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North Penn Flips the Script in Upset Victory at Pennridge

 
Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

| November 7, 2026

Back on October 9th, Pennridge went to Crawford Stadium and came away with a 20-8 victory over the North Penn Knights. Exactly four weeks later, turn about was fair play, as the Knights went to Helman Field and took revenge via a 38-21 playoff win. A total team effort included three scores by Will Rittenhouse, big plays on both ends by Ziyon Smith, and a little bit of creative play calling.

The Knights got the ball first and promptly chewed up the first six minutes of the game. On the third play of the drive, Duke Horgan caught a pass from London Evans and sped down the sideline for a 32-yard pickup to cross into Pennridge territory. Marquan Walker forced a fumble as the Knights entered the red zone, and that ended up forcing the Knights to try a 33-yard field goal. Matt Kasitz was true and gave North Penn a 3-0 lead.

Pennridge was forced to punt on their ensuing drive after a broken third down play saw Aiden Tetkowski pass to Sean Leuthe for a nine yard loss. It was the first of many times that Tetkowski found himself in trouble due to being hurried on his throws and having receivers blanketed by the secondary. After the punt, North Penn took over on its own 45.

From there, London Evans hit a wide open Duke Horgan over the middle down at the Pennridge 20. Horgan kept running and nearly scored, but was caught at the 2. North Penn then went to the bag of tricks, a play that Will Rittenhouse said the team drew up just that week. He came off a block and went to the back corner of the end zone; the ball was pitched on a reverse to Sal Colella who threw to Rittenhouse for the touchdown. With 1:47 left in the opening frame, the Knights were up 10-0.

Pennridge got the response they needed on the ensuing kickoff. Mike Ferguson found the edge, racing 94 yards to pay dirt to cut the deficit to 10-7 just six seconds later. Chaos ensued after that, with Chuck Long recovering a fumbled kickoff return. The Rams had a prime chance to take the lead before the first quarter was out, taking over on the North Penn 25.

But it wasn’t to be. The Rams lost nine yards on three plays and settled for a 50-yard field goal try. The kick was blocked by Ziyon Smith, who was immediately in the backfield.

The first eight minutes of the second quarter consisted of each team possessing the ball for about four minutes, but booting the ball away after gaining minimal yardage. Shades of what was to come were shown, though, as Ziyon Smith plowed over defenders for a 15-yard pickup. Devin Kelly ended that North Penn drive on a big sack of Evans.

With 4:08 to go in the half, North Penn took over on its own five, backed up to their worst field position of the night. Evans and Rittenhouse hooked up for a gain of 22 as the Knights grinded their way down the field, entering the red zone after eight plays. Rittenhouse was able to get position on Ferguson in the back corner of the end zone and hauled in a 7-yard touchdown pass with 1:14 to go in the second. North Penn carried a 17-7 lead to the locker room, outgaining Pennridge 208-23 in the first half.

The Rams drove the field in their first possession of the third quarter, getting near the red zone for the second time. But they didn’t make it inside the red zone, as a 4th & 11 pass completion to Nate Derstine came up just short.

Four plays later, the Knights were back on the scoreboard. This time, Evans hit Duke Horgan 30 yards down the middle. Horgan caught it in stride, finishing off the 62 yard touchdown run. North Penn opened up a 24-7 lead with 3:58 to go in the third.

Despite trailing by three scores, Pennridge did not abandon the run game. Trevor Picciotti picked up 15 on the ground and then turned a little dump-off pass in the backfield into 22 yards. With :48 left in the quarter, he then picked his way off the left side for a 19-yard touchdown. He was short on the two-point try, but the Rams were within 24-13.

But like before, North Penn had an answer to snare Pennridge’s comeback hopes. On the final play of the third, Colella crossed midfield on a 50-yard jaunt down the far sideline. Two plays later, Will Rittenhouse beat his man in single coverage, pulling his leg free from a tackle attempt and scoring from 58 yards out.

Johaun Luke caught Tetkowski in the backfield on the Rams’ next drive, causing a loss of five yards and eventually forcing Pennridge to punt the ball away.

The Rams did get one more back on their next drive, with Tetkowski finding Bradley Dormon in the end zone from 15 yards out. But it was too little too late. Ziyon Smith and Josh Prince each took a turn slamming the door with late interceptions, cementing the upset victory for the #14 seed over the #3.

 

North Penn continues their playoff journey at Downingtown West or Council Rock South next weekend. Pennridge will take a few weeks off before a Thanksgiving day tilt with rival Quakertown.

North Penn 38, Pennridge 21

Score by Quarters

North Penn – 10 7 7 14 – 38

Pennridge – 7 0 6 8 – 21

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

N – Kasitz 33-yd FG, 6:00 12-84

N – Rittenhouse 2-yd pass from Calello(Kasitz kick), 1:47 3-55

P – Ferguson 94-yd kick return, 1:41

Second Quarter

N – Rittenhouse 7-yd pass from Evans(Kasitz kick), 1:14 11-95

Third Quarter

N – Horgan 62-yd pass from Evans(Kasitz kick), 3:58 4-89

P – Picciotti 19-yd run(Picciotti run failed), :48 7-70

Fourth Quarter

N – Rittenhouse 58-yd pass from Evans(Kasitz kick), 10:15 4-80

P – Dorman 15-yd pass from Tetkowski(O’Connor pass from Tetkowski), 4:03 10-80

N – Colella 52-yd run(Kasitz kick), 2:11 2-52

Passing: N – Evans 9-15-246-3-0, Colella 1-1-2-1-0; P –

Rushing: N – Smith 11-68, Colella 13-118-1, Pownall 2-8, Evans 5-(-2)

Receiving: N – Rittenhouse 5-79-3, Colella 2-23, Horgan 3-148-1; P – Derstine 2-28, Leuthe 3-3, Dorman 2-18-1, Picciotti 4-52

INTs: Smith, Prince

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