Plymouth Whitemarsh Finishes a Spectacular Season with a Senior Night Win
Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News
Matt Licwinko | October 28, 2023
With the playoffs looming directly overhead, Plymouth Whitemarsh’s season finale held more weight then you may have originally expected. The Upper Moreland Golden Bears went into this match up with an upset mentality, coming off a solid win vs Springfield last week. The result they got on the field however, was quite different then what they may have expected. Following the senior night festivities, Plymouth Whitemarsh routed Upper Moreland without much resistance in this one. Although the scoreboard does not tell that story, the play on the field surely did. The Colonials had no trouble and cruised to their eighth win of the year, cementing themselves as one of the top teams in the league, with a 35-7 victory over Upper Moreland.
As the rest of the season had shown us to this point, Plymouth Whitemarsh is a spectacular first quarter team. They take serious pride in being able to stun their opponent from the very first series of plays. On the first possession of the game, senior DB Anthony Iannozzi took a pass straight from the hands of a UM receiver and notched his second interception of the year. This moment in itself was an absolute gem for the fans in attendance, as Iannozzi has been honored as a senior captain throughout the entire year. Plymouth Whitemarsh took the momentum and proceeded to do what they’ve always done best: run the ball. An eight play drive that included 20+ yard rushes from both seniors Winterbottom and Boggs was capped off with an eight yard score for WR Everett Baker on a pitch play. The relentless PW defense then forced a three and out which was then followed by a four play scoring drive. On the final play of that possession, QB Caiden Leszczynski rolled to his left and aired it out to Baker, who broke a tackle and took the pass 43 yards to the house. By this point in the game Upper Moreland had ran just six plays to PW’s twelve. The Golden Bears finally got offensive movement down the field on their ensuing drive, picking up a few firsts to end the first.
Unfortunately for UM, the PW defensive line woke up to start the second quarter. Andrew Iannozzi blew open the seam and instantly sacked the QB to start the quarter, and because of the big loss Upper Moreland would end up punting it away. The Colonials wouldn’t need any sort of game plan when they got the ball back up two scores either. Superstar WR/RB Nazye Boggs once again broke free from three different tackles and exploded to the end zone to get himself a senior night score. Boggs has been able to dominate on the ground, and 50+ yard rushes are nothing new for him. Despite being up three scores, the Colonials defense did not give up either. They ate up the run game and even got a strip sack which was recovered by UM. Plymouth Whitemarsh would have an uncharacteristic three and out with three pass plays as they tried to run some clock and move it towards the half. The Golden Bears offense had looked very awake and ready to go when they got the ball. Upper Morelands offense ran like a well oiled machine down the field and into the red zone, but bad luck struck again when their starting QB limped off the field and they were forced to bring in their freshman backup QB to try and salvage the game. Because of this change the strong drive ended up stalling out and a fourth down deep ball lead to a turnover on downs. PW would respond by running clock and taking a dominant 21-0 lead to the locker room.
The fireworks on the home side did not let off in the third quarter. Everett Baker continued his rise to becoming a star returner for PW continued when he nearly had a house call on the opening kick of the second half. The Colonials opted to play the run game and just drove the Golden Bears defense into the ground where they couldn’t stop them. Once inside the ten, Plymouth Whitemarsh ran a triple option to Nazye Boggs who walked into the end zone to make the game feel almost out of reach. Nothing seemed to be going Upper Moreland’s way either, as Marcus Laffredo made a textbook read and nearly punched in a pick six on the very next play from scrimmage. More heartwarming moments were created by PW on offense as well when they used their other star RB Luke Winterbottom to punch in an easy score from the one, earning him a senior night touchdown of his own. Plymouth Whitemarsh would continue to gain chunk plays when they had the ball while Upper Moreland would do more or less the opposite. Despite their lackluster offensive performance, Upper Moreland got an 85 yard kick return score from WR Jamir Williams to put the threat of shutout to rest. The third quarter would come to a quick end following the 35-7 score, and the fourth quarter wouldn’t feature much either.
Another signature PW blowout meant another opportunity to see some second string talent on the field. However, both head coaches were not pushing either of their players to any limits knowing that to this point the regular season was relatively over. It was still an entertaining finish to the game, and definitely an emotional one for some of these players.
Now with the regular season wrapped up, it’s clear that Plymouth Whitemarsh is a legit threat to the SOL this year. Not only are they riding back to back championships, they are also about as hot as a football team can get heading into the most crucial part of their season. For Upper Moreland, a disappointing season is over, and they can begin to look at ways to rebound into the 2024 season next fall. On the other end of the spectrum is Plymouth Whitemarsh, who will not only claim the rights to the #4 seed in the playoffs, but also will host their first round playoff game next week. Although it may be too early to make any definitive assumptions, PW has looked like one of the best teams in the area plain and simple. They can attack opponents from every angle and possess the ability to put immense pressure on opposing offenses. Expect this team to not only look good round one, but make a deep run into the playoffs before they really face equal competition.
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