Great job Bulldogs on picking up your 4th win of the season!!
from the BCCT:
Friday football: more heartbreak for New Hope-Solebury as Morrisville scores late to grab win
By TOM WARING
STAFF WRITER
MORRISVILLE - On paper, Morrisville looked to be a big favorite over New Hope-Solebury on Friday night.
The Bulldogs entered the game with three wins in their first four games while the Lions, a first-year varsity program, dropped their first three games.
When New Hope scored a touchdown a little more than two minutes into the game, it got the Bulldogs’ attention.
“We found out they really wanted it,” said Morrisville junior linebacker/running back Matt Beyer.
The game was tight throughout, but it was Beyer who made the key play in the end. He took a shovel pass from quarterback Matt Cookson and went 9 yards for a touchdown with 3:41 to play in the game, helping the Bulldogs to a 14-10 victory at Robert Morris Field.
“I was a little bit worried, but I knew our team was going to come back,” Beyer said.
Meanwhile, the heartbreak continues for New Hope (0-4), which is playing varsity football again for the first time since 1948, and playing all its games on the road because it does not have a field of its own.
After last week’s one-point loss to Tower Hill (Del.), coach Jim DiTulio told his players that they were four points away from being 2-1. The Lions also lost by a field goal to Princeton Day School and were tied with Bristol at halftime before losing by two touchdowns.
Now, they are eight points away from being 3-1.
“It’s tough,” DiTulio said. “Our kids are preparing every week. They’re working hard. The kids are giving everything they’ve got. We have to learn to put four quarters together.”
The Lions led, 10-7, at halftime, but did little offensively in the second half. They threatened to score the winning points in the closing seconds, but came up short.
“I’m extremely proud of them,” DiTulio said. “They’re having fun. My goal is to continue to build excitement to get the program off the ground.”
New Hope’s Julian Kaminoff had an outstanding night running the ball and made a couple of nice plays in the secondary. The sophomore rushed 28 times for 171 yards.
Kaminoff believes the Lions came up short because they faced a good opponent and their two-way starters tired at the end.
“This is hard to swallow, but we took a bunch of steps forward,” he said. “I think everyone played pretty well.”
New Hope’s next chance for a victory comes Oct. 10 against Pennington (N.J.), which dominated Bristol, 28-7, on Friday.
“We know before the season is over we’re going to get at least one,” Kaminoff said. “We should be 3-1 now. We can play with almost anybody.”
New Hope took a 7-0 lead just 2:23 into the game when Bryant Andrews-Nino caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Marco Maltese.
Morrisville tied the score at 7-7 early in the second quarter when Cookson ran 25 yards for a score.
It looked like the score would stay that way at halftime, when Morrisville fumbled in New Hope territory with 54 seconds to go. But, two long runs by Kaminoff and a 20-yard pass from Maltese to Dustin Blevins allowed Marshall Hendricks to kick a 28-yard field goal on the last play of the half to give his team a 10-7 lead.
The score stayed the same until the fourth quarter. Morrisville took the ball at its 20-yard line with 7:15 remaining, and Cookson led the Bulldogs on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that ended with his TD pass to Beyer. The key play on the drive was a 10-yard screen pass to Ruben Bresnen on fourth-and-six.
New Hope drove to the Morrisville 25-yard line, but sacks by Beyer and Mike Jones and an interception by Rickey Melendez helped the Dawgs hold on to win.
Morrisville won despite two interceptions, two fumbles and a penalty that negated a 70-yard punt return to the New Hope 5 by Jimmie Miller.
“We need a lot of improvement for next week,” said Cookson, who threw for 135 yards and ran for 85 more. “We’ll go to the film to see what we did wrong.”
Morrisville is back in action on Oct. 10 against Dwight Englewood (N.J.), a team the Bulldogs shut out last year during a two-win season. It’ll be Homecoming.
After struggling past New Hope, the Dawgs won’t be looking past anybody.
“It’s four quarters. You never know,” Cookson said.
Morrisville coach Jim Gober described New Hope as a well-coached team, praised the running of Kaminoff and credited the Lions with playing well at the line of scrimmage. He said the Bulldogs had a good week of practice, but that the Lions came to win.
“Our kids know we didn’t play our best. We made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “I’m happy we got the win, but not happy with how we got it. The most important thing is we held them at the end.”
Tom Waring can be reached at 215-949-4215 or twaring@phillyBurbs.com.
Morrisville 14, New Hope-Solebury 10
New Hope-Solebury…………………… 7 3 0 0-10
Morrisville…………………………… 0 7 0 7-14
Scoring Summary
NHS - Andrews-Nino 15 pass from Maltese (M. Hendricks kick)
M - Cookson 25 run (Douglass kick)
NHS - FG M. Hendricks 28
M - Beyer 9 pass from Cookson (Douglass kick)
Team Statistics
NHS M
First Downs 16 13
Yards Rushing 223 115
Yards Passing 55 135
Total Offense 278 250
Comp. Passes, Int 6-11-2 11-26-2
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-2
Penalties-yards 7-45 7-55
Punts-Avg. 6-24.5 1-30.0
Sacked-Yds. Lost 4-24 0-0
Individual Statistics
New Hope-Solebury
Rushing: Kaminoff 28-171; Lanzetta 7-34; Maltese 4-18.
Passing: Maltese 6-11-2, 55 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving: Andrews-Nino 2-28, 1 TD; Blevins 2-25; Kaminoff 2-2.
Interceptions: Park, Stone
Morrisville
Rushing: Cookson 17-85, 1 TD; Bresnen 8-24; Beyer 2-6.
Passing: Cookson 11-26-2, 135 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving: Figueroa 3-59; Bresnen 2-26; Walker 3-20; Beyer 2-19, 1 TD; Jones 1-11.
Interceptions: Jones, Melendez
