TOWAMENCIN- It was a cold and windy Halloween night at Crawford Stadium where the #2 ranked North Penn Knights took down the #15 ranked Boyertown Bears 42-14.
With 9:49 left in the first quarter, the Knights got the scoring started with an explosive 68-yard run by Matt Pownall. After a Boyertown punt, North Penn drove down the field fast and with 2:31 left in the first Matt Bucksar delivered a strike to Will Rittenhouse for another Knights touchdown. On Boyertown’s next possession they would fumble the ball on the handoff resulting in Rylei Gray recovering the ball inside the 10 yard line. That turnover would result in another touchdown, this time it was Aiden Ashley punching it in from the 1 yard line. The Knights dominated the Bears in the first quarter outscoring them 21-0.
Boyertown’s offense was sputtering, while the Knight’s offense was rolling. The offensive line opened up a slight hole allowing Gray to burst through, adding a nice stiff arm at the end for a 28-yard touchdown run to put the Knights up 28-0 with 9:43 left to go in the second quarter. The Knights would get the ball back and they would make Boyertown pay. With 6:59 left in the second quarter Gray got a key block from Ashley which allowed him to sprint past defenders going 41-yards for his second touchdown of the day. The Knights went into halftime with a comfortable lead of 35-0.
It was a quiet start to the second half as both teams could not get anything going. Boyertown finally got on the board with a run from the 1-yard line making the score 35-7 with 2:28 left in the third quarter. The next score happened more than halfway through the fourth with an outside run by Pownall resulting in another Knight’s touchdown putting them up 42-7. As the game was winding down Boyertown’s offense came to life a little as Tilman Henley broke free for a 40-yard touchdown making the score 42-14.
North Penn dominated thanks to many key players, but Rylei Gray’s performance stuck out the most with two rushing touchdowns and a fumble recovery on defense.
“I felt great about my performance. I love sharing the field with all my teammates especially my brother Matthew Pownall. We both always shine and I love the fact that we are a dynamic duo combining for 290 rushing yards,” Gray said.
North Penn looked good in their first playoff game and will move on to the next round to play Souderton on November 7th @7:00 PM.
“I’m very confident about getting to the district championship. It’s a big game coming up. We haven’t played Souderton in a few years and they are local” Gray said.
“If we play like a team and keep our momentum we can go far” Gray stated.
North Penn will host crosstown foe Souderton, on Friday night at 7pm in Crawford Stadium, in a District 1 quarterfinal matchup.
