Timely plays keep Pennington competitive with Germantown
PENNINGTON » The Pennington School’s football team gave itself a legitimate fighting chance against Pennsylvania’s Germantown Academy by forcing four turnovers in less than three quarters Thursday at Tom Liwosz Field.
The Red Raiders were opportunistic on defense and special teams, but gritty efforts were ultimately outmatched by a Patriots team with too much size in the trenches, spelling a 41-14 Pennington loss when the dust settled.
“Our guys, they played hard. We’re proud of ‘em,” head coach Jerry Eure said. “They were bigger, stronger, faster — three or four Division I athletes. We hung with them for a half.”
Despite being out-gained by more than 200 yards in the first half, Pennington out-executed Germantown in key parts of the field to pressure the Patriots early.
Dante Wilson had a standout performance for Pennington. The junior returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, then intercepted a pass and returned it 67 yards for another score to give the Red Raiders a 14-7 lead seven minutes into the first quarter. He also rushed for 57 yards on 14 carries.
“Dante finally had a good game,” Eure said. “We told him, if they kick to him, he should be able to break one. All year they haven’t kicked to him. It was the first time somebody kicked to him. And I told him to break on that out route, he would pick it off for six, and he did that as well. So he had a good game.”
In the second quarter, linebacker Darius May recovered a fumble with Germantown driving at Pennington’s 12 yard-line to preserve the early lead. Defensive back Jacob Lowenthal added an interception on a pass down the middle at the Pennington’s 2-yard line to keep the Raiders within six points going into halftime.
Three plays into the second half, defensive back Trever Belinsky secured a fourth takeaway for Pennington with the third interception of the game.
But while driving near midfield with a chance to take the lead in the third quarter, Pennington turned the ball over on downs on an incomplete pass on fourth-and-10.
From there it was the Trae Vance show. Germantown pounded it on the ground the rest of the way, and Pennington struggled to wrestle down the visitors’ powerful ball carrier, who finished with three touchdowns.
“Defense played well,” Eure said. “We figured we could match up in the skill position. We just knew we were going to have problems up front. They were big, they were big. And they were tough. We’re proud of our kids. They played hard, they played tough.”
After playing in five successive weeks to start the season, Pennington (2-3) now has 12 days to prepare for Rye Country Day (New York).
“I told each and every one of ‘em: You’re a better football player after this game today than you were before the game,” Eure said. “They might not see it, but they are. We’ll be a better team next week than we are today. You take one week at a time, and I think we will progress from this lesson today that Germantown gave us.”
Germantown (3-1)13 Pennington (2-3) 14 First Quarter G—
Reilly 3 pass from Niedzielski (Niemynski kick)
Wilson 97 kickoff return (kick failed) Wilson 67 interception return (Hartpence pass from West)
Vance 29 run (kick failed)
P— P— G— Second Quarter G— Third Quarter G— Fourth Quarter G— G— 7 0 7 0 14 — 0 —
Snowden 11 run (Niemynski kick) Vance 5 run (Niemynski kick)
Vance 1 run (Niemynski kick) Brittingham 1 run (McGrath kick)
41 14