Where oh where is the defense in lansdale? West upsets NP 35-14. West ended the game with the ball on NP’s 10 yard line. I know West was 1-3 coming into the game, but they are much better than their record indicates in my opinion. They have a rash of injuries, but still found a way to handle NP. Is Beck the only one who doesn’t realize NP’s issue is defense? They almost look uninterested/uninspired on that side of the ball.
Keep in mind, CBW’s offense hasn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire. Garnet Valley and Upper Dublin held them to 7 points, Pennsbury held them to 21. I know they scored a lot on Quakertown, but Qtown isn’t very good.
I've got a lot of catching up to do, had a bit of travel and needed to get some information on what was going on with some guys, but here's where I think we're at:
1. As mentioned the injury bug has been nasty for West. The SS is lost for the year with an ACL, making that the second defensive starter lost. He was having a very good early season. Against Pennsbury, the next SS in would have been the starting HB Cherubini, but he was out sick, so instead of him going both ways, they had to find another HB (next HB in was the player lost earlier this summer to an ACL) and SS. One of the starting corners also got hurt very early in the Pennsbury game, although McFadden replaced him and was terrific on D. West just doesn't have the depth to say "next man up" with the injuries / transfers hitting so hard this year.
2. Pennsbury obviously is going to have a terrific year. Not only are they of course much better coached, Snyder has got the athletes in the building back on the football field, and he's got a dynamic senior back. That all makes for a very quick rebuild. With that said, West almost stole that game, and had those two shots at the end to win it, both open for TDs and failed to execute. West seemed to be, as previously mentioned, searching for an identity in that game. They opened up the formations and were looking to get it in McFadden's hands, which was successful at times. Being down a senior starting HB and failing to replace the FB production they've had for the past three years left them searching for answers offensively. Plus... horrendous turnovers, again. The sack fumble / scoop and score before halftime followed by then fumbling the second half kickoff... hard to survive those kinds of mistakes.
3. Going back three weeks to Upper Dublin, same story... turnovers killed them from the opening kickoff on... that was the worst game I've seen them play in the last few years and hopefully was the low point of the season.
4. Back to North Penn, Cherubini returned but injury limited the big DE / TE Williams to only playing defense. So the West TE was seeing his first varsity action, and they shuffled the O-line, giving a young guard his first start also. With that said, West lined up in I formation and just ran over and over between the tackles. A lot of motion from McFadden. PAPREPLIVE had Boehm at 37 carries for 223, 60 rushes total for 344 yards for the team. QB Ganz Cooper had a few nice runs, and looked very fast when he hit some open field. West dominated the time of possession, and only punted once. Scored on every second half possession until the clock ran out with them deep into NP territory again. McFadden caught one deep ball and had one pop out when he hit the ground on another where he ran right by the NP secondary. He did a nice job again on D. I'm a little surprised that West put up 35 (could have been more), but I'm shocked that NP only scored 14 and had under 250 yards of offense.
5. So where does West go from here? Is what they showed against NP the new identity? They moved some guys around offensively and lined up McFadden differently than they have all year. Hopefully this is a confidence boost. Also found out that Boehm was injured basically all summer, including August camp. He may be just playing himself back into form. If last night was any indication, he's now ready.
