Plymouth Whitemarsh Rides Momentum to Another Blowout Win Over Cheltenham
Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Matt Licwinko | September 30, 2023
The Plymouth Whitemarsh Colonials overcame both unfavorable weather and a resilient Celtenham Panthers team to notch their fourth win of the year on the road this Friday. Coming off a big win in the week prior, the Colonials went into a hostile environment to match up with a divisional opponent who was still winless in the Panthers. Unfortunately for Cheltenham, they did not look prepared for a team of PW’s caliber, and they were battered in a grueling loss with a final score of 42-13.
From the first play of the game alone it was clear that Plymouth Whitemarsh had brought its A-game to the field, as star WR Nazye Boggs bounced off a tackle and took off for a 53 yard score to open the game up from the jump. But Cheltenham appeared to be up for the challenge. The Panthers offense strung together a rushing attack much like that of the Colonials, with three different ball carriers on the first drive alone. After a controversial late hit penalty boosted them into the red zone, Cheltenham capitalized on the opportunity and a beautiful 27 yard rushing touchdown would bring it even early on in the game. PW’s iconic triple option offense looked about as good as we have seen it perform this year in this game. Everett Baker would rush for 20 yards before Caiden Leszczynski would take his own QB keeper for 15 yards. All of this rushing set up another Nazye Boggs score, this time from ten yards out to give the Colonials the lead once again. Despite a well run first drive, two penalties on the Panthers would stall their responding drive short and the PW defense would force a turnover on downs. The explosiveness of Nazye Boggs would truly be on display again when he took off for his second 50+ yard touchdown and third total of the game from 65 yards out on the very first play of the next Colonials drive. Now needing points to keep themselves in the game, Cheltenham moved the ball well downfield to the red zone, but were cut short following an interception in the end zone that would end the first quarter.
Plymouth Whitemarsh would begin the second quarter by trying to improve the run game even more, and they found a bit of success with it. Everett Baker would pick up his second rush of over 20 yards but just two plays later he would fumble and give the ball away to Cheltenham. With great field position following the turnover it was looking like the Panthers were going to finally punch it in again, but two huge unsportsmanlike penalties following a scuffle on the field would push them back 30 yards to create a 1st and 40 from their own 45. After a couple of rushing attempts stalled out they brought on the punt unit, and the worst case scenario happened. Plymouth’s special teams unit blocked the punt and proceeded to complete a nearly 50 yard scoop and score to blow the game open midway through the second quarter. Neither team would look too impressive on their ensuing drives. Cheltenham would force another turnover after rainy conditions caused both the field and ball to become extremely slippery, but it would result in nothing but another turnover on downs. PW chose to take a 28-7 lead into the half with full confidence they could hold out to pickup the win.
Both teams opened the second half with scrappy and all out aggressive football. Not only that, but both teams also opened the half with unsportsmanlike penalties after more exchanges on the field between players. The Panthers put together a great 10 play drive but were stuffed on fourth down by a very tough PW defensive line. On the very next play once again Nazye Boggs would break off of a tackle and turn on the jets as he raced to the end zone for his fourth score of the game. Not only was it his fourth score, it was his third of 50 or more yards. A Cheltenham three and out would force a third turnover on downs and PW would refuse to lay off the gas. The Colonials running game wore down their divisional opponent, and Everett Baker finally got a touchdown of his own on a 20 yard rushing score. But even despite being down by a number of scores, Cheltenham took pride in refusing to go down easily by rattling off a long 13 play drive that resulted in a 17 yard touchdown through the air.
The fourth quarter really lacked much action this week, as the rain began to pour and the clock continued to tick away with long drives from both teams. One player who definitely stuck out from the PW second team offense was RB Michael Bongard. After scoring his first touchdown last week, he had a few carries where he was able to rack up close to thirty yards. With an impressive class of rushing talent graduating after this year, the PW coaching staff should be excited they have such a talented prospect ready for big carries. Nonetheless, Plymouth Whitemarsh did what it had to do and secured the important win in the heat of the season.
Although the challenge faced by the Colonials was not necessarily the most difficult, they still showed why they can be one of the best teams in their conference. For Cheltenham, they really have no choice but to keep their heads held high and move on to the next week as they drop to 0-5. They will face 3-2 Springfield in their next game. On the other side of this game we see a totally different situation for PW. In the two weeks following their shocking shutout loss to Quakertown, PW has outscored its opponents 90-27. They have also scored 40+ points in both weeks. Their offense is on fire right now and the team as a whole is starting to click. Next week will be an important marker to see how legit they really are as they face 2-4 William Tennent in their Homecoming game. If they can produce a similar result to these past weeks, it may be time to start talking about a division 3-peat again.
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