{"id":44936,"date":"2024-11-09T07:01:16","date_gmt":"2024-11-09T11:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/?p=44936"},"modified":"2024-12-18T22:07:03","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T02:07:03","slug":"pownall-knights-drive-past-fords-setting-up-clash-with-the-titans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/sports\/2024\/11\/09\/pownall-knights-drive-past-fords-setting-up-clash-with-the-titans\/","title":{"rendered":"Pownall, Knights drive past Fords, setting up clash with the Titans"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOWAMENCIN – No win is easy by the second round of playoffs in the PIAA District One Tournament. The 4th ranked North Penn Knights battled against the 5th-ranked Haverford Fords, and after a gritty effort by both squads, North Penn ultimately came out on top 29-21.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The game started slow, with both teams being forced to punt within 3 snaps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Haverford\u2019s second drive started similarly to the first with a handoff to running back, Liam Taylor, for a gain of three yards. But after Shane Durkin\u2019s first down, the Fords were advancing down the field. With roughly 6 minutes left in the first quarter, Taylor tallied the first points on the board, running 53 yards for a touchdown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The extra-point team was set, but following a high snap, the Fords had no choice but to run it in for a two-point conversion increasing their lead to 8-0.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Knights continued to struggle on their next drive up the field with two incomplete passes and a gain of only 1 yard on the drive forcing them to once again punt the ball away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With a 15-yard penalty for illegal chop-blocking in their favor, North Penn was able to hold their opponents to a gain of 2 on second down. The Knights rode this momentum, recovering a fumble on 3rd and 21, on Haverford\u2019s 30-yard line.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

North Penn drove down the field, and on 3rd and 4 from the 6-yard line, Bucksar fired a pass to Aiden Eves who made a one-handed catch in the end zone for a touchdown. Bocklet\u2019s extra point was good, making it a one-point game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the first, the second quarter started slow. Haverford was yet again forced to punt, but this time, it was blocked by Aidan Ashley and scooped up by Cole D\u2019Ambrosio, putting the Knights in scoring position at the 12-yard line. With 36 seconds remaining in the half, Bucksar threw another dime, finding Pownall for the go-ahead touchdown. Rather than kicking a field goal, Coach Beck and the Knights opted to go for two, making it 15-8 at the half.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[In the first half] we had a couple of plays where we had guys open or dropped the ball and a couple of mental errors. I think we could\u2019ve scored two more touchdowns,\u201d Coach Dick Beck said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of these mental errors by North Penn carried over into the second half with a turnover on downs and then a facemask penalty, giving the Fords ideal field position. On the 10th play of their drive, Haverford quarterback, Liam Kilpatrick, ran the ball in for a touchdown. Kicker Vinnie Cunningham put the extra point through the uprights, tying the score at 15 with 4:30 left in the third quarter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Knights countered, starting their drive with an explosive 18-yard carry from Pownall. Just 4 plays later, North Penn converted on a 4th and 3 as running back, Jeremiah Coleman, bolted around the right, taking it to the house for a 41-yard touchdown, giving the Knights the lead 22-15.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Neither team was able to maintain possession of the ball in the fourth quarter. It started with North Penn\u2019s Azarias Fortson forcing a turnover on downs, but it didn\u2019t stop there. The Knights fumbled on their first drive as well, leaving no choice but to punt the ball to Haverford. Although Liam Taylor carried the ball for a total of 47 yards in their next drive, it still wasn\u2019t enough as the Fords fumbled on their eighth play of the drive, giving the ball back to the Knights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ford\u2019s next possession yielded no further results as Kilpatick threw an interception perfectly into Pownall’s hands. With 1:30 remaining in the game, Pownall ran the ball into the endzone, putting a cherry on top, and extending their lead to two touchdowns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Matt] had a great touchdown around the end, but I was telling him to go down as we wanted to take a knee and end the game,\u201d Beck stated jokingly. \u201cMatt has been one of our best players, if not our best player, all year. He never fails to come through.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I had to make some key plays to get that win today, so I am glad I was able to step up and did my job in there for the team,\u201d North Penn Running Back Matt Pownall said. \u201cIt was a great win from the guys, so props to everybody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Haverford struck back charging down the Knight’s throats and securing a touchdown to reduce North Penn\u2019s lead to only 8 points.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the Fords attempted an onside kick, it proved unsuccessful, sending North Penn to the District Semi-Finals, where they get a rematch against number one seed, CB South.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the alpha right now. We are gonna get through a week of practice, prepare, and see what we can do,\u201d Beck concluded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOWAMENCIN – No win is easy by the second round of playoffs in the PIAA District One Tournament. The 4th ranked North Penn Knights battled against the 5th-ranked Haverford Fords, and after a gritty effort by both squads, North Penn ultimately came out on top 29-21.\u00a0 The game started slow, with both teams being forced…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1475,6,11],"tags":[],"staff_name":[1341],"class_list":["post-44936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-sports","category-top-stories","staff_name-maddie-cimino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44936"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44942,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44936\/revisions\/44942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44936"},{"taxonomy":"staff_name","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/staff_name?post=44936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}