Still Continental Divide for Knights
North Penn’s too much for CB West in conference opener
Quarterback Justis Henley completed 11 of 18 passes for 177 yards and three touchdowns — including two to wide receiver A.J. Catanzaro — to lead North Penn to a 2814 win over Central Bucks West Friday night in the Suburban One League Continental Conference opener for both squads.
The Knights, ranked ninth in this week’s Pa. Prep Live Top 20, won their second straight to even their record to 2-2 while the Bucks dropped their first of the season, falling to 3-1.
In front of a packed house at War Memorial Field, the Knights extended to a 28-0 lead in the third quarter on a oneyard run by Khan Jamal.
The defending conference champs controlled things from start to finish.
On North Penn’s first possession, the Knights moved the ball 70 yards in 15 plays, stopped one yard short of the end zone on a terrific goal-line stand by the Bucks.
But on the Knights’ second offensive series, they finished the job.
North Penn had a drive starting in the first quarter and spilling into the second, capped off when Henley threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Catanzaro, who made a great grab in the end zone for the first points of the evening.
CB West forced a punt on NP’s next possession, but after that the Knights put together backto-back touchdown drives to build a comfortable lead by the break.
Rolling left, Henley found an open Shamar Edwards, who found a lane and raced 64-yards to a score and a 14-0 North Penn advantage.
After another stop by the de-
fense, the Knights took over at their own 41 with 2 minutes, 34 seconds left in the first half.
Mixing passes with timely, chain-moving runs, the Knights advanced all the way down to the Buck 15 with just 11 seconds left to play.
Henley then fired a strike down the seam to Catanzaro, as the North Penn lead ballooned to 21-0 at the break.
CB West’s best chance to score came midway through the quarter, when a catch interference call on a punt return gave the Bucks possession at midfield.
Jake Reichwein rumbled for 17 to move it to the NP 33, but on 4th-and-4 at the 27, Reichwein was stopped for a gain of one, and moments later Henley hit Edwards for a two-touchdown lead.
The Bucks did break the shutout with 3:46 left to play, as Chris Arzberger took a toss right and raced 27 yards for the corner.
Jack Neri’s 80-yard fumble return with 14 seconds to go provided the final points of the night. — Kev Hunter
Pennridge 34, Souderton 3
FRANCONIA » Pennridge’s defense continued to dominate and the Rams roll into a showdown at home with North Penn after beating host Souderton 34-3 Friday night in the SOL Continental opener for both teams.
Ryan Angelini ran for three touchdowns as Pennridge (3-1, 1-0) earned its second straight victory after shutting out Perkiomen Valley last Friday.
The Rams took a 7-0 lead on Angelini’s 4-yard TD run at 2:38 in the opening quarter. Souderton (1-3) drove down the Pennridge 4 on its next series but had to settle for a William Leyland 27 yard field goal to make it 7-3 at 9:57 in the second.
Pennridge began to pull away at the end of the half. Josh Pinkney took a short pass from Zak Kantor, got away from one tackle attempt then billed through another before dashing to the end zone for 27 yards out for a 13-3 advantage.
A Jadin Bass interception set up the Rams’ next TD, as Angelini scored for a yard out with 1:22 in the half to make it 20-3.
In the third quarter, a Joe Devine punt return set Pennridge up at the Indians 7 and Angelini ran for his third TD on the next play at 2:18. The Rams made it 34-3 on the first play of the fourth quarter, Evan Exner rushing in from 13 yards out. — Mike Cabrey
AMBLER » The Upper Dublin High School football team crushed the hosting Cheltenham Panthers Friday night in style to get the first conference win of the season with a final 49-7 score.
The Cardinals led 28-7 at halftime before Lucas Roselli scored a touchdown with a 98-yard kickoff return to start the third quarter. Cardinals running back Malik Bootman finished the game with two touchdowns. The Cardinals defense was also a huge factor in the win after only giving up 89 yards in the first half. — Alex Wahl
Quakertown 32, Wissahickon 13
QUAKERTOWN » Quakertown’s Christian Patrick ran for 149 yards and two touchdowns and Michael Terra added 72 yards and a score.
Quarterback Brad Bryan threw for 90 yards and two touchdowns.
Wissahickon’ first score came when Rahsheed Wright returned a kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown. The second was a 24-yard strike from quarterback Nick Santo to Antaun Lloyd. — Ed Morlock