Late TD lifts Pennridge over Knights

Kyle Bigam took his onehanded catch from quarterback Alex Krivda 39 yards for a touchdown with 25 seconds left as the Pennridge football team stayed alone atop the Suburban One League Continental Confer- ence with a 28-21 win over North Penn Friday night at Poppy Yoder Field.

“It was the greatest feeling in the world,” said Bigam of reaching the end zone. “Greatest feeling in the world. Nothing can beat that – ever.

Bigam also had a rushing touchdown and an interception on defense as the Rams E7-1, 4-0 conferenceF won their sixth straight and ended an eight-game losing streak to the Knights E4-4, 3-2F.

“That was just an unbelievable clutch play. I mean, one-handed catch with all that on the line, and then to take it in,” Pennridge coach Randy Cuthbert said. “I’m proud of these guys. They won it as a team.”

North Penn trailed 14-0 at halftime, but rallied to pull even at 14 on Kyle Mayfield’s 49-yard touchdown run at 4:22 in the third quarter. The Rams then retook the lead as Kenny Crawford crossed the goal line on a 1-yard run at 8:33 in the fourth.

After trading punts, North Penn took over at its own 35 with 4:02 left and drove 65 yards on nine plays to make it 21-21 as Mayfield scored on a 4-yard run with 51 seconds.

“I’m proud, I thought the kids played hard,” Knights coach Dick Beck said. “We had our backs against the wall the whole game.”

With the loss, North Penn’ s hopes for reaching the District One postseason pretty much came to an end. The Knights have not missed the postseason since 2001.

Starting at Rams’ 36 with 51 seconds remaining, Krivda ran 14 yards for a first down. A Crawford 4-yard run and a Krivda 7-yard pass to Micah Stutzman brought Pennridge to the 39, where Krivda hit Bigam for the game-winning score.

“I think we just called the defense. I think there was a misunderstanding about what was called,” Beck said. “I think we were in the wrong defense. It was a little confusion. I’ll take that, that’s my fault.”

Pennridge sealed the victory as Jeremy uander picked off Knights quarterback Mike Berstecher for the second time.

Both teams are back on the field Friday. Pennridge visits Central Bucks East, while North Penn hosts Central Bucks West.

Mike Class gave the Rams a 7-0 lead at 2:39 in the first quarter on a 10-yard touchdown run to cap a 13-play, 67-yard drive. Bigam doubled the Pennridge advantage with his 24-yard run to the end zone at 8:16 in the second.

North Penn made it 14-7 after a touchdown on the opening drive of the third when Luke Berry scored on a 2-yard run at 7:19.