Narrative
The Neshaminy Redskins had long been one of the blue bloods in Pennsylvania football. The program rose to prominence in the 1950s, and went on an incredible run from 1952-1965, going 128-11-7 in thirteen years. The elevation of John Petercuskie from assistant to head coach in 1960 sent the Redskins into the stratosphere. The Petercuskie teams went 59-1-5 in his six seasons as head coach and established Neshaminy as the best program in the eastern part of the state. Neshaminy would add an undefeated season and earn a “mythical” state title in 1971 - a team named by PA Football News as the best high school football team of the 20th century.
Neshaminy earned a spot in the inaugural PIAA playoffs in 1988 after an undefeated season and a surprise Thanksgiving tie by CB West. The Redskins, however, flopped in a shutout loss to Cedar Cliff, and finished with -21 yards for the game. However, since the advent of the District 1 playoffs in 1992, Neshaminy never made a district playoff appearance, let alone challenge for another spot in the playoffs.
There were not great expectations for the 2001 Neshaminy squad. They went 6-4 in 2000 and had been passed in the Bucks county pecking order by CB West, North Penn, and Pennridge. Injuries decimated the 2000 group, which had the silver lining of getting underclassmen tons of playing time. They also featured a budding star in senior tailback Jamar Brittingham. Brittingham burst onto the scene as a sophomore, where he intercepted seven passes as a cornerback. In his first start at running back in his junior season, he rushed for 287 yards and four touchdowns. He would finish the year with 1,685 yards and 19 touchdowns, as was named Lower Bucks of the Year despite Neshaminy’s 6-4 record.
Bucks County was expected to dominate the 2001 season, but Neshaminy was not the target. The preseason top ten featured North Penn and CB West in the #1 and #2 spots, with the District 1 title game predicted to be a de facto state championship. Woodland Hills came in at #3, returning almost all of their roster from the 2000 WPIAL finalists. Bethlehem Catholic also brought back the bulk of their 2000 squad and was ranked #4 in the preseason. Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Parkland, Erie Cathedral Prep, Wilson West Lawn, JP McCaskey, and Glen Mills rounded out the top ten.
Neshaminy opened the 2001 season with Father Judge of the Philly Catholic League. On the opening drive of the season, Brittingham took a handoff and burst 64 yards down the right side for his first touchdown of the season. However, the Redskins struggled to contain Greg Hennigar, Judge’s star quarterback and future Penn STate Nittany Lion. He threw a 44 yard TD and ran for a score as Judge went up 14-7 at halftime. Neshaminy put together a long drive to start second half, with Brittingham carrying the ball on every play, including a five yard score to tie the game. But Judge returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown to take the lead right back. In the fourth quarter, Brittingham scored his second long touchdown of the game, a 74 yard jaunt to tie things back up. Hennigar continued their dual when he led a TD drive of his own, but a missed extra point kept Judge up only 27-20. On the ensuing drive, Brittingham ripped off a 44 yard run, setting up his his fourth touchdown of the game, coming with 1:04 left and the extra point allowed Neshaminy to escape with a 28-27 victory. Brittingham was brilliant in the opener, finishing with 310 yards and four touchdowns on 28 carries.
After Bensalem forfeited in week two due to a teacher’s strike, the Brittingham show continued in week 3 against Pennridge. The Rams were riding high after beating preseason #1 Norh Penn 15-0 in week 2. Pennridge led 22-15 after Brittingham missed a bulk of the third quarter with an injury, but he returned with a 53 yard TD on his first carry back in the game, and carried on 11 of the 13 plays on Neshaminy’s final drive, and scored with 51 seconds left for a 28-22 win. Brittingham finished with 213 yard and four touchdowns on 29 carries.
The next week brought North Penn to town. The Knights recovered from their loss to Pennridge by dominating state #1 CB West, holding the Bucks to 38 yards of total offense in a 20-7 win. Brittingham scored twice in the first half to give him ten touchdowns in the first three games. North Penn responded with a pair of second quarter touchdowns to cut Neshaminy’s lead to 15-14. But after stopping the Redskins, North Penn muffed a punt deep in their own territory, and fullback Jay Collins scored the first non-Brittingham touchdown of the season to put Neshaminy up 23-14 at halftime. In the second half, Collins, Geoff Donahue and the rest of the Neshaminy defense dug in and held North Penn to 15 yards after halftime, including five second half sacks to preserve their lead. Brittingham finished with 186 yards on 31 carries, giving him 709 yard in three games, two of which came against the best teams in Pennsylvania. This set up the true test, a week five game with CB West.
The Bucks beat nationally ranked St. Joseph’s Prep to open the season, but were dominated by North Penn in week three. Still, Neshaminy hadn’t beaten CB West since 1989 and the Bucks were still the standard bearer in eastern Pennsylvania, despite their first regular season loss since 1995. Neshaminy scored twice in the second quarter, with runs by Geoff Donahue and Jamar Brittingham to take a 15-0 halftime lead. They opened the third quarter with a field goal by budding superstar freshman kicker Kevin Kelly. But the classicallly physical Bucks offense line began to assert control in the second half. A long touchdown drive answered the Kelly field goal, but the Bucks could not convert on a two point try. They forced a three-and out and marched right back down the field , getting a second TD by Doug Kniese. A third long TD drive ended in a third consecutive touchdown, and the Redskins were left gasping, trailing 19-18 with 1:57 left in the game. On the second play of their drive, Neshaminy quarterback Jay Wiater hit split end Mike Loveland over the middle on a long pass play. Loveland was behind the defense, but ran out of gas in the red zone and was caught from behind at the five. Naturally, the Redskins went to Brittingham, but the Bucks stuffed him on three consecutive carries. On fourth down, with just three seconds remaining, Wiater faked a handoff to Brittingham, rolled to his right and hit tight end Scott Mullin in the end zone to cap a dramatic 21-19 victory and their first win over CB West in 12 years.
The following week, Neshaminy again would need last minute heroics, this time against CB East. Trailing 14-7 with six minutes left, the Redskins embarked on a 13 play, 86 yard drive, capped by a Brittingham score with 29 seconds left. Rather than play for overtime, the Redskins went for two, and ran the same play action play that beat CB West, with Geoff Donahue sneaking out of the backfield this time for the conversion and a 15-14 win. Brittingham dominated the next three weeks. He rushed for 192 yards and 2 TDs in a 33-6 win over Harry S Truman, followed by 315 yards and 3 TDs in a win over Abington. He was bottled up the following week with only 170 yards and 3 TDs in a shutout win over Council Rock. This put the Redskins at 9-0 for their regular season finale with archrival Pennsbury.
Although the Falcons were only 4-5, Neshaminy-Pennsbury is a classic “throw the records out” rivalry. Still, early on it looked like it would be all Redskins. Pennsbury took a 7-3 on their first drive, Neshaminy would take control in the second quarter. Brittingham scored yet another long Td, a 54 yard scamper to go up 10-7. Right before halftime, Neshaminy lined up for a 54 yard field goal, which Kevin Kelly dunked to set a District 1 record as time expired in the first half. Neshaminy opened the second half with a Brittingham touchdown and commanding 26-7 lead. Then things got weird in the fourth quarter. Pennsbury loaded the box and shut down Brittingham, and scored a pair of touchdowns themselves to cut the lead to 26-21. But the Neshaminy defense would hold from there, and escape with a 26-21 win and cap their first undefeated regular season since 1988.
The Redskins had moved up to #2 in the state at the conclusion of the regular season, trailing behind fellow undefeated #1 Woodland Hills. The Wolverines, featuring star quarterback Steve Breaston and a slew of future NFL players, were fast and talented and had run roughshod over the WPIAL, their only close game being an overtime win over state #5 Pittsburgh Central Catholic. The remainder of the top 5 came from District 11, where undefeated Easton checked in at #3 after giving up 31 points during the regular season, and the explosive #4 Bethlehem Catholic Hawks had ripped through their Pennsylvania schedule after early season losses to St. Ignatius (OH) and Brooklyn Poly Prep, though they were rocked when four starters, including All State quarterback Mark Borda, were kicked off the team after week 8. The District 3 favorite heading in to playoffs was #6 Cumberland Valley, though #7 JP McCaskey was also dangerous featuring electric quarterback Perry Patterson.
Calculation for the District 1 playoffs were wild. There was a shift in the state bracket in 2001, rather than a pure D1 tournament, whose winner met the D2/4 champ in state quarters, a D1/2/4 subregional was created and expanded from a four team playoff to an eight team playoff. Neshaminy was a slam dunk for the #1 seed, with 9-1 Cheltenham, 9-1 Conestoga, and 8-2 Downingtown following. Williamsport out of D4 earned the fifth seed, with an 8-2 Quakertown at six, and Abington Heights out of D2 at seven. Essentially, the Suburban One National schools cannibalized each other, with only Neshaminy coming out unscathed. THe remainder of the league’s powers, CB West, CB East, and Pennridge all tied on power points in eighth, while preseason #1 North Penn was left out in the cold. Because there was not a tie-breaking procedure in place, a selection committee came together and analyzed the strength of schedule, and voted for CB East as the third team based on a nonconference win over a strong Reading squad. With Neshaminy having to comeback from a two touchdown deficit against CB East during the regular season in a miraculous comeback, it was not an ideal draw for the Redskins.
Neshaminy would get off to a much better start in round 2 against the Patriots. They opened the game with a touchdown drive, with Wiater hitting Mullen for a 16 yard touchdown. While CB East punched back with a TD drive of their own, Neshaminy got points on their next two drives, a Kevin Kelly field goal and Jamar Brittingham touchdown run to take a 17-7 lead into halftime. In the third quarter, speedster wideout Keith Ennis took an end around after a fake to Britingham and sprinted for a 71 yard touchdown, which pretty much punched the Redskins ticket to district semis. Their defense held CB East to just 96 yards from scrimmage, while Brittingham ran for 119 of his own as the Redskins pounced out 225 yards on the ground and got an 8-12 day from Wiater for 103 yards , as he was becoming a dependable game manager at QB. That set up a match up with Downingtown, who dispatched District 4 representative Williamsport in the first round.
The Whippets came in on a seven game winning streak and the Chesmont League champions. However, Neshaminy jumped on them right away, kicking a 40 yard field goal on their first drive, then getting a big play from speedster Keith Ennis, a 70 yard touchdown catch, to go up 10-0 in the game’s first five minutes. After Downingtown put together a drive of their own and a touchdown by Mark Helm, Brittingham went work, churning out yardage and setting up two short TDs by Jay Collins to put the Redskins up 24-7. Brittingham would put the game away with a 57 yard TD run in the final four minutes to ice a 37-20 win. That run also gave Brittingham 2,055 yards for the season, making him the first player from Bucks county to crack the 2,000 yard mark. He finished the game with 215 yards on just 19 carries, and would continue magical Neshaminy season into the District 1 championship game, their first ever.
The rest of the state quarterfinals were set that weekend. Woodland Hills, the state’s top ranked team, crushed McKeesport in a 40-7 win in the WPIAL semi. That would set up a match up with Pittsburgh Central Catholic, a 38-14 winner over North Allegheny. Woodland Hills needed triple overtime to beat the Vikings during the regular season and both teams were ranked in the top five in the state. Defending champion Erie Cathedral Prep and star running back Jawan Walker blew out Brashear, setting up a subregional rematch with Altoona, who snuck by State College 20-19. Cumberland Valley knocked of JP McCaskey, who hung tough despite losing all state QB Perry Patterson to an MCL tear, 28-18 for a District 3 championship. And in the marquee game of the weekend. #4 Bethlehem Catholic continued their dominance of Easton, beating the #3 Red Rovers 39-14, scoring nearly as many points in the final as Easton had yielded all season despite playing backup quarterback Adam Bednarik. And in the other District 1 semi, Conestoga needed two overtimes to beat fellow surprise semifinalist Cheltenham for the right to face the Redskins.
Neshaminy would throw a knockout punch early in their first D1 championship. The Reskins used a ton of play action on their first drive, with Wiater finishing the drive off with a 16 yard TD pass to Mark Beck. They opened the second quarter with a 14 play, 71 yard drive, with Brittingham scoring his 26th touchdown of the year to close the drive. Just before halftime, Neshaminy countered Conestoga’s all-out efforst to stop by the run by calling a halfback pass, and Brittingham hit Ennis for a 40 yard TD, giving Ennis three big play TDs in the playoffs. Jay Collins would ice things in the third quarter with a touchdown and while Conestoga scored twice late, they were celebrating in Langhorne after the 28-12 victory. Brittigham continued his dominant season with 178 yards ands and a TD.
Out west, Woodland Hills continued their dominant march to Hershey by overwhelming Pittsburgh Central Catholic. While the Vikings gave Woodland Hills the best game of the year during the regular season, the rematch was a 41-6 laugher. Steve Breaston ran for 219 yards, including an 87 yard TD on the first play of the game, while Kareem Dutrieuille pitched with 167 yards and 3 TDs, as Woodland Hills dominated with 465 yards on the ground and outgained PCC 523-197. In other other quarter, Altoona got some measure of revenge, when quarterback Dave Camberg engineered a 12 play, 87 yard touchdown drive with 1:17 left to win a 29-28 thriller, despite Jawan Walker gaining 290 yards from scrimmage. Walker’s season total of 2,430 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns were the only player in the state ahead of Brittingham in both categories.
Neshaminy’s semifinal opponent would be Cumberland Valley. The Eagles scored an upset victory over Bethlehem Catholic 41-31 in the quarterfinal, marking D3’s first win over a D11 team since 1997. The Eagles trailed 31-21 with four minutes left in the third quarter, but their powerful Wing-T began wear down the Bethlehem Catholic defense, particularly the running of 5’9 250 pound fullback Regis Perry. Perry carried nine straight times on a 67 yard TD drive to bring the game within one score, then a 40 yard INT return by Brandon Stanford set up a 5 yard Perry run to give Cumberland Valley the lead. Perry and sophomore tailback Dan Lawlor (a mere 220 pounds) then milked a 63 yard touchdown drive to ice the game in the fourth quarter. The Eagles were massive up front and even bigger in the backfield, fielding their most potent offense since their ‘92 state champs. Lawlor, a future Penn State fullback, was a 1,000 yard rusher, while Perry did not start until week 6 after transferring from Ohio the previous summer but gave the team another hammer. They were also dangerous through the air, as multi-threat QB Corey Bischof was a three year starter who threw for over 1,200 yards during the season, and Stanford was a dangerous wideout and return man, who would go on to be an All Patriot League receiver at Lafayette.
The Cumberland Valley offense would impose their will early in during the state semifinal. In the first quarter, Cumberland Valley embarked on a 16 play, 91 yard drive, with Lawlor bruinsg in from a yard out on the first play of the second quarter. For an encore performance, the Eagles went 81 yards in 17 plays, burning 7:22 off the clock in the second quarter, with Lawlor scoring his second one yard TD of the day with less than a minute left in the first half. Neshaminy barely had the ball in the first half, let alone a chance to score. But a 24 yard run by Brittingham on their first drive sparked the Redskin offense, and Geoff Donahue followed two plays later with a touchdown. Following a three and out, Neshaminy drove down and scored again, first getting a 23 yard TD run by Brittingham, but that was called back for a hold. No matter, Brittingham ran 29 yards on the next play, then scored from four yards out to give Neshaminy a 13-12 lead.
The turning point, however, was a pair of Cumberland Valley special teams disasters. The Eagles were forced to punt on the next drive, but executed a beautiful fake, resulting in a 32 yard pass to Adam Cook. But Cook was covered cover in the formation, and the play was negated for an ineligible receiver downfield. The ensuing punt was not only blocked, but recovered and run back by Mike Loveland for a touchdown. Cumberland Valley scored on a gadget play on their next drive, a 41 yard reverse, but Keith Ennis returned the ensuing kickoff 72 yards inside the Cumberland Valley twenty. Brittingham scored from 12 yards out to clinch a 25-19 lead. Cumberland Valley had one last gasp in the final minutes, but after driving to the Neshaminy 22, safety Devon Swope stripped a Cumberland Valley receiver, and Brittingham fell on the fumble to ice the game. Brittingham, who they put in a single back formation with jet action from Ennis after halftime, rushed for 100 of his 168 yards after the break. Lawlor ran for 84 yards in the first half, but Neshaminy held him to just eight after halftime, while Perry managed just 45 yards for the game. Neshaminy was headed to their first state final and was the first non-CB West representative from the east since Downingtown in 1996.
Meanwhile, Woodland Hills was continuing their monster season with a 34-0 win over Altoona. The Wolverines picked off Brian Camberg four times, returning one for a touchdown, and rushing for nearly 300 yards in the blowout victory. Heading in to the state final, Woodland Hills was ranked #7 in the country by the USA Today and #10 by ESPN. Quarterback Steve Breaston had already been named Gatorade Player of the year in Pennsylvania, and had 1,642 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns, and averaged over 12 yards per carry. Tailback Kareem Dutrieuille also had 1,566 yards. They were led up front by mammoth tackle Brian Borgoyn, a four star recruit and Penn State commit. Defensively, juniors Ryan Mundy, Mark Yezovich, and Mark Malloy were budding stars at safety, linebacker, and defensive end. All would play FBS football, with Breaston and Mundy both eventually playing in the NFL. The Wolverines were on a three season run of 39-2, but had not played for a state title since their Cinderella run in 1996.
The 2001 state finals were marred by awful weather. At kickoff, it was 36 and had been raining since before the AA game started at noon. Pen Argyl and Washington thoroughly tore up the field in Washington’s 19-12 win, and a steady downpour had turned the turf into a swamp. Between the hashmarks was nothing but mud and standing water, and the downpour would continue through the entire 4A final.
The Redskins were mudders. On the second play of the game, Brittingham tore off a 37 yard run that set the tone for the day. All in all, he touched the ball nine straight plays on the first drive, but it stalled out in the red zone, and Kevin Kelly missed a field goal. However, Woodland Hills also went three and out, and an 11 yard punt had Neshaminy in business. Jay Wiater hit Geoff Donahue for a big completion on third and nine to get Neshaminy in the red zone, and Donahue would cap the drive with a touchdown run. However, in the slop, Kelly missed the extra point. Breaston injected some electricity into the game on the next drive, where he ripped off a 62 yard run, barely being caught from behind by Brittingham. That almost saved a touchdown, as Neshaminy forced Woodland Hills to a fourth and goal, but Breaston scored on an option play despite a bobbled snap, and gave the Wolverines a 7-6 lead.
In the second quarter, Woodland Hills beautifully executed a fake punt near midfield, and pushed the ball all the way to the Neshaminy 24. Runs from Dutrieuille and Breaston put the ball inside the ten. But on third down and goal, disaster struck. Breaston bobbled the snap and got hit high/low on a quarterback keeper. He stayed down for minutes, before being helped off with an ankle injury with four minutes left in the first half. Woodland Hills missed a field goal on the next play. Neshaminy almost made hay of it before halftime, as Brittingham caught a 70 yard pass down to the Woodland Hills 10, but was stuffed on fourth and goal, and the Wolverines took a 7-6 lead into the break.
Breaston limped on for the second half. but was clearly limited. Still, he hit Brian Coleman for a crazy, 31 yard catch up over Keith Ennis on the sideline down to the Neshaminy 33, then Ryan Mundy made a circus catch at the 13, where Ennis tipped the ball and Mundy caught the ball while falling down on his back. Dutrieuille scored two plays later, but it was called back on an illegal shift penalty. Then, the “no-name” Neshaminy defense went to work. Linebackers Jay Collins and Pat Carroll each made solo tackles, then on fourth down, Collins teamed up with Steve Brett and Geoff Donahue to stuff Dutrieuille at the 10.
On the first play, Brittingham took a stretch play to the left side. With the Woodland Hills secondary crashing down, Brittingham rolled to his left and threw a pass to Ennis, who came down with a 31 yard catch on the sideline. This got the Redskins out of the shadow of their own end zone and put them on the move. On third down after crossing midfield, Wiater made the play of his career, a play action fake to Brittingham, then hitting Scott Mullin over the middle on a tight end drag for 18 yards. Faked with another third down at the 25, Wiater hit Brittingham on a throwback screen, and the superstar back rumbled all the way down to the four. He scored on the next play to cap a 90 yard drive. Wiater hit Mullin on a two point play to give the Redskins a 14-7 lead.
On the ensuing drive, Breaston went down on a QB sweep play on third down as the third quarter ended. The re-aggravation would end his day and high school career. Neshaminy would take a punt to start the fourth and drive all the way to the 14, but Kelly missed another field goal in the slop, giving Woodland Hills the ball back with 6:26 left in the game. But with Tony Carr in at quarterback, the offense was nowhere near as dynamic. And on second down, Devon Swope stepped in front of Ryan Mundy and intercepted a pass at the 45 yard line. One play later, Brittingham went off tackle, got a seal block from Geoff Donahue, and was off to the races for a 45 yard TD to ice the game. Brittingham finished with 258 yards of total offense - 157 rushing, 96 receiving, and the 31 yard pass. Wiater was nearly perfect, going 9-11 for 150 yards, with the two monster third down throws on the game’s decisive drive. The defense held Woodland Hills to just 3.5 yards per carry, significantly less when factoring out Breaston’s 60 yard run in the first half. The Neshaminy team celebrated by sliding in the mud soaked field, and basked in the first on the field title in school history, thirty years after the magical 1971 team. The Redskins finished ranked #7 in the country by the USA Today.
Jamar Brittingham finished the season with 2,545 yards and 30 touchdowns, both Neshaminy records. He was a unanimous first team All State selection, finishing runner up to Tyler Palko of 3A champ West Allegheny as the Big School Player of the Year. Ennis was the only other All State pick - earning third team honors as a wide receiver - marking the fewest AP All State selections of any big school champion. Steve Brett (offensive tackle), chuck Koch (linebacker), and Jay Collins (linebacker) all earned second team honors from newly formed PA Football News. Mark Schmidt also finished as the runner-up to a Palko - with Tyler’s father Bob winning the Big School Coach of the Year honors after dethroning Strath Haven in the 3A finals. After the season, Brittingham enrolled at The Kiski School outside of Pittsburgh for a postgraduate year to qualify academically, and committed to Rutgers to play for Greg Schiano and the Scarlet Knights.
Brittingham never did make it to Rutgers campus. He was a non-qualifier at the Division I level, and wound up at Bloomsburg, where he would become a star. Brittingham was a two-time PSAC Player of the year, two-time First Team All American, and a two-time finalist for National Player of the Year (the Harlon Hill Award). As a sophomore, he led the country in rushing and touchdowns. An injury cut his junior season short, but he put up another monster season as a senior. He set the PSAC single season and career records in rushing yardage and touchdowns. He graduated with those records at Bloomsburg as well, and his sophomore total of 2,260 yards still stands as a Bloomsburg record. Following his Bloomsburg career, Brittingham signed as an undrafted free agent with the Atlanta Falcons.
The real college star turned out to be the freshman, Kevin Kelly. Kelly wound up one of the best kickers in the country, and played at Penn State. While with the Nittany Lions, started as a true freshman, and was a staple in the Penn State lineup. He was All Big Ten in 2008, and graduated as the conference’s all time leading scorer. Keith Ennis played football at Kutztown, then came back to coach receivers at Neshaminy (where he was joined on staff by Brittingham). Fellow wideout Mike Loveland walked on at Temple, and earned a scholarship for his special teams play. Jay Collins was a four year starter for Bloomsburg at fullback, where he continued to clear the way for Brittingham.
Mark Schmidt stayed at Neshaminy until 2013. After taking over a program that went 2-9 the year before he was hired and went 1-10 in his first season, Schmidt brought the Neshaminy program back to a consistent power. They went back to state finals in 2004, and won a D1 title in his final season. They played in the D1 finals in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2010, and 2013. They won ten games seven different times in his Neshaminy career, and he went 161-66, the most wins in Neshaminy history. Following his resignation at Neshaminy, Schmidt joined the LaSalle staff as their line coach, before moving to Imhotep Charter as their defensive coordinator, who won a state title in his first season. He took over as the head coach in 2016, and went 13-1, losing to Erie Cathedral Prep in the state final. He is one of three coaches to take two different schools to the state final, joining Jim Morgans and Art Walker. He stepped back after one season to be the offensive line coach and assistant head coach in 2017 and 2018. In February, Schmidt was announced as the new head coach at Hatboro-Horsham. He is a member of the PSFCA Hall of Fame.
