Legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi once said, “We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.”
Trailing North Penn 14-7 last Friday night at Crawford Stadium, CB East quarterback Dan Vogelsong launched a 12-yard aerial to classmate Luke Wilson in the left flat. The senior wideout for the Patriots caught the ball and was quickly enveloped by a Knights’ defender, who made sure the ball-carrier did not get out of bounds.
The game clock expired before CB East could get off another play as the Pats fell to 3-4, overall, 1-3 in the Suburban One League National Conference.
With injuries to two quarterbacks including their starter, North Penn used a gutsy defensive performance to limit East to a single score in this one.
Two weeks earlier, the Patriots emerged victorious after an 18-17 double overtime victory over division rival Pennridge to advance to 3-2 on the season.
In this game, after trailing 14-0 at the half, CB East finally broke the drought after assembling an eight-play, 65-yard scoring drive, capped by Vogelsong’s third-down 24-yard touchdown scamper up the middle with 4:36 remaining in the third quarter. The drive was highlighted by a third-and-15, 29-yard pass to tight end Jack Donnelly and a 14-yard strike to junior wideout Edan Wong.
“Coming out in the second half, we opened it up a little more and started taking some shots, chucking the ball down the field,” explained Donnelly, Pats senior co-captain. “That opened things up, they started backing up and we were able to run the ball like we like to do.”
A week earlier, CB East lost to Pennsbury 16-14 on its home field. The Patriots’ four losses have been by a total of 18 points.
“It really comes down to every play matters,” added Donnelly. “One person can make one play break; one person can make one play go.
“You just never know – blocking on the outside when the ball is backside, (the play) will cut back, you got to make a block, pursue backside, chase it down.”
“The margin of error is so slim, there’s no room for mistakes.”
CB East made plenty of gaffes in this one, including fumbling the ball away near midfield on its opening possession. Less than eight minutes into the contest, North Penn reached the scoreboard on a 6-yard TD pass from junior quarterback Aidan Eves to senior Rashad McNeill with 4:21 remaining in the first quarter.
With less than five minutes left in the first half, the Patriots turned the ball over on downs near midfield and it took the Knights just six plays to reach paydirt again, capping their second scoring drive off with a 1-yard TD plunge by senior Amir Major. That drive was spearheaded by a 36-yard bomb to Knights receiver Marc Cobbs.
“I love the grit of our kids; they kept fighting but we gave them two short fields and they are a very good football team,” explained CB East head coach John Donnelly. “They’re going to capitalize on that but our kids battled to the very end.
“We thought we had a chance to get the ball spotted for another play but time expired.”
The Patriots led North Penn in nearly every statistical category but the final score. CB East outrushed North Penn 216-134, had more passing yards (110-57) and outpaced the Knights in total offense (326-191).
Truth is penalties hurt the Patriots’ cause in this one with CB East flagged for 100 yards by the zebras.
“We just shot ourselves in the foot a lot; obviously, you can’t have it,” stated co-captain Jack Donnelly. “We had some penalty problems earlier in the season that we cleaned up the last few weeks.
“It’s just killing us.
“We just got to clean it up and get ready to go next week against Abington.”
CB East’s first drive in the second half also resulted in a turnover when North Penn seniors Dillon Hastings – who tipped the ball at the line – and Aidan Quallett – who made the catch – teamed up to intercept a midfield pass by Vogelsong.
The Patriots got the ball right back, however, when CB East senior Nick Giordano intercepted a deep bomb launched by Eves.
Normally a tight end, Eves got the call to run the offense in this game when both starter Matt Bucksar and backup Mike Cliver were too banged up to take the field.
Eves recorded just 55 yards rushing on 18 carries, though many of those yards seemed to come on third- and fourth-down conversions.
“They were double-teaming me so every time I tried to turn around, I could feel somebody in my back pushing me forward so every time I tried to turn, he was already gone,” explained East junior DE Haleem Muhammad.
“Every time I tried to go outside on a play, somehow I kept falling back into the trap.”
East made some adjustments at halftime that helped the Patriots come up with a couple defensive stops in the second half including a punt that they forced with 10 minutes to go in the battle.
Vogelsong got East into Knights’ territory by completing a 38-yard bomb to Giordano and he also gave the Patriots a chance when he just missed Wilson on a pass attempt to the end zone. The drive died, however, when East turned the ball over on downs on North Penn’s 33-yard line.
“We came out (in the second half) with all energy,” explained Muhammad, who recorded two tackles for loss. “We changed it up – we stopped running regular play calls and we ran a play from last week against Pennsbury and it was working.
“The offense just came up a little short. We’ll be there next week.”
Senior Dean Blackwell led the Patriots with 144 yards rushing on 23 carries. Voglesong was next with 44 yards on nine attempts. Senior Brian Dougherty rushed for 19 yards on two touches, Giordano had three rushes for seven yards, and junior Cole Nicastro added another for six.
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