Hatboro-Horsham survives Bears

WILLOW GROVE >> In a thrilling ending at Upper Moreland High School, the Hatboro-Horsham football squad survived a late comeback to beat the Bears with a final score of 14-8.

For pretty much the entire game, the Hatters and Bears were within a onepossession game.

Hatboro-Horsham started the scoring with Amir Booker running for a 10-yard touchdown to put the Hatters up 7-0 after the first quarter.

Upper Moreland wasn’t able to score back until late in the second quarter when Caleb Mead ran for 44 yards for six points.

After Hatboro-Horsham was caught offside for the extra point, Mead took full advantage going for a oneyard two-point conversion run to take an 8-7 lead at halftime.

Both defenses were on point for the third quarter keeping the score 8-7 heading into the final quarter.

With a little over two minutes left in the game, the Hatters shocked the entire stadium.

When quarterback Patrick Chapman was losing balance at the line of scrimmage, he found a wide-open receiver Jordan Colazzo for a 65-yard touchdown pass to give Hatboro-Horsham the 14-8 lead.

The Upper Moreland Bears did everything they could to strike back with less than two minutes left in the game, and they almost did.

With 30 seconds left in the game, Upper Moreland’s quarterback Jon Knight connected on a pass in the end zone for a touchdown.

However, the touchdown was erased because of an offensive pass interference call, which later lead to an interception caught by the Hatters defense to ultimately end the game.

Upper Moreland head coach CJ Szydlik wasn’t thrilled with the last penalty, which was also the ninth penalty called on the Upper Moreland team.

“Penalties have been really bad for us so far this season,” said Szydlik. “When we play so many young kids, that what we kinda expected especially when they are learning about that.”

“Everything is a lesson to be learned for this team,” added Szydlik. “It was a tough call at the end, but hopefully we will be better because of it.”

Chapman was thrilled for his team to get the huge victory on the road heading into a bye week.

“This win means the world to me,” said Chapman. “I was playing with my brothers. Even though we’re not really related, we treat each other like family and that’s why we won tonight.”

Colazzo was impressed getting this win especially after losing to Upper Moreland last year by one point.

“I wasn’t able to play in this game last year,” said Colazzo. “Coming out tonight and setting the tone for the rest of the season is a great feeling.”

Hatboro-Horsham head coach Mike Kapusta was impressed with the defensive efforts from his Hatters.

“I thought the defensive effort was a total team effort tonight,” said Kapusta. “They were stopping a great running back tonight and also stopping the pass from a quarterback with a rocket arm.”

Hatboro-Horsham will keep the momentum going in two weeks on Friday, October 12 when it travels to Cheltenham for a 7 p.m. kickoff. That game also marks Cheltenham’s senior night.

Upper Moreland will look to bounce back from a tough loss on Friday, October 5 when it travels to Wissahickon High School. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.