Andrews Leads Phantoms Past PJPII

UPPER PROVIDENCE-Travis Andrews did his best to disappoint the young ladies of Pope John Paul II High School Saturday afternoon.

He’s not a bad guy, but Andrews and his Phoenixville teammates wanted to create some surly homecoming dates for the Golden Panthers’ homecoming dance that evening.

“All week we were saying we lost our homecoming and now we have to ruin theirs,” Andrews said after playing a huge role in Phoenixville’s 19-14 win over Pope John Paul II High School in a Pioneer Athletic Conference football game.

The senior running back and defensive back rushed for 116 yards, scored a touchdown and intercepted a pass to help Phoenixville’s bounce back from last week's 33-17 homecoming loss to Boyertown.

While the game wasn’t secured until PJP quarterback David Cotellese’s fourth down pass fell incomplete and stopped the Golden Panthers’ last drive at the Phoenixville 38 yard line with 1:21 left in the game, Andrews made what was probably the game’s pivotal play late in the second quarter.

With Phoenixville (4-2 league and 6-2 overall) clinging to a 9-7 lead and facing a fourth-and-23 situation at the PJP 43, Andrews took a pitch from quarterback Alec McQuiston and started to his right. He faked a handoff to a wide receiver who was coming the other way and then kept going around the right end. Then, 38 yards later, Andrews and the Phantoms had a first-and-goal at the Golden Panthers’ 5.

“It was a toss and a fake reverse,” Andrews explained. “The wide receiver came back around like it was going to be a reverse. We have run the reverse before. They bit on it and I just took it down the sideline.”

On the next play, Andrews—whose interception had gotten the ball back to start the possession—slashed the final five yards for Phoenixville’s second touchdown. The point after gave Phoenixville a 16-7 lead with 20 seconds remaining in the first half.

“It was a heckuva call there,” PJP coach Mike Santillo said. “We had them where we wanted them. We thought we were going to go down the field on that. We thought we’d get them out, get the ball on the 45 and go down the field.”

And the thought of charging down the field in less than a minute isn’t a far-fetch one with Cotellese and the Golden Panthers’ dangerous passing offense. The talented senior completed 18 of 32 passes for 234 yards and one touchdown. In the half’s remaining 20 seconds after Andrews’ touchdown, Cotellese moved the Golden Panthers right down the field, only to run out of time at the Phoenixville 11.

The PJP passing attack was a complete contrast to Phoenixville’s own disappointing homecoming battle with Boyertown, where the Bears passed the ball exactly once. Phoenixville’s plan to ruin the PJP dance was based on making the Panthers passing game earn the yardage in small chunks rather than big plays.

“Cotellese is the best that’s been around in along time.” Phoenixville head coach Bill Furlong said. “They have good receivers. [We] mixed up the looks because we wanted to make them earn it. We got good pressure from the defensive line. The defense played well. That offense is scary.”

“Compared to last week when Boyertown threw one pass, they probably threw like 40,” Andrews said. “It was a big change, but we definitely overcame it.”

While Cotellese was passing the ball all around the field, Phoenixville pounded it out on the ground. The Phantoms rushed the ball 59 times for 259 yards. McQuiston completed six of nine passes for 52 yards.

Phoenixville scored first on a 37-yard field goal by Ian Harrigan early in the second quarter. McQuiston put the Phantoms up 9-0 with a 2-yard run later in the quarter.

Cotellese hit Matt Bildstein with a 17-yard strike over the middle to get PJP (3-4 in league and 4-4 overall) on the board. Johnnie Cherneskie’s point after pulled the Panthers to within 9-7 before Andrews’ interception and pivotal run.

Cotellese scored on 2-yard run to pull the PJP to 16-14 in the third quarter and Harrigan nailed his second field goal, a 27-yarder, to close out the scoring early in the fourth quarter.

The Phantom defense held the high-scoring Panthers season-low 14 points. The Panthers had averaged 26.7 pointer per game coming into the contest.

Phoenixville will travel to Upper Perkiomen to face the Vikings at 7 p.m. Friday.

Phoenixville              0          16        0          3 — 19

Pope John Paul II    0          7          7          0 — 14

Phx — Ian Harrigan 37 FG

Phx — Alec McQuiston 7 run (kick failed)

PJP — Matt Bildstein 17 pass from David Cotellese (Johnnie Cherneskie kick)

Phx — Travis Andrews 5 run (Harrigan kick)

PJP — Cotellese 2 run (Cherneskie kick)

Phx — Harrigan 27 FG