East Pennsboro football 'catches its breath,' overcomes penalties to bounce Boiling Springs
On paper, the East Pennsboro football team had much to celebrate Friday. The Panthers pounded Boiling Springs for a 49-13 win, their third straight victory. Elsewhere, West Perry fell to Middletown 14-9 on the road, reopening space in the Mid-Penn Colonial Division race.
But East Penn wasn't satisfied.
The Panthers were charged with 10 penalties, which wiped out 90 yards of offense. The Bubblers accrued 30 minutes of possession. East Penn didn't play to the respect and standard of the program.
While the Panthers have their informalities marked for future games, Friday's performance at East Pennsboro High School showed the Enola club that it can overcome adversity. That it'll stare down any challenge it's presented.
"We need to play a cleaner game," East Penn head coach John Denniston said. "Most nights, it's gonna bite you. We talk all the time about ball security and no penalties, and right now, some of our inexperience is showing a little bit. And it's not just the penalties, but it's that they're negating big plays. And that's something that we're working on very aggressively. We didn't really achieve that tonight. We're fortunate that it didn't hurt us."
Helping the Panthers (3-2, 3-1 Colonial) traverse Friday's murky waters was the ability to strike for chunk plays and home-run hitters. Six of the hosts' seven touchdowns were of 15 yards or more.
"They're huge," Denniston said. "It takes pressure off. I mean, we're still trying to improve, and we played in a lot of pressure-packed games the first four weeks. So to kind of catch our breath and see some of the things that we work on every day at practice, and actually be able to put them into practice, it's big."
Leading East Penn out of the proverbial pressure cooker was junior quarterback Turner Barlup and the three-pronged attack of Aaron Angelo, Dayrell Everett and JJ Gossard.
Barlup launched 254 passing yards and three touchdowns Friday, and completed nine of his 10 passes. Meanwhile, the Panthers' three-headed brawn each posted two touchdowns.
"We've shown that we can run the ball very well earlier in the year," Angelo said, "but now showing that we can also pass the ball for 250 yards, it causes those defensive backs have to play further back. It causes those linebackers have to read-step instead of just being able to stack the box and blitz. And we got playmakers all over the field, so all we got to do is just find the right plays."
The Panthers plugged in the correct plays, thrashing the Bubblers (1-4, 0-4) for two first-quarter scores and a 28-13 halftime lead. Everett exposed the secondary on a 60-yard crossing route for six to open the game and darted into the end zone on a 4-yard end-around. Gossard galloped 25 yards to pay dirt on a swing pass in the second quarter and charged to 39 yards on a touchdown run ahead of intermission.
Angelo burst onto the scoring scene in the second half. The senior surged to a 16-yard score on a sweep and hauled in a 62-yard touchdown strike.
"The pass game is definitely leading to the run game opening up," Barlup said. "And as soon as that run game opens up, it's all on wheels, baby. And our run game is opening up the pass game, too. So it's definitely going good together."
The Panthers' offensive one-two punch shadowed the penalties and defensive lapses. Despite the minimal output, Boiling Springs engineered 208 yards on the ground.
The Bubblers stayed within striking distance in the first half, using a Dom Beck 2-yard quarterback sneak and a Riley Lucido 10-yard reception to limit the deficit to two scores. Demetri White (16 rushes, 109 yards) and Javier Rosario (19 touches, 65 yards) motored most of the offense.
"The defense is probably not exactly where we want it," Denniston said. "Candidly, we've got to tackle better. And again, we've got a lot of young guys playing. There's some inexperience there. We definitely want to get off the field quicker than we did tonight. We gave up a lot of yards, and while it didn't hurt us tonight, most of the nights, it will at large."
The pieces are in place for the Panthers. Once the execution portion is aligned, the puzzle will be complete.
"I'm very confident we'll clean it up, and we'll get everything right," Angelo said. "We'll be right where we need to."
Christian Eby is a sports reporter for The Sentinel and cumberlink.com . Love
