also returned an interception 45 yards for a score.
It was the second straight game the Hurricanes, who had six turnovers in all, gave up an interception return for a score.
5. One-manwrecking crew: Salisbury finally broke into the win column thanks in large part to senior quarterback Quintin Stephens. He accounted for 339 yards and six touchdowns in a 46-20 victory over Pen Argyl.
The athletically gifted Stephens threw four TDpasses and ran for two more for coach Andy Cerco’s Falcons. He totaled five touchdowns in his first two games.
6. Senneca senses success: Whitehall may have fallen to 1-2 with its 41-24 loss at Parkland Friday night, but better times are coming for the Zephyrs who have underclassmen at several key positions starting with junior quarterback Quinn Wentling.
Tommy Buskirk, Damonte Foreman and Nigel Linton, who all scored second-half touchdowns for Whitehall after Parkland built a 34-3 halftime lead, are returning next season. Bryce Bashore, who also has had a lot of catches in the first three games, is another. Linton, who had 63 yards rushing, is a sophomore.
“We showed what we can do; we just don’t do it consistently and that’s the frustrating part,” Senneca said. “I told the kids afterward we’ve got to get to the point where we start believing in ourselves and belief that we’re a good football team because we are. Our record [1-2] doesn’t indicate it. The scoreboard doesn’t indicate it sometimes. But when we play the way we can play, we’re a pretty good football. We’ve got to get there consistently.”