Pope John Paul II Defense pulls out all the stops in 18-0 shutout of Neumann-Goretti

Written by: Matt Hagy on Saturday, August 31st, 2024. Follow Matt Hagy on Twitter.

ROYERSFORD – Pope John Paul knew what it was getting itself into when they made their non-conference schedule for the 2024 season. After earning a 34-27 win over a strong Springfield Township team a week ago, the Golden Panthers moved onto the next step of its early season gauntlet against state-ranked Neumann-Goretti.

Behind an overwhelming defensive performance, the Golden Panthers shut out the Saints 18-0 on Saturday afternoon at Pope John Paul II High School.

“I knew today was going to be a big test and Neumann-Goretti is a powerhouse in this state,” Pope John Paul head coach Scott Reed said. “You schedule these kinds of games to see where your team is. Our defense led the whole way today and our offense took advantage of some opportunities they gave us.”

The Golden Panthers wanted the ball to start and made a statement on the opening drive of the game when quarterback Luke Terlesky found Jacob Lucci for a 14-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal that made it 7-0. Following that series, the Pope John Paul offense struggled to finish drives as they had two of its next three drives ending with a turnover on downs.

However, the frustrations on offense were negated by a ferocious pass rush that made life miserable for Saints quarterback Deante Ruffin all afternoon.

“There was a lot of times where we were going back and forth with sending pressure and not sending pressure,” Scott Reed said. “That is a credit to our defensive coordinator, Coach Dallas, on working really hard to scheme up formations and to our kids for being in the right gaps and doing what they are supposed to do. We would see one of our kids get a sack because another one took out a blocker.”

All in total, the Golden Panthers racked up seven sacks and limited the Saints to an astonishing -57 rushing yards. That total was also compounded by two high snaps over Ruffin’s head in the second quarter which led to a 12-yard safety to extend the Pope John Paul lead to 9-0.

After turning the Golden Panthers away on downs in the red zone, Ruffin hit on a 39-yard pass to Wydeek Collier that set the Saints up at the Golden Panthers 41-yard line late in the second quarter. The drive, however, was swamped thanks to back-to-back sacks which preserved the 9-0 advantage for Pope John Paul.

The mistakes from the Saints carried into the second half as they were called for having 12 men in the huddle on the opening play of the third quarter before a sack fumble forced a punt. The Golden Panthers pinned the Saints at their own one yard line on a punt and Anthony Borzillo wrapped up Nahjee Williams in the end zone for the second safety of the game to make it 11-0.

Neumann-Goretti seemingly connected on a long pass by Ruffin that would have set them up at the Golden Panthers 30 yard line, but Collier let the ball slip out of his hands as he hit the ground. One play later, Ruffin was sacked again to force another punt.

The Saints still found themselves only down 11 with 8:59 in the fourth quarter but saw any final chance of rallying crash after having another long completion to Collier wiped out due to a holding penalty and sack on 4th and 14. Pope John Paul delivered the final blow when do-it-all back Braden Reed found a wide open Brandon DeAngelo for a 20-yard touchdown to make it 18-0 with three minutes left in regulation.

“Braden is a guy that has been starting for all four years and he helps us in so many ways,” Scott Reed said. “He was a big part of our success these last two seasons and now it is his turn to be a senior and we are trying to be creative with how we get the ball in his hands because good things happen when we do.”

Braden Reed caught a game-high seven passes for 41 yards, rushed for 36 yards on eight carries, and completed both pass attempts for 55 yards along with his touchdown. He completed a 35-yard pass to DeAngelo on the first play of the game that initially set up the Golden Panthers for their first score of the game.

“That first play was just a big momentum play to set a tone,” Braden Reed said. “Most teams will play it safe on the first play but getting a big gain on our first play gave our sideline a lot of energy.”

Pope John Paul, now 2-0, completes its opening-season gauntlet next Saturday afternoon at home against West Chester Rustin. Rustin also sits with the same record and was ranked fifth in the latest 5A Pennsylvania State Rankings.

“This is definitely a grind for us,” Reed said. “Rustin is extremely good, and they have been very impressive in its first two games. We are going to have to play our best brand of football to knock them off.”

As for Neumann-Goretti, 0-2 against teams state ranked, they will seek its first win of the 2024 season next week against an out-of-state opponent in Tottenville (N.Y.).

SCORE BY QUARTERS	1	2	3	4	Final
Neumann-Goretti	0	0	0	0	0
Pope John Paul	7	2	2	7	18

Scoring summary

1	PJP	Lucci, 14 pass from Terlesky (Simonic kick)	7:30
2	PJP	12 yard safety	5:50
3	PJP	1 yard safety	7:24
4	PJP	DeAngelo, 20 pass from Reed (Simonic kick)	3:00

Team statistics

	Neumann-Goretti	Pope John Paul
First downs	7	13
Rushes-yards	24-(-57)	29-110
Passing yards	122	140
Total yards	65	250
Passes COMP-ATT-INT	7-21-0	15-29-0
Fumbles-lost	1-0	0-0
Punts-average	4-32.5	4-24.0
Penalties-yards	14-95	12-80