17 YEAR ITCH
Truman ends long drought with historic win over Pennsbury
FAIRLESS HILLS, PA. >> What has become a depressingly familiar script for Pennsbury also was the continuation of an historic season no Truman High School football team has been able to put together before.
Playing in front of a huge crowd at Falcon Field Friday night, Truman beat Pennsbury in a 29-24 thriller to earn its first victory over the Falcons since 2001.
Coupled with its first victory over Neshaminy since 1995 two weeks ago, Truman is now 6-1 and in a strong position to possibly win its first Suburban One National League championship.
Pennsbury, meanwhile, is now 3-4 and has to be frustrated because that record could be so much better if it hadn’t for the third time this year given up a lead late in the fourth quarter. The good news for the Falcons is they have just one league loss and still can control their SONL destiny, beginning with a game at league leading Council Rock South (5-2, 3-0) next Friday night.
The game marked the return of long-time Pennsbury coach Galen Snyder to Falcon Field and ended with the Truman players dumping the water bucket on the head of their assistant coach. This game was also a dogfight from start to finish with a young Pennsbury team showing how much it has improved by taking a 17-7 lead at the half and then coming back in the fourth quarter to go ahead, 24-21.
Much like its win over Neshaminy, however, Truman was able to respond with a clutch drive with the game on the line. The result was a game-winning late drive culminated by 22-yard touchdown sweep around right end by Deondre Winton.
This drive was anything but easy as Truman barely converted on a fourth-andone play before quarterback Dylan Snelling hooked up with Winton on a 14-yard pass after a holding call.
“This means a lot,” said Truman back Terrence Rodgers, who was a workhorse with 91 yards on 20 carries. “They got the jump on us in the first half, but in the second half we came out and did our thing. We all pulled together.”
Pennsbury fell in an early hole when a muffed punt early in the first quarter led to a 27-yard TD run by Rodgers, but the Falcons rebounded to dominate the rest of the first half.
First, Pennsbury got a field goal 21-yard field goal by Brady Burgfechtel, From there, junior quarterback Drew Hensor raced 55 yards for a touchdown down the left sideline and later scored on a 1-yard sneak to finish off a 55-yard drive. Ed Duala ran the ball well during this drive en route to a 99-yard rushing night.
Pennsbury received the ball to start the second half and you couldn’t help but get the feeling it needed to do something offensively right away to squash a looming Truman comeback. Instead, the Falcons stalled in the third quarter and before they knew it they trailed, 2117, when the Tigers roared back on a sensational 32-yard cutback TD run by Winton and a 3-yard run by Rodgers.
Although the momentum seemed to be all with Truman at this point, Pennsbury sucked it up and responded with a long drive that featured more hard running by Dualu and a 1-yard TD run by JayVon McNeil.
It wasn’t enough as Truman marched down the field for the game-winning drive and later received an interception near the goal line from Javeer Peterson after a last-minute Pennsbury desperation drive reached the Tiger 32-yard line.
Truman (6-1) 7 0 14 8 0 29 Pennsbury (3-4) 3 14 0 7 - 24 T-Rodgers 27 run (Yiildirim kick) P-Burgfechtel 21 field goal P-Hensor 55 run (Burgfetchtel kick) P-Hensor 1 run (Burgfechtel kick) T-Winton 32 run (Yildirim kick) T-Rodgers 3 run (Yildirim kick) P-McNeil 1 run (Burrfechtel kick) T-Winton 22 run (Winton pass from Snelling)