High School South improved its record to 6-0 in the annual game against cross-town rival High School North on October 15.
The Pirates took advantage of a winless Knights squad that has been decimated this year by the loss of key players from last season, rolling to a 48-0 victory and driving High School North to its sixth straight loss.
It was only four years ago that another undefeated Pirates team was defeated by High School North in a 21-9 upset. Andy McKeever, now a South assistant coach, was a player on that Pirates team and wanted to make sure history didn’t repeat itself.
“You can never forget that,” said Pirates head coach Todd Smith, who improved to 5-2 against the Knights. “(McKeever) did a great job reminding the kids all week about what could happen and how bad it felt when it did happen.”
This time, the game was just about over by halftime.
On offense, eight different players carried the football with Chris Jones turning 12 carries into 71 yards and a score, Donyell Reid carrying the football five times for 69 yards and a score, and Andrew Murray with 36 yards. Quarterback Chris Evans had an 18-yard touchdown run and completed 4 of 7 passes for 38 yards.
Senior tight end Marty Flatley caught his fourth and fifth touchdown passes of the season.
The Pirates out-gained WW-P North 417-85 and never had to punt.
Smith said the wind limited passing early in the game. That just gave the Pirates a chance to eat up more yardage on the ground.
“We came out and set the tone running the football. We spread it around a bit, spread the love and went from there. We came out healthy which was our No. 1 goal.”
Schoenauer’s 159-yard total was the seventh straight game he rushed for at least 100 yards and the 14th time in his has done so in his career.
Thus far this season, he has 882 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on 136 carries. He now has 2,479 career rushing yards and has a chance at breaking the area’s all-time rushing record of 3,842 yards set by Allentown’s Ross Scheuerman a year ago.
Smith also credited the play of his offensive line, a key to the Pirates’ success all season. “This is a solid group. We have some decent size but they’re very athletic. They take pride in their position. Everyone that’s on the o-line actually wants to play on the o-line so that’s always a plus.”
The effort on defense was impressive as well. Pressure from the defensive line and linebackers limited the Knights to only 11 yards rushing on 23 carries and forced three turnovers. It was the second shutout of the season for South. The team has given up only seven points over the last 10 quarters.
“It feels good,” South junior two-way lineman Eric Davis said. “We just tried to execute to get the win against our rival. We were just trying to do our jobs.”
South got the ball first and went 74 yards in seven plays, capped by Chris Evans’ 18-yard touchdown run. The wind knocked the subsequent kickoff back toward the Pirates’ sideline, and they recovered the ball. Six plays later, South scored again.
North never recovered from that point on. Knights’ highlights included 10 carries for 25 yards and a 19-yard pass caught by Tyrone Parker, and a 27-yard halfback-option pass from Baffi Owoh to Juwan Harrison.
