The Funding Zone
 
SAFR: Safer Through Science
 

Wissahickon Starts Their Season with a 48-28 Bang

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

| August 25, 2023

August 25th, 2023 is a day Wissahickon changed the past. 363 days ago Wiss lost their first game of the year to Council Rock North, fast forward to today they beat CRN and won their first week 0 game since 2017. Last season Wissahickon won only one game in ten games, today they won in their first game. Wissahickon let everyone in the district know that they weren’t the team they were last year.

“I was kind of proud of the guys there, we’re not really focused on last year you know our team did a great job of laying foundation on how we want to do things moving forward, and these guys came in starting December they worked extremely hard the last eight months here. We haven’t really accomplished anything yet we’re kind of at the same spot we were last year.”- Head Coach Rory Graver

“I’m not really concerned about that stuff, we just kind of focus on the now the present, not about the past, not about the future, about the now”- Graver on winning the first week 0 since 17′.

Twenty-seven seconds was all Wissahickon needed to score. Wissahickon’s Mr. Do It All #11 Jaden Mclean found himself in the endzone on the second play of the game. A big return to set Wissahickon up at the thirty was everything they needed. A ten-yard screen set Wiss up at the twenty then a play later and Clean was back in the endzone. A twenty-yard sweep to the right was the first of two scores for Wissahickon with 11:33 remaining in the first. This happened to be the first of the two touchdowns that Clean scored on the day. His second touchdown came six seconds into the second quarter. A four-yard pitch with Clean lowering the shoulder and running over the defender into the endzone gave him his second score of the game and Wiss the 13-0 lead.

“We’ve been working. It’s expected”- Clean on how he feels about his physical touchdown.

Clean wasn’t the only one who had a day. Harvey-Sheppard totaled two touchdowns for Wissahickon as well. Both coming off sweeps. A seventeen-yard sweep and a nine-yard sweep pushed Wiss’s lead from fourteen to twenty-seven in two minutes and twenty-one seconds. Wissahickon controlled the ground game all day consistently and successfully running the ball with running backs Clean, Sampson, Lee, and numerous WRs. While Wissahickon had success with other running backs, Sampson found himself in the role of power back. Two seasons ago Wissahickon had a power back in Jeremiah Clark then lost that last season. This year Sampson has adopted that role and has shown it already. Using his strength he barreled his way into the endzone at the end of the half extending the lead to 28-7.

“I feel great, I couldnt do it without my linemen so first shoutout my linemen and lets focus on next week”-Sampson on how he feels being the powerback as a freshman.

Sampson had the option to either play at one of the best public teams in Philly at Imhotep but decided to attend and play for Wissahickon over the summer.

“I felt like Wissahickon is a family here and Imhotep, no shade but the academics are better at Wissahickon and  I came here last year and me and my mom thought it was the best decison to stay here”

Wissahickon’s air attack wasn’t at full strength, and while QB Nolan Pounds threw a touchdown, he canceled it out with a pick; however, his legs made up for the mistakes throwing. A wizard in the pocket and a master at faking the handoff Pounds was able to make defenders miss and escape the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield. Ex-Neumann Goretti QB Jaden Randall was sidelined for the first week with a broken finger so tonight was all about Pounds. His only touchdown pass came a third of the way in the second quarter with eight minutes remaining when he found #13 Westcott streaking down the middle of the field wide-open giving Wissahickon a two-score lead.

“I don’t really think it’s a battle as much, Jaden (Randall) just really got here and they got two different play styles. They’re two great Quarterbacks we’re going to use them both”- Clean on how he feels about Pounds and Randall QB situation.

 

As Wissahickon won the game, it would be a shame to overlook CRN’s Will Scibona who scored the first two touchdowns against Wissahickon. Scibona only scored once against Wiss last year and was the first player to score on Wiss last season. Council Rock scored two more times against Wiss. One from #3 Logan Atkinson on when he bounced to the outside for a three-yard TD run, and when QB Gio Cozza pushed the ball in himself at the one-yard line.

 

Wissahickon starts off 1-0 and travels to Hatboro Horsham for their second game of the year next week looking to start a winning streak. “We got the opportunity to go 1-0 against a really good Hatboro Horsham so we got to be prepared for them,” said Coach Graver.

Council Rock looks to bounce back and get their first win of the year away against an Abington who they lost to a year ago.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
QwikCut
 
GoRout
 
Rainbow Lettering
 
x