On a night that Neshaminy introduced its newly renovated Harry E. Franks Stadium with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, it fell at the talons of the Council Rock South Golden Hawks.
The Golden Hawks defeated Neshaminy 28-7 and were led by a four-touchdown performance (three passing, one rushing) from senior quarterback Chase Ennis.
After quickly marching down the field on the first drive of the game, Neshaminy was thought to get on the scoreboard early. Big runs from sophomore running back Carter Clee had the team inside the Golden Hawks’ 20-yard line. But after Council Rock South’s defense stood strong and forced a field goal attempt on fourth down, junior kicker/punter Kaden Nicastro missed wide-right.
A couple drives later, CR South forced a fumble on Neshaminy’s own 40-yard line, which led to a great starting field position. The Golden Hawks capitalized on Neshaminy’s mistake, as Ennis later tossed a 15-yard touchdown to senior Caleb Christian after scrambling to his left while being rushed from his right side.
Turnovers continued to hurt Neshaminy.
The Golden Hawks went up two scores after Neshaminy muffed a punt at its own 10-yard line. It took four attempts to get in, but Ennis ultimately found the end zone on the final try on a designed quarterback run up the middle.
Throughout the game, Ennis continued to flash his mobile prowess, consistently escaping pressure from either side. Neshaminy’s defense struggled to contain him. And thanks to his aforementioned mobility, he notched his third touchdown with just 15 seconds left before halftime. After avoiding pressure from the right side, he rolled left and found senior running back Chase Myers in the back of the end zone.
“We ran smash, so a hitch to the corner, then our running back is supposed to go right up the middle. They blitzed right so I rolled left and our running back went with me so I tried to give him some room to go get it and he got it,” Ennis said about the development of Council Rock South’s final touchdown before halftime.
The Golden Hawks led 21-0 going into halftime. But despite the early lead, head coach CJ Szydlik wasn’t so comfortable heading into the break.
“I’ll be honest I don’t think we were very comfortable,” Szydlik said. “Neshaminy is a very good team and they’re going to win a lot of football games. We knew that we had to come out and play our best in the second half.”
Neshaminy’s first drive of the second half resembled its drive at the beginning of the game. Big runs from Clee and sophomore Travis Lavelah sparked the offense and had them inside the 5-yard line. Only this time they were able to get into the end zone after Clee scored on a 2-yard rushing touchdown with five minutes left to play in the third.
However, the offense struggled to get much going after that, and the hope of a comeback quickly diminished.
Ennis and the Golden Hawks put the game further out of reach with a 10-yard touchdown completion in the fourth quarter to go ahead 28-7.
The senior quarterback’s mobility and accuracy on the run proved to be too much to handle for Neshaminy.
“He’s just a big kid having fun,” Szydlik said when asked to describe Ennis. “I think people don’t give him enough credit for how smart he is. He’s probably the smartest football player I’ve coached in a long time. He knows where to put our kids, he knows when we’re in bad looks, knows where to go with the football and honestly, he’s just always having fun. He’s the icebreaker of this football team for sure.”
This win marked the first time Council Rock South has defeated Neshaminy since 2011.
“It’s big for us,” Szydlik said. “This is the first time in almost 11 or 12 years that Council Rock has beaten Neshaminy, let alone to come here and do it, especially on a night where they opened their field and it was such a big night.”
The Golden Hawks advanced its record to 2-0 and face off against Pennsbury Friday, Sept. 8 while Neshaminy prepares for its third consecutive home game against Downington West.
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