BUCKINGHAM, PA — It didn’t take Ethan Shine long to turn the lights on him Friday in the first-night football game ever played in the 52-year history of Central Bucks East High School.
The 5-foot-11, 215-pound senior running back and linebacker had a career game over visiting Souderton, barreling his way through the Indians’ defense for a career-best 266 yards rushing on 32 carries and four touchdowns in leading CB East to a 30-13 victory.
He did it behind the blocking of Chris Poulson, Joe Collins, Connor Harris, Liam Powers, and Sean Connor. They provided the push, Shine provided the power, often moving the pile and frequently coming out the other end of a human tunnel.
The Patriots, who moved to 3-0 overall this season, did not do anything fancy. They kept a simple approach of their mountainous front wearing down Souderton and it worked.
“That’s how we play, moving straight forward, man-on-man, who moves their guy better and that’s what we did tonight,” said Shine, who scored touchdowns of two, nine, 31, and five yards. “We keep it simple. I felt the other guys get weaker as the game went on. I heard them a couple of times gasping for breath.
“I never ran for 266 and four touchdowns. I know I wouldn’t have done that without my offensive line.”
CB East never trailed. The Patriots went into halftime leading, 9-6, thanks to Shine rushing for 137 yards on 14 carries, most of which came on a 76-yard run that set up his two-yard scoring run with 10:06 left in the half.
The Patriots opened their lead on a pair of Shine touchdowns in the third, and to open the fourth quarter.
A pivotal play in the game occurred when Souderton was driving late in the third quarter. Trailing 16-6, the Indians, who fell to 2-1 overall, had a chance to get within one score, when coach Ed Gallagher opted to go for it on fourth-and-two from the CB East nine.
Souderton quarterback Jared Zimmerman rolled left, and it looked like he would get the two yards needed when the Patriots’ junior defensive back Luke Wilson came crashing down to drive him out of bounds just short.
CB East responded with a 10-play, 91-yard drive that ended with Shine rolling into the end zone from 31 yards out.
“Ethan is a great kid and he’ll be the first to tell you he’ll defer all of the glory to the offensive line,” Patriots’ coach John Donnelly said. “Ethan is a different kind of running back. He dropped some weight from last year and he changes direction better. This is a good start. CB South is a good team, and we have them next week we beat a good football team tonight in Souderton.
“This was a great night to have this. We honored a long-time coach tonight Larry Greene, who died years ago from cancer and we wore green to honor him and his legacy at CB East, which is large. This stadium has been here since 2015 and the lights came in April. This was a special night all around.”
Souderton will look to regroup from a game in which it was pushed around up front.
“CB East has a very diversified offense and they do a lot of different things from a lot of different formations,” Gallagher said. “Honestly, they just decided to line up double tight(ends) and knock us off the ball tonight. It was that simple. Give them credit. They were more physical than us tonight. They made fewer mistakes than we did tonight.
“I liked how our kids battled. We weren’t able to hold up to the running attack they had. Our kids battled and Jared kept battling all night long. Our kids made some plays, and their kids made more plays. They were a better team tonight.”
Scoring Summary
Souderton (2-1) 0 6 0 7-13
Central Bucks East (3-0) 3 6 7 14-30
1st Quarter
CBE – Jack Corrigan 35 FG, 4:05
2nd Quarter
Sou. – Ty Quintois 35 FG, 10:38
CBE – Ethan Shine 2 run (kick failed), 10:06
Sou. – Quintois 37 FG, :00
3rd Quarter
CBE – Shine 9 run (Corrigan kick), 5:29
4th Quarter
CBE – Shine 31 run (Corrigan kick), 8:29
Sou. – Shaun Purvy 39 pass from Jared Zimmerman (Rylan Zuk kick), 6:00
CBE – Shine 5 run (Corrigan kick), 0:54
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.
