Chad Breidinger
Easternpafootball.com
Craig Needhammer picked a perfect night for a career game as he and his Night’s ran through, around, and over visiting Liberty who are the defending PIAA 4A state champions.
His speed and hard running led him to 14 carries/219-yards/2TD’s. He had runs of 81 and 99-yards (TD) which proved he will be a standout RB in District 1.
It first appeared as if Liberty was picking up where they left off last year by getting on the board on their first possession. After a few Anthony Gonzalez runs followed by a perfect 54-yard TD strike to Stanford- bound Jarred West, it seemed like business as usual.
After a North Penn punt, Liberty was on the move again getting the ball down to the 1-yard line. Two penalties later and a double reverse that was fumbled and recovered by the Night’s changed momentum.
North Penn started out their scoring with a 22-yard FG. After an attempted Liberty punt gone bad, resulting with West taking the loss at the 12-yard line, Needhammer ran a trap 11-yards to paydirt. North Penn took the 10-7 lead.
Liberty got on the scoreboard one last time with a 32-yard FG tying the game at 10-points apiece.
After that point it was all North Penn as they scored 32 unanswered points.
Brandon Mercer, the fastest player on the team, was sidelined early with a broken Collarbone which paved the way for Mike Culbreath to do his damage with 3TD’s. He had runs of 1,2,and 3-yards respectively.
Ralph Reed made his presence known in the 4th Quarter as he took a TE screen 25-yards for the score.
After a Liberty punt down to the North Penn 1-yard line, the man of the night, Craig Needhammer was at it again breaking off a 99-yard TD run to seal the win for the Nights.
Next week Liberty plays Parkland (1-0) a 16-0 winner of George Washington and North Penn takes on cross-town rival Lansdale Catholic.
