DOYLESTOWN, PA — The scoreboard behind Central Bucks West coach Rob Rowan said 28-0 as he addressed his team, but you could not tell who won by the tone of his voice or the rigid, stern expression on his face.
In six years, Rowan has built a culture, a winning, successful culture at CB West that had been missing for a while at the traditional Southeastern Pennsylvania powerhouse. It is a culture that expects more, and demands more, even if it shuts out another traditional powerhouse like North Penn, as the undefeated Bucks did Friday night in a Suburban One League National Conference game, 28-0, for the first time since 2007.
What was so scary about the Bucks’ victory is that they could have played even better in moving to 5-0 for the first time since 2019 and the second time for the program in about 20 years.
What’s more, is that CB West has become the standard this season in PIAA District 1 Class 6A—and the Bucks have not yet reached their own standards.
“From a leadership standpoint, a culture standpoint, the brotherhood standpoint, the connectedness, all of those intangibles you don’t see with your eyes and are important, this team is very similar to what we had here in 2019,” said Rowan, who directed the 2019 Bucks to the Suburban One League championship. “That all leads to a level of self-belief and confidence that when you take the field, you know that you are going to execute, no matter who you line up against.
“I think that is something that is alive with this team right now. We did not play well in the first half and I told my team afterwards that this was a 28-0 wakeup call. I was proud of the way our guys came out in the second half. We have a standard that we believe in, and the goal is to chase perfection. We want to be better in Week 6 than we were tonight.”
The overheard chat among some of the old-timers that filled War Memorial Stadium on Friday night was about how this version of the Bucks reminds some of legendary coach Mike Pettine’s glory teams of the past.
Rowan kind of balked at that talk, but he does like the way his defense is playing, and he has a game-changer in speedy senior Conor McFadden, who is one of the top sprinters in the state getting attention from Stanford, Penn State, and Navy for the track.
McFadden scored twice, once on a fumble recovery and another on a third-quarter touchdown run, tailback Ryan Clemens added a score in the first half and quarterback Cooper Taylor topped the scoring with a 59-yard run.
Defensively, the Bucks held North Penn to 42 yards of total offense and two first downs in the first half and 132 yards of total offense for the game. It has to be noted that North Penn came into the game pretty banged up, missing starting quarterback Matt Bucksar, who was injured the previous week in the Knights’ 22-14 win over Neshaminy, but North Penn coach Dick Beck was not about to make any excuses.
“Hey look, CB West has a good squad and their kids play really hard,” Beck said. “They do some nice things defensively. They are pretty tough. They have a good team. I thought we played really well defensively, but we can’t give up the big play. That really hurt us. We just have to get healthy.”
CB West junior defensive lineman Chris Hutchinson was a one-man wrecking machine, with three tackles for minus-10 yards and he dined in the North Penn backfield most of the night.
He finished with around 10 tackles.
“I would say this was a breakout game for me,” Hutchinson said. “We prepared very well for this game. We had great looks on defense and we were very confident in the defense. We play for each other. In every play, everyone is giving 100-percent effort. That’s what we are all about. I still think we have a lot more to show.”
McFadden did not come away completely pleased. He stood on the sidelines last year with a broken collarbone in the District 1 Class 6A championship when the Bucks lost to Garnet Valley. He’s entered this season looking to make up for that lost chance.
“We come into this season super confident,” he said. “We trust each other, and we trust each other to do our jobs. But tonight, we got a little angry with each other in the first half. We still came out with a 28-0 win. We did not play our best.
“I thought we would be solid this year, but I didn’t really know how our line would shape up and they’ve looked really, really good. I think we’re good enough to get back to the district championship and have a good chance of winning. We definitely have a good shot of making it back.”
Right now, no Class 6A team looks better than the Bucks in District 1—and they have not even looked their best.
Scoring Summary
North Penn (2-3) 0 0 0 0-0
Central Bucks West (5-0) 7 7 14 0-28
1st Quarter
CBW – Conor McFadden 39 fumble recovery (Ryan Clemens kick), 3:46
2nd Quarter
CBW – Clemens 9 run (Clemens kick), :57
3rd Quarter
CBW – McFadden 27 run (Clemens kick), 6:00
CBW – Cooper Taylor 59 run (Clemens kick), 2:45
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.
