Hill School handles Pennington, 35-0
POTTSTOWN » Orlando Patterson has a philosophy he follows as part of his football coaching endeavors.
“Defense wins games. Offense sells tickets,” the Hill School’s first-year boss said following Saturday’s game with Pennington Prep.
Patterson got the best of both worlds in the Rams’ 35-0 win over the Red Raiders. The defense dominated both Pennington’s running and passing games, forcing five turnovers while stopping its two modest penetrations of the red zone, and the offense provided the opportunity for 17 players to get touches along with bringing the running clock into play.
It all gives Hill (2-2) a current twogame win streak ... that, and a head of steam as it kicks off Mid-Atlantic Prep League play next weekend at Peddie School.
“We’re trying to maintain that ... the opportunity to play disciplined football,” Patterson said. “The message at halftime was, we’re far from done. The shutout has us on a roll, and we want to keep it going.”
The Rams got themselves going four plays after the opening kickoff, Harry Winter going 29 yards around his right end little more than two minutes in. Their defense then thwarted a subsequent Raider drive at the Hill 19, recovering a fumble by Pennington Prep quarterback Huseyin Simsir.
The locals added two more touchdowns in a span of less than 2-½ minutes, on the way to a 28-0 lead at the half. While the visitors held the Hill to one lone score in the second half, the stretch run was speeded along by the “running clock” being brought into play near the midway point in the third quarter.
“We have to keep pressing,” Pennington Prep head coach Jerry Eure said. “We have 14 guys who haven’t played football before. It’s better to keep playing, because there’s a lot to know.”
The Rams’ defense limited Pennington to 131 total yards and used another turnover, a Max Elmore interception, near the end of the first half, to halt a Raider drive at the Hill 19. Mark McKeon intercepted another Simsir pass at the close of the first quarter to set the stage for Henry Komosa’s 50-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Wise.
The big star of the Rams’ pickoff patrol was Jake Voynar, who had
two swipes on the day. His first got the ball at the Pennington 43, setting up a six-play march culminating with Komosa finding Luke Pickard at the end of a 29-yard scoring pass midway through the second quarter; the second put the Hill on a nine-play run that ended with a missed field goal.
“I haven’t playing as much time on defense,” the son of onetime Pottstown High sports star Brent Voynar said. “At one point, it (defense time) was similar to the last couple weeks.”
Voynar’s time got bumped up in the game with Winter dealing with a minor injury. Patterson noted Winter was kept out as a precaution.
Voynar cited the Hill’s play in the trenches as a key contributor to its success. Other individual efforts included Komosa tripping Simsir on one run, Luke Pickard dropping running back Xavier Blake for a four-yard loss early on, and
Austin Ludwig breaking up a Simsir pass attempt in the fourth quarter.
“It starts up front,” he said. “We got the rush going, and he (Simsir) had to scramble and didn’t know what was happening. Them running the same plays in certain situations ... as a defensive back, it helps to know what’s happening.”
On the offensive side,
Kayden White (six carries for 53 yards) tore off a 25-yard touchdown run inside the last two minutes of the first quarter and Anthony McMullan went eight yards around his left end at the 6:42 mark of the third quarter.
“Our defense did better in the second half,” Eure noted. “We have to play hard and get better.” NOTES » The Hill’s placekicker, Max Elmore, upped his conversion-kick accuracy to 13-for-13 by connecting on the PATs after all five scores . ... Among his four quarterbacks seeing time behind center, Patterson lauded freshman Charles Hewitt. “He’s a Division 1 quarterback who followed me from Massachusetts,” he said. “He’s going to be a good one.”