A virile, work-horse, running back, and an official’s controversial call on a Quakertown extra-point attempt were the main culprits that lifted William Tennent’s Panthers to a 14-13 victory over Quakertown High School before a large crowd last Friday evening at Alumni Field.

Both squads failed to put any points on the board as the first half ended.

Quakertown tried to mount an early first-quarter march but ran out of steam after picking up two first-downs.

William Tennent, with senior running-back Brandon Pirrone producing the bulk of action, with 55 first-half rushing yards, could not reach the endzone in the first half as well.

Things began to shape up for the Warminster-area Panthers in the third quarter. A nine-play, 80-yard march culminated with a 1-yard quarterback Justin Kull sneak to hike Tennent to a 7-0 lead after Ben Marucci’s placement boot.

Later, early in the fourth quarter, Tennent, with a second and five from the 45 yard marker, pitched out to the right to Pirrone, Quakertown’s defense fearing another Pirrone run pursued toward the fancy stepping back. However, Pirrone drew up and launched an aerial to a downfield Mark Maloney who pulled in the football as he headed to the house 45 yards away to up the Tennent lead to 14-0 after another Marucci placement kick.

Quakertown managed to get its offense moving, coming right back to mount a scoring drive from midfield, aided by a pass interference call and some hard running by tailback Zach Schoch.

Quarterback Jon Ruch closed out the advance with a 1-yard touchdown run behind blocks by Justin Siefert and Mike Devlin.

Nate Miller added the extra point.

With the Tennent lead narrowed to 14-7, things began to get interesting for the home team. Quakertown’s onside kick was recovered by an alert Jim Bowman on the visitor’s 47 yard stripe. Just a play later Bowman hooked up with wide-receiver Sean Viers with a 30-yard halfback pass, placing the pigskin on the 16 yard line. Four plays later Schoch went in from 3 yards out for the T.D.

Enter the questionable call as kicker Miller booted a high attempted placement kick.

The officials, after hesitating, ruled that the kick was wide and to the left of the crossbar. The boot appeared to be good to many fans, however, with the ruling it went for naught.

“They (the officials) waited too long,” said Quakertown coach John Donnelly. “That kind of tells you something.”

The talented Pirrone, a 1,200-yard-plus rusher coming into this contest, picked up 141 yards on 26 carries.

“It was a great game, we came out and played hard,” said Pirrone. “Credit Quakertown, they were a good team.”

“It was a dog fight going in,” said Coach Donnelly. “We should have capitalized on our first drive. They (Tennent) were begging us to throw downfield and we did – we just couldn’t make the plays.”

Quakertown’s defense played well for the most part, holding most teams have thus far in the season.

Morgan Keller, Billy Whitehead, Derrick Ambler, James Streapy, Doug Kile, and Scott Heilman provided much of the Quakertown defensive effort.

Next Friday, Quakertown (3-3-2-1 SOL) hosts Central Bucks East at Alumni Field at 7 p.m.

Game Notes

Kicker Dylan Brenton will no longer be with the Panthers (Quakertown); his family is moving back to the state of Texas.

Quakertown’s middle schools, Milford and Strayer, joined the high school ensemble in Celebrating band night before kickoff.