Plymouth Whitemarsh Throttles Springfield-Montco 42-0

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

Michael Pietrangelo | October 11, 2024

Plymouth Meeting– Last night, on Senior Night, the Colonials showed why they continue to be the standard of the SOL-American. Plymouth Whitemarsh dismantled Springfield-MontCo 42-0 to remain undefeated in conference play and picked up their sixth win overall. For the record, it’s been three years since this colonial team lost a conference game. Last night wound up being no different, riding all the momentum and a dominant aerial attack, the Colonials showed no doubt as to who the king of the American Conference is. With a win next week against Upper Moreland (7-1, 2-1), the Colonials will have a chance to repeat as conference champions for the fourth time in a row. Before this writer gets ahead of himself let’s dive into last night’s game.

Things started relatively smoothly for the Spartans as they managed six plays and a first down before quarterback Jack McGuckin was sacked by senior linebacker Andrew Iannozzi and forced to punt. The Colonials attempted to get their high-powered rushing attack some juice but weren’t able to squeeze anything out as Springfield seemed to hone in on star running back Everett Baker and the run game. What do you do when a team continuously stops your game plan? Head coach Dan Chang opted to go to his aerial attack. With only 1:03 to go in the first quarter senior quarterback Caiden Leszczynski lobbed a pass 11-yards into the hands of Chase Rarrick for the early lead 7-0. Springfield took over and ended the first quarter.

The second quarter began, and two plays later, Springfield would be forced to punt. After a 22-yard first down by Baker, Leszczynski connected with wide receiver Chase Smith on a beautifully thrown 55-yard bomb and a 14-0 lead with 10:22 left in the half. The two teams buckled down, and the score remained a two-score game until a wacky turn of events. Leszczynski was picked off by QB/CB Jack McGuckin, and then the PW defense took matters into their own hands. Junior defensive back Michael Bongard intercepted the McGuckin pass and took it back 55 yards to the house for the pick-six and a 20-0 lead with 2:30 to go in the half. Right before the half, the Colonials capitalized once again when Leszczynski found a familiar face that he has known since elementary school, Marcus Laffredo, who caught the pass and went untouched into the endzone for the 54-yard score. After the two-point conversion was completed, the Colonials took a 28-0 lead, which is where it would be heading into halftime.

Both teams jockeyed possessions in the third quarter multiple times before Leszczynski looked to be scrambling for his life and miraculously found a wide-open Christian Diciurcio for the 9-yard touchdown and a 35-0 lead. The stout PW defense wouldn’t bend or break and shut down all attempts made by Springfield to move the ball effectively. The third quarter would end with all the energy and momentum in PW’s favor. The defense continued to pressure McGuckin all night, sacked the quarterback 4.5 times, and had him running around all evening. Before the starters left the game, on the defensive side of the ball, Kevin Hegarty had one more trick up his sleeve. The senior linebacker bull-rushed the quarterback and strip-sacked him. Senior defensive end, Amir Butler scooped the fumble up, raced 61 yards to paydirt, and hit the final nail into the proverbial coffin. The game ended 42-0 and put the Plymouth Whitemarsh Colonials in the driver’s seat heading into its final two contests. Next week, they host Upper Moreland (7-1, 2-1) and close out the regular season against William Tennent (3-5, 1-2). Springfield (6-2, 2-1) finishes the regular season on the road with away games at (William Tennent and Wissahickon (4-4, 0-3).

Individual Stats

Rushing

Springfield- White 3-17, Ferragame 7-14, Johnson 4-11, Bronson 1-(-4), McGuckin 10-(-25).

PW- Baker 9-86, Spruill 1-25, Diciurcio 3-10, Iannozzi 2-8, Leszczynski 3-5, Coleman 1-2, Boone 1-2, Reilly 2-(-2).

Passing

Springfield- McGuckin 15-28, 136 yards, White 1-1-0, -3 yards.

PW-Leszczynski 6-11-1, 155 yards, 4 TDs.

Receiving

Springfield- Bobby Hartman 5-67, Mekhi Paschal 3-27, CJ Johnson 5-22, Zymir Small 2-20, Ronan Moran 1-(-3).

PW- Laffredo 2-79, TD; Smith 1-55, TD; Rarrick 1-11, TD; Diciurcio 1-9, TD; Bongard 1-1.

Interceptions

Springfield- McGuckin

PW- Bongard

Sacks

Springfield- None

PW- Iannozzi, Butler, Hegarty, Joseph (0.5), Lockhart (0.5)

Mayhem’s Player of the Game

Caiden threw four touchdown passes and accounted for 160 yards of offense while leading his team to victory.

Student Spotlight:

Nera is a senior and a main base on the cheer team. She has been cheering for four years. Her favorite subject in school is art. Her dream school is DSU and she wants to major in art. A fun fact about Nera is that she is double jointed in all her fingers.

Ry Bass is a senior and they are in the color guard. Ry has been in the guard since seventh grade. Ry’s favorite subject in school is 3D Art and English. After graduation they hope to major in international relations and continue to explore art. They have applied to eight schools and could see themselves at either Sarah Lawrence College or Temple-Japan. A fun fact about Ry is that they believe that it is never to late to start a new hobby, which is why they joined concert band, playing the euphonium their freshman year.