TOWAMENCIN – Maybe the only people that really thought North Penn could beat Pennsbury were the people who walked out of the locker room after halftime, and went on to play their best football of the season. Trailing 14-10 coming out of the break the Knights dominated the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns and forcing an Falcon interception to take a 24-14 lead going into the fourth quarter.

With 10:59 remaining in the fourth quarter Pennsbury would score a touchdown to shrink the deficit to three. After North Penn’s offense stalled, the Falcons reclaimed the ball with 9:05 remaining in the quarter, and looked poised to reclaim the lead. After allowing Pennsbury to enter their side of the field the North Penn defense dug in, forcing a turnover on downs after Falcon running back Dalton Hose was gang tackled in the backfield by a host of Knights defenders for an eight yard loss.

Pennsbury would get the ball back one more time at their 15 yard line with a 1:34 remaining in the game, but ultimately the Falcons’ offense wasn’t built to successfully run a two minute drill. An offensive line that is built to run the ball allowed their Quarterback Mike Alley to be sacked three times on the last drive alone, once by Dorian Sobetsky and twice by Keith Earle on consecutive plays.

Pennsbury never crossed midfield on the final drive and as soon as the clock hit zero all of the players on the North Penn sideline streamed onto the field in celebration.

The difference in the game was the Knights’ defense, which was bent on multiple occasions but refused to be broken. The defense was gashed for over 300 yards on the ground, but when they needed to make a play the defense was able to get the job done.

“We really toughed it out on defense against a heck of a team. Hopefully we can win these next two games and get into the playoffs. We’ll probably see them again maybe in the first round,” stated North Penn head coach Dick Beck after the game.

A big reason why the North Penn offense came alive was due to adjustments made at halftime.

“They were really crowding us on the inside so I thought we could hit them off the edge,” Beck said.

Now at 5-3 the Knights are in great position to secure a playoff spot despite their rough start to the season. The Falcons, undefeated no more, fall to 7-1.

Next up for North Penn is a date with Neshaminy. The last time these two teams met was last year in the playoffs when the Indians ended the Knights season in a 42-7 thumping. The Knights will undoubtedly be looking to return the favor next Friday night.