Norristown’s Excellent Second Quarter Gives them the Victory in the Season Finale Over Reading @RDGschools @NtownFootball

Tagged under: District 1, District 3, Gameday Hub, News

Alec Eskin | April 17, 2021

Tonight was a very exciting, but somber night for both teams as they know that this was the final game of their season and the final game of football every for most of the seniors on both Reading and Norristown. This was a makeup game from earlier in the United 10 season. The weather matched the mood as well with it being cloudy and windy for the game as both teams took to the field. After the 1st quarter with the score 6-0 in Norristown’s favor, it looked like it was going to be a close defensive affair. However, after a few turnovers by Reading and two quick strike scores from Norristown off of those turnovers, Norristown gained all the momentum and kept it as they won by a final score of 43-0. Both sides took a lot of risks by passing the ball a lot more and not punting the ball nearly as much as they would have earlier in the season. Lets go into each team’s night . . .

Reading was looking for their first win of the season after going 0-4 to start the United 10 season. Tonight, it was not a very good showing on either side of the ball. On offense, they were not able to move down the field and had a lot of turnovers. A large part was due to their offensive line playing below average as well as the Norristown defensive lineman and linebackers being strong and quick. The one highlight on offense for Reading was a nice pass from Daryonel Fontanez to pick up one of the few first downs on the day for Reading. Also, this team is young and there is some very obvious talent on offense and defense as well. Reading Head Coach Andre Doyle understood this as he said “We have 30 underclassmen playing and actually learn what varsity football is all about.”

Nice pass from @RDGschools Daryonel Fontanez for the 1st pic.twitter.com/mIoLtX1hL7

— Alec Eskin (@AlecEskin) April 17, 2021

On defense, the story was much of the same for Reading. During the last five minutes of the second quarter, they allowed three touchdowns, increasing their deficit from 6-0 to 25-0 at the half. Reading was not able to penetrate the offensive line of Norristown which allowed for holes to open up for Norristown running backs. The battle up front told the story of the game on both sides of the ball. Again, a lot of young players of defense who are still learning how to play in Reading’s system. The highlights of their game were when the got a fumble recovery at the beginning of the 3rd quarter and a turnover on downs to begin the second quarter.

Turnover on downs for @NtownFootball as @RDGschools takes over at their own 21 @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/vgNX0m1se7

— Alec Eskin (@AlecEskin) April 16, 2021

For Norristown, after losing their last three games, they were able to bounce back nicely on offense and defense. Offensively, they were able to adjust from their 1st quarter woes and breaks it open in the 2nd quarter. All day, Norristown was able to move the ball up and down the field. Their first touchdown came by way of a very nice 21 yard pass on a fade route from Nicholas DiNolfi to Chaz Middleton. Both of the DiNolfi’s had a great night as Nicholas’ brother Cris DiNolfi had a 59 yard touchdown run. Another reason the offense did so well was that they were able to grind out Reading on offense. Their smash mouth football with the two running backs in Cris DiNolfi and Elijah Twyman (whom had two touchdowns today also) and that very skilled offensive line gave Reading’s defense a workout. When a team get an advantage at the line, they need to capitalize on that. Tonight Norristown did exactly that. Norristown head coach Joe Milligan was very impressed with the way his offense played as a whole by saying “We played soundly and we had a game plan and we executed.”

Nice 21 yard touchdown pass from DiNolfi to Chaz Middleton as @NtownFootball goes up 6-0 @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/G9Uc5pwjtf

— Alec Eskin (@AlecEskin) April 16, 2021

32 yard touchdown run for @NtownFootball Elijah Twyman as they go up 25-0 @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/CCfbxMP6p7

— Alec Eskin (@AlecEskin) April 16, 2021

On defense, they also had a really good game as they threw a shut out for the first time this year. A lot to really be happy about with the defense creating a lot of turnovers by getting Reading to lose the football. One time they were able to take it back to the end zone on a 22 yard fumble recovery return by linebacker Tyson Tate. Also, they did allowed very few first downs on the night. They did this by getting through Reading’s line each and every play. As the game went on, everyone in the stadium could see how demoralizing this became to that Reading offense. Coach Milligan said the defense and the offense for that matter “Came out flying around.”

Reading will finish out their season 0-5. However, this was a year in which they experimented. There is a very good chance that Reading could start to execute next year and win a good amount of games as Coach Doyle is “Very happy we got the opportunity and proud of our kids regardless of the situation.” For Norristown, they will finish their season 2-3 and they have a good team set up for the future as well. Coach Milligan said that “We began the season great and ended it of great and you can’t ask too much in that.” What both of these teams have in common is that they have a lot of young talent which could help them in the next one or two years. Also, they were very grateful after not being able to play in the fall due to COVID-19 and being able to give their teams and seniors a season to remember. In other United 10 news, Harry S. Truman will be playing at Chester on Saturday at 1:00 PM for the United 10 Championship and the PFN United 10 football which will be given out to the winning team of that game. This Norristown vs. Reading game and the championship one is a great way to end off the United 10 Spring Season.

PHOTO GALLERY