Cheltenham snaps skid against Wissahickon
CHELTENHAM » Ryan Nase hasn’t exactly had a wonderful year in his first season as the head football coach at Cheltenham High School.
The Panthers limped into Friday night’s contest against Wissahickon with a lowly 0-7 mark and the natives have gotten a tad restless.
The Panthers even suffered the indignation of a racial incident last weekend in a loss to Quakertown.
But Friday night that didn’t seem to matter much to Nase and his team.
Cheltenham bounced back from an early touchdown deficit to defeat Wissahickon, 20-13, giving Nase and his team what they sorely needed. And the celebratory noise emanating from the Panthers locker room after the game told the story.
“I feel a lot better,” said a smiling Nase after the Panthers bounced back from an early 7-0 deficit to enter the win column. “But I’d feel even better if we didn’t set the record for most penalties in the history of football.” The Panthers did it the hard way, bouncing back from an early Trojans touchdown to score the game’s next 20 points, then holding on through a couple of scary moments down the stretch to finally get something other than a circle in the win column.
“It’s been tough,” Nase admitted. “Any time you come into a program with a new staff, there are a lot of expectations. But the kids have bought into it.”
Friday’s contest didn’t begin optimistically for the Pan-
thers, who were celebrating Homecoming.
The Trojans received the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards on 14 plays, with Antaun Lloyd scoring from the 2-yard line to put the visitors on top, 7-0.
“We got on top first, but that drive still had a couple of fourth-down conversions,” said Trojans head coach Randy Cuthbert. “That first drive was good, but even that one had a couple of mental errors.”
The Panthers responded well, taking the ensuing kickoff and driving as far as the Trojans 46.
From there, quarterback Adonis Hunter tossed a 46-yard touchdown pass to Mason Jones, who outleaped two Trojans defenders to complete the scoring play.
Then, to make matters worse for the visitors, the Panthers tacked on two scores in the final minute of the half, with Will Felix snaring a 2-yard pass from Hunter to double the Panthers lead.
Then, following a fumble on the first play of the Trojans ensuing possession, the Panthers got a 39yard field goal from Justin Grady to go into intermission up 17-7.
Those scores turned out to be the difference in the game.
The Panthers extended their lead to 20-7 when Grady drilled a 25-yard field goal in the third quarter, then hung on through a couple of Trojans scares in the second half.
Wissahickon closed out the game’s scoring with a 16-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Nick Santo to Lloyd, but by then the Panthers were already in full celebration mode.
“Hopefully, we can now turn this one into two,” said Nase.