Red Lion's ground game, offensive line keeps William Penn at bay
You're never as good as your best game or never as bad as your worst.
That might very well apply to both William Penn and Red Lion after Friday evening's YAIAA Division I football opener for both teams.
The Lions scored 28 first-quarter points on their way to a 70-6 win against William Penn at Horn Field.
"It was good that we got to play a lot of guys," said Red Lion coach Jesse Shay. "Varsity experience. I don't care how well you play on Monday in the JV game, you can't replicate this (pointing to the lights and the crowd at Horn Field)."
Red Lion (3-1, 1-0 Division I) once again used a punishing ground game led by senior Alex Keough and junior Dylan Gurreri to amass 320 yards and score seven rushing touchdowns.
The six-foot, 180-pound Keough carried the ball 16 times for 151 yards and a 15-yard, first-quarter score while the 5-6, 170-pound Gurreri added 14 carries for 105 yards and two scores.
Red Lion's all-junior offensive line of Stephen Tierney, Nick Argento, Dakota Cleary, Jeff Lucas and Bronson Warner consistently pushed back the Bearcats' defensive front. In the opening drive of the second half, Red Lion was faced with a third-and-1 at the William Penn 40 and got 3 yards on a quarterback keeper by senior Dalton Grove.
Grove attempted just five first-half passes in the game but completed three for touchdowns. The second passing TD was a 74-yard score off a screen pass to senior James Jackson with nine seconds left in the first quarter. Red Lion did not attempt a pass in the second half.
William Penn (0-4, 0-1 Division I) could only manage 5 yards of offense in the first half. The Bearcats picked up 69 second-half passing yards, however, and finally got on the scoreboard when quarterback Angel Dejesus ran in from 3 yards out with 5:57 remaining.
"I'm really pleased with our defense," Shay said. "My defensive coordinator (J.D. Granger) joked with me that I've cost them shutouts the past two weeks (as West York got 14 fourth-quarter points last week), but our young kids got a chance to play on defense again. They are going to give up a score on defense to their first-team guys. Our first-team defense is playing as well as anyone right now I think."
Two bright spots for the Bearcats were the lack of penalties and their punting game. William Penn was only penalized three times for 13 yards and averaged 35 yards per punt on six punts.
Red Lion 70, William Penn 6
William Penn0006—6Red Lion2821714—70
First Quarter
RL — Kendrick Boyd-Gillespie pass from Dalton Grove (Sam Emig kick), 10:07.
RL — Alex Keough 15 run (kick failed), 6;
RL — Patrick Daugherty 3 run (Josh Donaldson pass from Emig), 2:10.
RL — James Jackson 74 pass from Grove (Emig kick), 0:09.
Second Quarter
RL — Cole Snyder 14 pass from Grove (Emig kick), 7:22
RL — Daugherty 4 run (Emig kick), 5:30.
RL — Dylan Gurrerri 6 run (Emig kick), 6:30.
Third Quarter
RL — Gurrerri 3 run (Emig kick), 3:25.
Fourth Quarter
RL — Rodney Scott 5 run (Emig kick), 10:35.
WP — Angel Dejesus 3 run (kick failed), 5:57.
RL — Emig 9 run (Emig kick), 2:23.
WPRLFirst downs48Rushes-yards23-3042-320Passing8-18-14-5-0Passing yards67107Total yards97427Punts6-35.00-0.0Fumbles-lost2-21-1Penalties-yards3-132-17
Individual statistics
Rushing — WP, Andrew Radzik 5-15, Khalid Dorsey 5-12, Angel Dejesus 11-4, Ruben Mendez 1-2, Jyaire Beverly 1-(-3). RL, Alex Keough 16-151, Dylan Gurreri 14-105, Dalton Grove 2-19, Rodney Scott 5-18, Jamel Foster 2-11, Sam Emig 1-9, Patrick Daugherty 2-7.
Passing — WP, Dejesus, 7-17, 63 yds., 0 TD, 1 Int., Beverly 1-1, 4 yds., 0 TD, 0 Int. RL, Grove 4-5, 107 yds., 3 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving — WP, Jose Santiago-Curet 3-52, Nyshaun Ritter 2-18, Markeis Cash 2-3, Radzik 1-(-6). RL, James Jackson 1-74, Cole Snyder 1-14, Taylor Uberti 1-11, Boyd-Gillespie 1-8.