PJP falls in final minute to Springside-Chestnut Hill

UPPER PROVIDENCE » The one coach effectively, if succinctly, summed up the spirit of the just-completed contest.

“This was an unbelievable high-school game,” Rich Knox, head coach of Springside-Chestnut Hill, said after seeing his Blue Devils prevail over Pope John Paul II, 32-27, in Saturday’s non-league meeting of unbeaten teams. “It’s a shame either team had to lose this one.”

It was a testament to both squads’ resiliency. Seeing an early lead reversed into a 20-7 deficit early in the third quarter, PJP (21) came back with a pair of scores in about a six-minute span to regain a 21-20 advantage. A recovered fumble on the kickoff after the lead-gaining score put the Golden Panthers in good stead to pad their lead toward victory.

But SCH (3-0) rose up on defense to make PJP turn the ball over on downs at its 25. What followed was a back-and-forth lead change three times, the Devils getting their ultimate gamewinning score on a 30-yard TD toss from quarterback Aidan Dooley to wideout Ivar Thorpe in the final half-minute.

The hosts were unable to cash in on one final possession, sustaining a loss that contrasted with their dominating performances in previous games with Archbishop Carroll (43-14) and New Hope-Solebury (51-0).

But their head coach took pride in the Panthers’ mindset.

“I’m proud of the effort,” Rory Graver said. “Springside-Chestnut Hill is an Inter-Ac school, it has three Division 1-type players on the team.

“Being down 20-7, we could have folded. But this effort will go a long way for us as the season progresses.”

SCH ran an offense fueled primarily by Dooley’s throwing arm and corps of receivers. The senior signal-caller had TD tosses to Tommy Shelinsky (49 yards) in the first quarter, Thorpe (33 yards) in the second, Danny Reagan (two) in the third, then repeats to Shelinsky (66) and Thorpe (30) in the fourth.

It was all part of a 265yard aerial show that saw Dooley complete 13 of more than 25 passes with only one interception, Kese Williams’ swipe late in the third quarter that set PJP up to score on D.J. Clarke’s 10-yard pass to Boyd Skarbek that returned the Panthers to a 21-20 lead with 9:05 left.

Pope John Paul, by comparison, saw both its running and passing games contribute to its scoring in equal measure. Along with Steele Depetrillo scoring on its opening possession. Josh Little had a three-yard TD run that gave the Panthers their final lead of the afternoon (27-26). In the air, Clarke hit Kese Williams (three) and Boyd Skarbek (10) prior to Little’s run. GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 12, HILL SCHOOL 0 » The Hill held the Patriots to just two field goals and a touchdown, but couldn’t get its offense going consistently in a non-league loss. Brian Allen rushed for 148 yards for GA and Tristian Machado passed for 89 yards and a TD pass to Jake Hsu. The Patriots intercepted three passes while allowing only one completion.

Quarterback Hayden Fruhling ran for 60 yards, Anthony Wise for 48 yards and Kayden White for 33 for the Rams.

Wise ran for 12 yards on the second play from scrimmage, but the Rams were forced to punt and GA put together a drive of 46 yards on 14 plays that ended with a 32-yard field goal by Jared Smith.

Then the Patriots scored their only TD after the Rams went for a first down on a 4th-and-2 play and lost three yards back to their own 25 yard line. Machado’s 18-yard toss to Hsu made it 9-0 with 8:53 remaining in the first half.

After that, the visitors controlled the ball as Allen rushed 27 times on the day and Machado connected on 11 of 19 pass attempts. A 37yard field goal by Smith completed the scoring four minutes into the second half.

After the Patriot touchdown, The Hill advanced from its own 24 to the GA 25, with much of the yardage coming on a 26-yard pass play from Fruhling to Luke Pickard. But the hosts fumbled the ball away on the next play and interceptions by Hsu, Aidan Zakarewicz and Evan Spivey ended the next three possessions for the Rams. METHACTON 35, WISSAHICKON 27 » Dan Brandi used his arm and his legs to help the Warriors to a come-from-behind victory over the Trojans on Friday night.

Brandi tossed for 122 yards and a pair of scores, including a 28-yarder to Brian Dickey with five minutes to play in the third quarter that proved to be the game winning score. He also added 14 attempts for 73 yards and a 20-yard touchdown on the ground.

Dickey was another dualthreat for the Warriors, running six times for 56 yards and a touchdown and snagging three catches for 53 yards and a touchdown. Chapman caught Dickey’s other touchdown toss on a 19-yard pass from Brandi.

Khaydon Smith rounded out Methacton’s scoring with a kickoff return touchdown.

DANIEL BOONE 45, GARDEN SPOT 17 » Dean Rotter completed 13-of-16 passes for 247 yards and four touchdowns to lead Daniel Boone to a win over Garden Spot in a non-league game Friday at New Holland.

Rotter, a sophomore, became the starter after senior Carter Speyerer suffered a season-ending broken ankle in the opener against Wyomissing. He completed TD passes of 68 yards and 33 yards to Cam Hirschman, 24 yards to Draven Klick and 21 yards to Alex Vassallo.

The Blazers (1-2) led 21-7 after a quarter and 38-10 at halftime. Hirschman had two catches for 101 yards and Vassallo had eight catches for 99 yards. Nate Millard kicked a 46-yard field goal for Boone.

Also for the Blazers, AJ Hofer had 119 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. JT Hogan scored on a 55yard run on his only carry. UPPER MERION 24, TWIN VALLEY 12 » The Vikings scored the first 24 points of Friday’s non-league win over TV.

Joey Koavacic’s TD run gave Upper Merion an early 7-0 lead. Nolan Clayton tossed a touchdown to Nick Gerace and Cyrus Palladino booted a 25-yard field goal to put the Vikings up 17-0 at half.

Zayd Etheridge added a touchdown to finish off UM’s scoring. CUMBERLAND VALLEY 23, SPRING-FORD 19 » CV’s Griffin Huffman scooped up a botched field goal attempt and ran to the end zone as time expired to deliver the Eagles their first win of the season and hand the Rams their first loss.

After seeing their 10-3 halftime lead turn into a 1716 deficit, Sam Herman’s 35yard field goal with 2:38 to play put Spring-Ford ahead, 19-17. But the Eagles drove all the way down to the twoyard line, eventually getting the game winning score on the scoop and score.

Along with two Herman field goals, Gage Swanger had a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown and a 65yard touchdown catch from quarterback Ryan Freed to make up the Rams’ scoring. UPPER MORELAND 21, PHOENIXVILLE 19 » Ty Romance tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Owen Koch with 31 seconds left to pull the Phantoms within two. However, Koch was stopped on the ensuing two-point conversion attempt to keep Phoenixville from forcing overtime.

Romance completed 17of-26 passes for 280 yard and three touchdowns in the loss. Koch ran 17 times for 73 yards and added four catches for 38 yards and a score. Hayden Tenbroeck chipped in six catches for 140 yards.

OCTORARA 55, POTTSTOWN 13 » Mason Miller scored a 13-yard touchdown and Tyrese Washington returned an 80-yard kickoff return touchdown to account for Pottstown’s scoring.

Due to COVID-protocols, the Trojans had just 25 players dressed for Friday’s game. WYOMISSING 35, BOYERTOWN 7 » Leo Egbe’s 51yard touchdown run in the second quarter highlighted Boyertown’s non-league loss Saturday.