TOWAMENCIN – It was a Senior “Knight” with significant implications on Tuesday evening when the North Penn Knights took to the turf to face off against the Central Bucks East Patriots; in a high stakes colonial division matchup.

The Night was kicked off by a special pre-game ceremony honoring all seniors. (Josh Jones, Dominik Gedek, Sawyer Meade, Roman Ilovski, Sean Flatley, Ryan McCann, Kevin Murphy, Jojo Dalwadi, Andrew Schuyler, Nick Rey, and Orpheus Triantafyllos) 

When the squads got down to business, the Knights (4-1), led by some senior scorers that l knocked off the Patriots (2-2-1) by a score of 2-0 on Tuesday evening; with goals coming from seniors Dominik Gedek and Josh Jones.

“It is a real good night for our seniors, all the annual pregame festivities with the parents is very nice, but the fact that we were able to come in here and pick up the win and get 3 points is the most important thing,” said interim head coach Paul Duddy.

All 11 seniors got to see the field for the first time this season on Tuesday; including 8 of them getting the start.

“They all played and contributed, and it was a great team win against a tough East squad. We are definitely glad to get the win and it will help keep us in a good position in the conference,” Duddy said.

It was back and forth for the most part to start the game, not many chances either way. Strong play in the middle from Roman Ilovski and Alex Stewart kept the game in check for the Knights. While in the back, Seniors Kevin Murphy and Andrew Schuyler held it down for the boys.

“We all work hard and wait for our moments to get in, so it was great to be able to hear my name called and go contribute. Means the world for me to be able to have my friends and family here in attendance watching,” Schuyler said.

The game remained scoreless until the 23rd minute when Jones made a nice play on the ball that bounced around and bounced off of Orpheus and eventually found the foot of Gedek who placed the ball nicely into the back of the net.

Throughout the first couple of games, Gedek had been getting quality scoring chances but could just not seem to get it through. Tonight, he recorded his first goal of the season and he’s looking for it to not be his last.

“I am hoping it helps me pick up my momentum for the rest of the season. I have been getting quality chances all year but I just have not been able to breakthrough. I knew that if I was just a little more clinical and focused on my touch more, I would eventually get one.” Gedek said.

Dom getting going could be just what the Knights need to help solve their goal-scoring problem. In year’s past, the Knights were scoring at will with guys such as Jack Johnston, Luke McMahon, and Carter Houlihan. However, this year the goals have been coming in much smaller bunches.

“Dom scoring means a lot, we think of him as one of our top goal scorers, and he proved that tonight. He creates a ton of chances and he is just great on the ball,” Duddy added.

In the second half, the game continued to be the tight physical matchup it was expected to be. The Patriots could just not seem to get it going and generate any scoring chances. However, when they were able to get shots on goal, goalkeeper Sawyer Meade came up big.

The Knights would add on one more late in the 77th minute; on a corner kick coming from Sophomore Nate Kim, that landed on the head of Jones.

Josh, another one of those players that the Knights look to for scoring; extended his goal streak to 2-games on Tuesday.

“I could not seem to get one through the first 3 games, but I knew that if I kept at it the goals were going to come. Shout out to my teammates for always feeding me the ball and trusting me to score some goals,” Jones said.

Anytime Jones is on the field he is an extreme threat to the opposition. Being able to hurt you with his quick touch and shot, teams often result in sending double teams his way. When asked about Jones’s ability to draw such high attention on the field without hesitating, Duddy laughed and said “Well…he is Josh”.

“Other teams tend to focus on him more than anybody else on the field. Even when they throw 1 to 2 guys at him, he is still able to beat them. It is no secret that he is a target for us on offense, but even when covered he is still able to contribute. It was great to see him finish that cross from Nate.” Duddy said.

Halfway through their shortened season, the Knights are leading the Colonial Division with a record of 4-1-0, (12points) 3 points ahead of Pennridge.

The Boys will be back in action on Thursday when they head to Doylestown to face off against Central Bucks West at 3:30.