To run in the October 10th Bucks County Herald
Cape of Good Hope.
Sophomore Braylen Cape barreled into the end zone from five yards out 46 ticks into the fourth quarter on Friday in Warrington, giving CB South (7-0, 4-0 SOL National) a 14-6 lead against North Penn (6-1, 3-1 SOL National), the top-ranked team in District One 6A.
“All I did was follow my blockers,” admitted Cape, who sat much of the first half in a platoon with Kaden Kube. “I couldn’t have done it without them. They led the way for me. But I felt very good and very fresh.”
Cape’s run capped an impressive 10-play, 79-yard drive from South- every play being a run.
The score held. The Knights had three more cracks to score but a Jimmy Wade fourth down sack ended one drive, Dilon Monteiro forced an illegal shovel pass on fourth down to kill a second drive, and Eddie Bowen salted the game away by strip sacking Knight signal caller Matt Bucksar on the game’s final play.
“Coach (John) Cataldo masterminds our defense,” credited McCusker, who broke up two passes and had a tackle for no gain in the first half. “He schemes up everything and we executed what he schemes.”
On CB South’s opening drive, Kaden Kube and Owen Pinkerton put together 28 yards on consecutive runs. Yet North Penn’s defense stiffened and stopped South on fourth down.
On South’s second drive, Pinkerton threaded the needle to Danny Gies on a 52-yard reception to the 18. Yet again North Penn’s defense stiffened and stopped the Titans on fourth down.
On South’s third drive, keyed by a Geis to McCusker trick 33-yard bomb, the Titans again faced fourth down.
“We just installed that yesterday,” McCusker admitted. “Coach (Bart) Szarko is always coming up with big plays. That one happened to work.”
This time Pinkerton turned on the jets on a sweep and ran it in for a 9-yard touchdown to put South up 7-0 with 6:34 left in the half.
After getting just seven yards on their first two drives, the Knights drove down to the South four. But McCusker broke up a third-down pass in the end zone, forcing North Penn to kick a 21-yard field goal seconds before halftime.
Last year’s shootout- a 50-28 CB South win- was an anomaly not for the result but the score. The Titans have allowed just 58 points all year. They held Bucksar to just 108 yards on 19 attempts and bottled up the Knights to yield only 26 yards on the ground
“Credit to our offensive line and our linebackers,” McCusker said. “Containing that QB is a big win. He is one of the best QBs in the SOL. We have great D-backs. We played our game and that is what happened.”
Unlike North Penn, South was able to run the ball. Cape (10 carries for 65 yards) and Kube (15 carries for 55 yards) may not have had explosive plays, but they moved the chains all evening. Quarterback Pinkerton added 46 yards on 18 carries.
“Each play that you have, when you get the first down, it tires out their defense,” Kube pointed out. “That is what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to win every rep. We had some misses but we’ll come back next week and work at them.”
“If one guy goes down, we’ve got the next,” said Cape, fresh off of his 107-yard performance at Pennsbury last Saturday. “Everyone is equally as good. Everyone has each other’s back. There is good chemistry.”
“We can’t do anything without the offensive line,” Kube added. “They are the playmakers. They are the only ones we’re following.”
CB South hosts Abington next week. Very likely as the new number one seed.
