By Brian Ptashinski @BPtashinski on Twitter
Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium, the Pen Argyl football team sent a shockwave through the Colonial League. The Green Knights stunned previously undefeated Notre Dame 35-14 before a raucous crowd “Up on the Hill”, behind the determined running of Logan Sterner, who accumulated 273 yards and had four touchdowns in the win.
Pen Argyl jumped out to a 28-0 lead behind Sterner as he opened the scoring with a three-yard run around the end with 3:07 left in the first quarter. The Knights got on the board again with 59 seconds played in the second quarter, after Notre Dame punted the ball to the eight-yard line, it took Sterner one play to go 92 yards up the middle for a 14-0 lead.
The score swelled to 21-0, with the help of a fourth down fake punt as Logan Rupert flipped the ball to Austin Heisler, who broke several would-be tacklers on his way for a 44-yard score with 6:10 left till half. Sterner got back in the scoring column late in the third quarter with a 53-yard sprint to pay dirt.
Notre Dame managed to get the goose egg off their side of the scoreboard when quarterback Cole DeFranco connected with Jalen Simpson for a nine-yard score. A muffed punt by Pen Argyl, gave the Crusaders the ball at the PA 20. Two plays later, Mitch Daniel took it in from a yard out and cut the lead to 28-14 with about nine minutes to go in the contest.
Any thoughts of a Notre Dame comeback was thwarted at the 3:58 mark. After the Knights took over on downs, Sterner got his final score of the contest with a 30-yard scamper completing the scoring for the game.
“We came out ready to play today. We knew this team is on top of the league. We were all on the same page. We were executing, working hard and just playing football,” Heisler stated after the game.
This loss was the first for Notre Dame in conference since losing to Saucon Valley last October.
“They were ranked second in the state in class 3A coming in. We were not intimidated, we just wanted to play our game plan and just execute that,” said Pen Argyl coach Paul Reduzzi.
Next week Notre Dame (7-1) will host Saucon Valley (7-1) Friday night. Pen Argy (6-2) winner of four straight games will face Palisades (6-2) also on Friday night.
