Balanced Pennridge rolls over Haverford School
There were 11 Haverford School defenders staring past Pennridge’s offensive line and around its quarterback. All eyes were on the Rams’ running backs on Friday night. Junior Mike Class has received preseason recognition throughout the area and he was the Fords’ focal point.
Seconds after Class carried for the sixth time for a total of four yards, his senior teammates made their presence felt. With the defensive backs playing the run, senior quarterback Alex hrivda found senior hyle Bigam for a 52-yard strike to start the scoring.
“We had a hard time running it at the beginning and then Alex made a ton of big plays to loosen it up,” Rams’ coach Randy Cuthbert said. “Alex needs to be the guy that keeps them honest. I thought he made great decisions.”
Now needing to respect the pass, the Rams’ balanced attack routed the Fords 41-7 at Poppy Yoder Field. hrivda threw for 113 yards and Class and crew eventually found running room.
“First game of the year everyone has butterflies,” hrivda said. “We went out there and set the tone. We noticed one of their defensive backs was really aggressive and took advantage of it. Bigam is going to be running the ball, catching the ball and a big part of our offense.”
It was Class who capped off three drives orchestrated by hrivda, who made plays when he had to and moved the chains. The Rams eliminated the Fords’ big play defenders Matt Galambos (Pittsburgh commit) and Sema’j Reed by using a variety blocking schemes.
“They were really big and had some guys we could not move,” Cuthbert said. “We used some crab blocks and double team and mixed it up. (Galambos) is a heck of a player and we ran away from him all day.”
Class, who finished with 118 yards, had two one-yard touchdowns and scored a 17-yard touchdown in the non-league season opener. Fullback henny Crawford added 57 yards and a score. The success of the skill players stemmed from line’s performance.
“We found that with (Mike) Supp and (Shane)
Kraynik we could give them problems,” Cuthbert said. “They never knew were the block was coming from.”
It was the defensive front that allowed the Rams to extend their lead. The Fords only picked up eight first downs and barely cracked 100 total yards of offense after three quarters. Senior quarterback Stephen Fitzgerald’s six-yard scamper in the third quarter was the lone bright spot.
“We just need to keep our energy up and focus more,” Fords’ junior running back Anthony Hill said. “It was exactly what we expected from them, but they came out hard, ready to play.”
The Fords attempted to run a no-huddle offense, but penalties and turnovers slowed its strategy down. The Fords committed seven penalties for 70 yards and three fumbles lost never allowed them to find the rhythm the Inter-Ac school needed to succeed.
“We came out and tried to play a little faster,” Hill said. “We need to pay more attention at practice and be more focused in the game. We need to put this behind us and bounce back.”
The maturity of Krivda continued once the pads were off as he remained realistic about the big win. As excited as he was to see his team execute the game plan to near perfection, the senior knows there is a lot more to prove. Seconds after the clock hit zero his focused shifted to second week opponent, Bensalem, which lost 44-7 to Archbishop Wood.
“It’s great to have a win, but it is just one win,” Krivda said. “We cannot get over confident. It is a long football season, so we are going to come out fired up against Bensalem.”