BOOSTERCLUB3

GAME 8

Pennridge rises to the occasion

By: TODD THORPE

The Intelligencer

The Rams came up with a 69-yard march to push past CB West in a rain-soaked game.

PERKASIE - Twenty-four minutes of football remained to be played. But with the weather worsening, and Poppy Yoder Field's grass playing surface turning browner as the night grew older, the final drive of the first half was essentially the ballgame.

And for Pennridge, which dominated every offensive statistic possible in the first two quarters but still only had a three-point advantage before that drive, it proved to be what it took to hold off a pesky Central Bucks West squad in a Suburban One League Continental Conference game Friday night.

Kyle Peters' 3-yard pass to tight end Brandon Cope with 7 seconds remaining before halftime capped a 69-yard drive and gave the Rams a 23-14 advantage. That was also the score when the messy and muddy game was completed an hour or so later.

"That was huge for us," said Peters, who threw just five passes, including the TD strike to a wide-open Cope in the back of the end zone. "(West) had come back with a few big (kick) returns and they had the momentum. But that score took the momentum and we had all the momentum at halftime. That carried us through the second half."

When Pennridge took possession after West's second touchdown made it 17-14 with 2:19 remaining in the second quarter, it probably wouldn't have been bad strategy, considering the worsening field conditions, to just kill the clock.

But aided by a pair of 15-yard personal fouls on West, and then a 20-yard pass from Peters to Drew Smith that brought the ball down to the 3-yard line with less than 10 seconds remaining, the Rams tacked on the key touchdown.

"To get down there, Kyle did a good job managing the clock," Pennridge coach Randy Cuthbert said. "It was nice to have a time out to work with, but that was big. It was funny. We were giving Brandon (Cope) a hard time, because if he hadn't run right into Drew Smith, he would have been the only guy in that part of the end zone. But Kyle did a great job buying a little time and throwing that ball in there."

The two penalties, one on a facemask in Pennridge territory and the other on late hit out of bounds that brought the Rams to the 23, doomed West.

"It was frustrating that we gave that up right there," Bucks coach Brian Hensel said. "But give Pennridge credit, they earned it. We helped them quite a bit with those two 15-yarders."

In the second half, Cuthbert and the Rams took a conservative approach. Pennridge mostly ran the ball, took few chances and gambled that West wouldn't be able to put two scoring drives together to win the game. That strategy proved successful.

"That was the most carries I've ever had in a game," said Peters, who ran for a season-high 78 yards. "That was fun. But we just wanted to run the ball, because we knew it would be tough for them to score in this (weather)."

PENNRIDGE