Bonner gets tricky, but still can't get past Wood
Published: Sunday, November 13, 2011
By MATT SMITH
WHITEMARSH —- A glimmer of hope flashed on Monsignor Bonner’s season early in the third quarter of Saturday’s Philadelphia Catholic League Class AAA final.
The Friars, who trailed by four touchdowns at halftime, converted a fake punt on their opening drive. Moments later, quarterback Jim Haley found Paul Pfeffinger in the end zone on a 36-yard scoring pass. Bonner lined up for an onsides kick, and although it was perfectly pooched, the Friars failed to recover the ball.
The flicker of hope faded, and Archbishop Wood didn’t look back, rolling to a 42-14 victory at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School.
The Vikings (10-1), regarded by many as one of the best football teams to come out of Pennsylvania in recent memory, captured their fourth straight PCL Class AAA title. Wood hasn’t lost since Week 1 to Pittsburgh Central Catholic, a Class AAAA juggernaut.
“We went out and played hard,” Bonner running back Ismir Gibson said. “There ain’t nothing much more we could do. (The Vikings) were an awesome team, and I’ll give them that. But I’ll always know that we came out and did our best. We gave it our all.”
Archbishop Wood moves on to the District 12 Championship game. There seems to be no team capable of slowing the Vikings. Winning another league title is nice, but the Vikings have their sights set on a PIAA championship. The Vikings realize that nothing should be taken for granted, though, no matter how many people expect them to win it all.
“We don’t look at it like that,” said Florida-bound tight end/defensive end Colin Thompson. “We don’t think that just because we’re picked to win states, we’re not going to care. If we think like that, we’re going to either lose or people are going to get hurt. We have to always give it 100 percent and that’s what we’re going to do for the rest of the year.”
Wood needed only three plays to take a 7-0 lead Saturday. The Vikings were once again buoyed by the dynamic and lightning-fast running back tandem of cousins Desmon and Brandon Peoples. Brandon scored the game’s first touchdown and finished with a game-high 121 yards on only nine carries. Desmon wasn’t too shabby, either – 118 yards on 16 rushes.
In the end, Wood was too good —- a phrase that has become cliché.
“We realized that we couldn’t play a truly conventional game against a team of this caliber,” Bonner coach Tom Oropeza said. “We knew we had to roll the dice a little bit (in the second half) and get out of our comfort zone and try some different things. We were able to connect on the fake punt and get a little bit of momentum in the third quarter. We had to take your chance and sometimes you’re going to get burned a little bit …”
Bonner’s defense —- led by Haley, the co-PCL Class AAA MVP, at safety and lineman Cody Sutton —- kept the vaunted Vikings offense at bay in the first quarter. Trailing 7-0, Haley picked off Wood quarterback Joe Monaghan in the end zone. The Friars, though, couldn’t make headway with the ball in their possession.
Haley rushed for 69 yards, and Gibson netted 77 for the Friars (6-5), who accomplished two main objectives this season —- beating Cardinal O’Hara and finishing with a winning record.
“I’m just tremendously proud that our kids played all four quarters, even though the scoreboard indicated that the game was in hand,” Oropeza said. “They fought hard. I’m proud that they saw this game all the way through.”
“I’ll remember my teammates,” Gibson said. “I love them all.”
Arcbishop Wood rolls by Monsignor Bonner for 4th straight PCL title
Published: Sunday, November 13, 2011
By DAVE HOLLOWAY
Things were going good for Monsignor Bonner late in the first quarter Saturday night at Plymouth Whitemarsh.
The Friars had just picked off an Archbishop Wood pass then Ismir Gibson broke off a 13-yard run to set up a first down at the Bonner 38.
The Bonner student section was so into the moment that it started the familiar “over-rated, over-rated, over-rated” chant at the Vikings. Really?
Over the final 14 minutes of the first half, Bonner amassed a total of 25 yards and 21 of those came on the final two plays of the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Wood totaled 165 yards and three touchdowns en route to a 28-0 lead at intermission. The Vikings then added two more touchdowns in the second half to finish off Bonner 42-14 to capture their fourth straight Philadelphia Catholic League Class AAA championship.
“You tell them you only get so many chances to play for a championship,” Wood coach Steve Devlin said. “Some of them it’s their first time, some of them it’s their second or third, but you never take it for granted because you might never do it again.”
Not taking anything for granted, Devlin put the ball in the Peoples hands -- as in seniors Desmond and Brandon Peoples. The cousins combined for 242 yards rushing on just 24 carries, while scoring three touchdowns to spark the romp.
It took all of 77 seconds and three plays for Wood to get the lead. Nate Smith carried for nine yards, Desmond Peoples for 30 and Brandon Peoples for 39 and a touchdown to put the Vikings on the board.
After being razzed by the Bonner fans, Desmond Peoples scored on a three-yard run, quarterback Joey Monaghan scored on a one-yard run and Monaghan capped off the 21-point quarter with a 22-yard scoring strike to Kyle Adkins right before the half.
“All year our goal has been states,” Brandon Peoples said. “We worked hard all year, all summer when people were up at the beaches. One of the key things our coaches have magnified was hard work and that it would pay off. And now it’s paid off.”
Bonner got the second half kickoff and promptly converted a fake punt on fourth-and-nine, then quarterback James Haley connected with Paul Peffefinger on a 36-yard touchdown pass to cut the Wood lead to 28-7.
But the Vikings hardly noticed. Desmond Peoples finished off an answer drive with a one-yard touchdown run, then Ryan McMullin put the mercy-rule clock into motion three plays into the fourth quarter with an eight-yard scoring run.
Wood ran 39 plays in the first three quarters and an amazing 13 of them resulted in gains of more than 10 yards. That’s a season for some teams.
But the Vikings aren’t satisfied just yet.
“We want to keep winning,” Devlin said. “We want to win a district (12) championship next week, so we have to start getting ready for Dobbins starting Monday.”
“All year our goal has been states and out here is the first goal toward winning states,” Brandon Peoples said. “This is what we’ve got to do our senior year.”
Anyone want to rate their chances?
Monsignor Bonner 0 0 6 8--14
Archbishop Wood 7 21 7 7--42
Scoring
AW--B.Peoples 39 run (Visco kick)
AW--D.Peoples 3 run (Visco kick)
AW--Monaghan 1 run (Visco kick)
AW--Atkins 22 pass from Monaghan (Visco kick)
MB--Peffefinger 36 pass from Haley (kick blocked)
AW--D.Peoples 1 run (Visco kick)
AW--McMullin 8 run (Visco kick)
MB--Jaward 9 run (Visco kick)
Bonner Wood
First downs 15 18
Yards rushing 203 327
Yards passing 65 60
Total offense 268 387
Passing 6-16-1 4-6-1
Fumbles lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties 1-5 6-30
Punts 4-32.7 1-30.0
RUSHING
Monsignor Bonner--Gibson 14-75; Haley 18-67; Jaward 6-26, TD; Ferry 2-20; Himmon 1-15.
Archbishop Wood--B.Peoples 10-133, TD; D.Peoples 14-109, 2TD; McMullin 6-44, TD; Monaghan 5-30, TD; Smith 1-9.
PASSING
Monsignor Bonner--Haley 5-15-1--51, TD; Dempsey 1-1-0--14.
Archbishop Wood--Monaghan 4-6-1--60, TD.
RECEIVING
Monsignor Bonner--Peffefinger 3-51, TD; Hall 1-14; Womack 1-2; Jaward 1-(-2).
Archbishop Wood--Smith 2-31; Adkins 2-29, TD.
