TOWAMENCIN – The North Penn Football senior night is an opportunity to recognize senior’s accomplishments and let them shine in the spotlight. And shine they did as the North Penn Knights defeated the Souderton Indians 44-14 Friday night and claimed the Continental Conference title. Led by the passing attack of seniors Austin Shearer, the receiving of seniors Justin Hudimac and Brandon Quinn, the running of seniors Kris Akins and Luke Berry, and the line play of seniors Jerred Siddal, Alex Eppinger, and Nick Muth; the Knights attacked the Indians with a balanced offensive attack and a rock solid defense.
The Knights scored first on a 55 yard touchdown run by Hudimac and then followed up on their next drive with a 2 yard touchdown run by Berry to finish up the opening quarter 14-0.
North Penn maintained their momentum in the second quarter with a 42 yard pass from Shearer to Quinn that eventually set up an 11 touchdown run for Akins making the score 20-0.
In a potentially momentum shifting drive, Souderton got on the board with 34 seconds remaining in the half to close the gap to 20-7. However, as the Knights have demonstrated over the last few weeks, limited time on the clock is not a problem for them. The Knights drove down the field quickly on passes to Hudimac and Quinn. Faced with a 4th and 1 from the Souderton 46 yard line, Coach Dick Beck elected to give the strong legged kicker Matt Ammendola a chance to attempt a school record 56 yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining. The ball sailed through the uprights as time expired and the North Penn sidelines and crowd exploded.
“Right when I hit the kick I knew it was good, I had a good feeling about it…it felt really good,” commented Ammendola on his North Penn record setting field goal.
Marching down the field after halftime with carries by Nyfease West, Berry and Shearer, the Knights scored on a 5 yard touchdown run by Akins to make the score 30-7. The offensive line, the unsung heroes of the trenches, again provided gaping holes for the North Penn backs and provided ample passing time for Shearer. Senior running back Akins had nothing but praise for the offensive line.
“Our offensive line is doing amazing, they get yelled at every day at practice but they still come out here and do their job. Without those holes we wouldn’t score “
The workmanship attitude of the offensive line is best summed up by the comments of line man Frank Tranzilli and Jerred Siddal. “We come off the ball hard, lock up with our defenders and make no mental mistakes,” lineman Nick Argento added, “we had good pass protection and an overall good game.”
The North Penn defense has also continued to improve every week and in the 3rd quarter provided key turnovers that led to North Penn scores. The hard hitting defense led by seniors Nick Wright, Zack Brandis, Lewis Dickinson, Luke Berry, Jesse Cook, Conner Gill, Nick Muth, Jewel Rama, and Isaiah Swint forced a Souderton fumble recovered by North Penn. The Knights converted this into scoring opportunity with Shearer’s perfect 43 yard touchdown pass to Nyfease West to make it a 37-7 game.
Beck had nothing but praise for his quarterback’s passing tonight, “I can’t say enough about Austin Shearer and the way he has been playing these last couple weeks hitting these open receivers.”
Another key North Penn defensive play was provided by Swint’s interception to stop a Souderton drive. The interception was turned into points on a 6 yard touchdown run by Berry to end the quarter with a score of 44-7.
The 4th quarter saw heavy substitution by the Knights and determined play by the backup players. With 2:09 remaining in game, Souderton completed on a touchdown pass to make the final score 44-14.
When asked about winning the conference title after a 0-3 start the cooler drenched Beck responded “this is one of the very, very, very special championships for me. We are a very balanced team; we can put the ball in the hands of five or six guys and makes plays…that makes us dangerous.”
The Knights are the #11 seed in the PIAA AAAA District 1 playoff bracket and will travel to Coatesville next week for their first round matchup.