BOOSTERCLUB3

GAME 2

RAMS GROUND OWLS

Pennridge runs through Bensalem

KEVIN COONEY

The Intelligencer

Poor field conditions didn't prevent the Rams from rushing for 272 yards in a shutout of the Owls.

BENSALEM - Just about anyone who had any kind of common sense was sitting at home, nice and dry by a warm fire on a brutal night.

But Friday night, there was no place that Jesse Knepp would rather have been than sloshing around in the mud at Bensalem Memorial Stadium.

"When you are a running back, you know that you have an advantage because you know where you are going and they don't," Knepp said. "Everybody thinks that it's bad for a running back to run in the mud. It's actually better in a way for us."

On a slippery track, Knepp and Pennridge found their traction and left Bensalem all wet.

Knepp and Ian Walbridge combined to rush for 252 yards and scored three touchdowns as the Rams got back on track with a 20-0 wipeout of the Owls on Friday night in a non-league battle of old Suburban One League National Conference rivals.

"We wanted to get the bad taste out of our mouth from last week," Knepp said of last week's 34-21 loss to Pottsgrove. "We know what kind of a team that we have and we needed to bounce back."

Meanwhile, things could not have been worse for the Owls, who were held to 129 yards and committed three turnovers.

"We just didn't execute," Bensalem coach Dan McShane said. "We couldn't get our offense rolling, and they were able to take advantage of some big plays."

Perhaps the offense opened up for the Rams because coach Randy Cuthbert moved off the sideline and into the coaching box.

"To me, that's where I've felt more comfortable," Cuthbert said. "I had to step back and see how everything looked from a different perspective. And I think I got a better feel for things."

The Rams got all the points they needed in the first quarter, thanks to some big plays.

A short Owls punt set Pennridge up on the positive side of the 50, and it only took four plays for Knepp, who rushed for 159 yards on 16 carries, to break free down the left sidelines. He waltzed in untouched for a 35-yard touchdown to break the scoring ice.

After a three-and-out, Knepp set up the next Rams' score after a 71-yard run inside the Bensalem 10-yard line. However, a series of penalties forced the Rams into a fourth-and-goal from the Owls' 26. But Knepp caught a little screen pass from Kyle Peters, rolled into the left flat and strolled into the end zone.

"I got to give my offensive line a lot of credit, because they really did a good job of opening up the hole on that play," Knepp said.

Walbridge scored the final touchdown of the night with less than three minutes to play on a 2-yard dive

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