William Penn punter Jomar Dickerson, right, escapes Northeastern's Reggie Hyacinthe and runs for a first down on a fake punt in the third quarter of Friday's game at Northeastern High School. William Penn defeated Northeastern, 28-13. (FOR THE DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS --- MIKE ZORTMAN)
York, PA - Coming into Friday's game, the William Penn defense had allowed 32.3 points per game.

Northeastern had rolled up 32.7 points on offense after three games, so something had to give.

The Bearcats defense picked off a Northeastern pass on the Bobcats first drive and would get six more turnovers throughout the course of the game to get into the win column for the first time this year, 28-13.

"Defensively we challenged them and said we had to play at a higher level," Bearcats head coach Shawn Heinold said. "We were making fundamental mistakes. We refocused this week and got back to basics."

William Penn (1-3) forced seven turnovers -- picking off three passes and forcing four fumbles. The Bearcats also bottled up Northeastern's Daniel Adams, the league's second leading rusher, holding him to just 32 yards on 16 carries.

"They did a great job," Northeastern head coach Brendan Brown said of William Penn. "It's one of those weird things, last week everything clicked for us and this week we faced some adversity.

"I'm going to take the blame for it today. We always talk about attention to detail and we didn't pay that much attention to detail and it cost us the game."

The Bobcats (3-1) had four turnovers in the first half -- two fumbles and two interceptions -- and had only 68 total yards of offense.

All of those offensive yards were via the running game as Alec Miller was 0-for-5 in the first half, throwing two interceptions.

Still, the Bobcats trailed by just seven points at halftime.

"We felt really good because we were only down 7-0," Brown said. "We felt like it was only a matter of time before we punched it in."

William Penn sophomore James Way, making his debut under center, led an impressive five-play scoring drive on the Bearcats' first possession of the game.

That possession came after Dakeem Dennison intercepted the first of his two passes from Miller -- this one coming on the third play of the game.

Dennison got rewarded for that interception by scoring from 11 yards out on a touchdown pass thrown by Way. The sophomore took over at quarterback this week as former starter Tavon Parker is no longer on the team.

"I was nervous at first, but as we got further into the game, I don't know, it became easier for me," Way said.

The dual threat quarterback threw for 100 yards on eight completions and ran for 58 more on 10 carries.

"He just did a great job of reading the defense and taking advantage of the opportunity he was given," Heinold said.

Way got help offensively from senior Kelvin Nieves, who rushed for 185 yards on 13

William Penn quarterback James Way, left, eludes the tackle by Northeastern's Braheem Riley and scores on a 3-yard run during their football game on Friday at Northeastern. The Bearcats defeated Bobcats, 28-13. (FOR THE DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS --- MIKE ZORTMAN)
carries.

Nieves had 159 of those yards in the second half. His 66-yard run set up Way's three-yard touchdown run at 11:42 of the fourth quarter.

Nieves found the end zone himself off a 79-yard touchdown run, which capped the Bearcats scoring with 7:41 remaining.

Northeastern got on the board via Miller's touchdown pass to Braheem Riley with 2:06 left in the third quarter, but the momentum was quickly taken away as Bryshon Sweeney returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for William Penn.

 

Wm. Penn  7    0    7  14 -- 28
Northeastern  0    0    6    7 -- 13

First Quarter
   WP -- Dakeem Dennison 11 pass from James Way (Thurman Fogleman), 8:31
Third Quarter
   Ne -- Braheem Riley 16 pass from Alec Miller (run failed), 2:06
   WP -- Bryshon Sweeney 90 kickoff return (Fogleman kick), 1:51
Fourth Quarter
   WP -- James Way 3 run (Fogleman kick), 11:42
   WP -- Kelvin Nieves 79 interception return (Fogleman kick), 7:41
   Ne -- Jordan Kearse 16 run (Eathan Qualters kick), :04
 
-- WP -- Ne
First downs -- 13 -- 15
Rushes-yards -- 27-237 -- 44-226
Passing -- 8-23-0 -- 4-15-3
Passing yards -- 100 -- 56
Total yards -- 337 -- 282
Punts -- 5-24.2 -- 3-42.3
Fumbles-lost -- 2-0 -- 4-4
Penalties-yards -- 5-45 -- 2-30

 
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
   Rushing -- William Penn, Kelvin Nieves 13-185, James Way 10-58, Jomar Dickerson 2-6, Thurman Fogleman 1-(-9), Dakeem Dennison 1-(-3); Northeastern, Alec Miller 13-94, Jordan Kearse 8-70, Daniel Adams 16-32, Nick Yinger 5-27, Joe Beckhardt 2-3.
   Passing -- William Penn, James Way 8-23-0-100; Northeastern, Alec Miller 4-15-3-56.
   Receiving -- William Penn, Dakeem Dennison 5-77, Bryshon Sweeney 2-20, Rashaan Drake 1-3; Northeastern, Zach Moyer 2-21, Joe Beckhardt 1-19, Braheem Riley 1-16.