Penn’s defense shines in its fourth straight win
MISHAWAKA — It may not have been as spectacular as the postgame fireworks extravaganza, but the Penn football team was just as impressive Friday night.
The Kingsmen rode the continued stellar play of its defense to blank Saint Joseph 28-0 in Northern Indiana Conference play in front of a huge Homecoming Night crowd at Everwise Freed Field.
The Penn “Wild Bunch” unit stretched its scoreless streak to 14 straight quarters as the Class 6A No. 10 Kingsmen rolled to their fourth straight win. Penn improved to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in NIC East-West Division play with a trip to New Prairie awaiting next week. The Cougars moved to 4-0 in the NIC by downing league foe Riley Friday night.
The Kingsmen topped Saint Joe for the 21st consecutive time. Nolan McCullough fired a pair of touchdown passes for Penn and Vincent Homer returned a punt 75 yards for a score to highlight the in.
Penn’s defense forced St. Joe to punt eight times in the game. Saint Joe finished with just 107 total yards on the night and eight first downs with two of those coming on Penn penalties.
St. Joe, which has lost three in a row, falls to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the NIC.
“Our defense plays well together and they buy into a team defensive mentality,” said Penn coach Cory Yeoman. “It’s all about everyone out there just doing their job. All of them know where their help is on defense.
“We got a nice punt return tonight for a score and I thought that our special teams play was big tonight. Our coverage was good on kicks.”
Penn squandered a couple of scoring chances in the opening period, missing a field goal and getting stopped on downs at the St. Joe 28 after a costly penalty.
The Kingsmen led 14-0 at halftime as Jake Balis scored on a seven-yard run with 4:59 to play before halftime and then Nolan McCollough hit Kellen Watson on a fine 37yard touchdown toss with just 7.2 seconds to play.
“We shot ourselves in the foot early, but just kept our composure and kept going,” Yeoman said of his offense. “The nice thing is that we have different guys stepping up for us every Friday night on offense. That was the case again tonight.” http://bwcook.localconsumer.info/
Penn held St. Joe to just 22 yards of offense in the opening half.
The Kingsmen added a pair of third quarter scores as Homer turned in a nifty 75-yard punt return and McCullough hit Elijah Coker for a seven-yard touchdown pass.
Turning point of the game
Penn quarterback Nolan McCollough hit Kellen Watson on a 37-yard touchdown toss with just 7.2 seconds to play before halftime. The key pitch and catch and fine run by Watson made it 14-0 at halftime and capped a two-play, 52-yard drive that took 16.7 seconds.
What they said
“Penn is just a very well coached football team and they have depth that is unparalleled in the area,” said St. Joe coach Ben Downey of the Kingsmen.
“As long as we came out of this game healthy, this type pf performance let’s us know that if we pay attention to details and have discipline that we have the heart and the toughness and athleticism to be a very good football team,” added Downey of his squad.
Up next
Penn travels to New Prairie in NIC action and St. Joe hosts Culver Academy in nonconference play next Friday night.
Penn 28, South Bend Saint Joseph 0
South Bend Saint Joseph 0 0 0 0 —0 Penn 0 14 14 0 —28 SCORING PLAYS
SECOND QUARTER
P: Jake Balis 7 yard touchdown run (Dylan DeDario kick)
P: Kellen Watson 37 yard touchdown pass from Nolan McCullough (DeDario kick)
THIRD QUARTER
P: Vincent Homer 75 yard punt return (DeDario kick)
P: Elijah Coker 7 yard touchdown pass from McCullough (DeDario kick)