Ground-and-Pound: As Adversity Strikes Central Bucks West’s High-Octane Run Game Overwhelms Central Bucks East in 24-7 Victory

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Michael Pietrangelo | October 28, 2023

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Doylestown, PA – When you are averaging 32 points per game & rushing for 300+ yards every Friday night, the expectation is to dominate your opponents. The Bucks (10-0,7-0) have done that all season. When it comes to a heated rivalry anything can happen, anything is possible. “Our guys faced some adversity against a good team in East and it was great to see how they reacted,” added West’s head coach Rob Rowan as he glanced down at the illustrious trophy known throughout the three Central Bucks communities as the CB Cup. The Bucks were knotted up 7-7 in a dogfight going into halftime for the first time this season. “They showed the ability to take a punch and they responded in a positive way. That tells a lot about this team,” noted Rowan. After the half, the Bucks flipped a switch and didn’t look back.

The first quarter was a doozy, to say the least. Both teams ate up a significant amount of clock without any points to show for it. The Bucks first possession lasted 13 plays. The result, a turnover on downs gave the ball to the Patriots (4-6,2-5) at their own 18-yard line. 10 plays later, with only 1:26 to go in the quarter, Senior quarterback Dan Voglesong scored on a 1-yard leap into the endzone.

@VoglesongDan takes the ball in from 1-yard out. After the PAT is good, with 1:26 to go in the 1st quarter the score is. @CBEastFootball 7 @westcbfootball 0@PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/XgLLtxAjiG

— Michael “Mayhem” Pietrangelo (@ArtisticMayhem1) October 27, 2023

On the very next Bucks possession, Senior running back Conor McFadden got things going when he took the rock 51 yards to the 1-yard line. Following a false start Junior running back Ryan Clemens followed his lead blocker into the endzone with 1:06 to go in the quarter. His extra point made it 7-7. The quarter would end as East would pick up a first down.

The second quarter got underway and five plays later the Patriots were forced to Punt. On the Buck’s next possession, they would eat up more ground but turned it over on a forced fumble to kill the drive. East wouldn’t capitalize either as they were forced to punt yet again after picking up another first down. West would march the ball into East’s territory but came up short on a 22-yard field goal attempt. East went into the half with confidence after essentially shutting down the high-powered Bucks rushing attack for 2 quarters. West was silent as they headed into the locker room with their backs against the wall. “We were just silent and didn’t say anything, we were still locked in. They went into the half thinking they won but we knew we just had to play football like we know how to, and we did that in the second half,” commented McFadden after the game.

The third quarter saw the defense lock down and take care of business. East’s first possession of the second half ended with yet another punt. East then caused West to fumble on their next possession. Halfway through the third East’s Dan Voglesong saw a receiver downfield but Junior Aedan Donnelly picked it off close to the line of scrimmage. The spark West needed seemed to come in this moment because, on the very next offensive play, McFadden raced untouched 61 yards to the house.

With 6:34 to go in the third quarter @ConorMcFadden06 takes the ball 61-yards to the house. The PAT is good. The score is…@CBEastFootball 7@westcbfootball 14 @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/Sn3rI1jgIY

— Michael “Mayhem” Pietrangelo (@ArtisticMayhem1) October 28, 2023

After the Clemens PAT was good, West’s lead was 14-7. Another Bucks turnover led to good field position; Clemens extended the lead to 17-7 with a 33-yard field goal with 3:35 to go. The suffocating West defense again shut down any possibilities for the Pats and they were forced to punt. The Bucks started moving the ball when the third came to an end and the score was still 17-7.

Three plays into the fourth quarter Ryan Clemens again found paydirt, this time from 8-yards out. After his own PAT connected, the lead would extend to 24-7. In what would end up being their final possession, the Patriots ran six plays and found themselves facing a 4 and 1. Faced with a 3-score deficit they opted to attempt a tush push/ brotherly shove. The Bucks’ defensive front held and denied the Patriots the first down. The Bucks then held on for another long drive (15 plays) before calling victory formation and running out the last 40 seconds of the game. When the clock hit quad zeros the Bucks had tallied 377 yards rushing on 40 attempts and 3 rushing touchdowns.

Central Bucks East season is now over and Central Bucks West readies for the first round of the district playoffs as the #1 seed where they will likely face #16 seed Cheltenham (5-5) or Possibly Wissahickon (6-4) depending on if Lower Merion wins today.