High school football: Germantown Academy upends Penn Charter in thriller

Drew Markol, Bucks County Courier Times
·4 min read

FORT WASHINGTON — If a play gets messed up and the wrong guy gets the ball, it's not a bad thing for that guy to be Evan Spivey.

On Saturday, Spivey was on the receiving end of a botched flea flicker that left him all by his lonesome with two Penn Charter defenders ready to tackle him well short of the 11 yards needed for a crucial first down.

That's when the Germantown Academy senior, who is headed to Coastal Carolina on a full ride, made a Division I-A college play by juking both defenders and racing 28 yards down to the Quakers' 4-yard line.

Penn Charter's Clifford Harling attempts to stop Germantown Academy's Evan Spivey, who ran after the catch for a 28-yard gain to the Penn Charter 4-yard line during the Patriots' 28-27 victory Saturday.
Penn Charter's Clifford Harling attempts to stop Germantown Academy's Evan Spivey, who ran after the catch for a 28-yard gain to the Penn Charter 4-yard line during the Patriots' 28-27 victory Saturday.

Three plays later, Patriots junior running back Tripp Capers was in the end zone, giving the hosts their first lead of the game.

"I didn't expect to get the ball on that play, but when I did I knew I had to try and do something," Spivey said. "I really wasn't thinking about what move to use to get past them (the defenders) — I just knew that I had to try."

Spivey's heroics, which included two touchdown catches in addition to the electric 28-yard catch and run, helped make the difference in what turned out to be a 28-27 win for the Patriots in the 136th consecutive meeting of the archrivals in what is the longest, continuous rivalry in the country.

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"I just feel so good for these kids," GA head coach Matt Dence said. "This game is huge for both schools and to win it gives you a great feeling."

The win was the first for GA, which finished the season at 7-3, over the Quakers since 2019 in a series that Penn Charter has dominated (87-38-11).

The Quakers (5-5), who rallied for a 35-32 victory a year ago, made things quite interesting at the end by quarterback Seamus McCain scoring on fourth down from 7 yards out with 40 seconds to play, but the extra point never had a chance as it was kicked low into the line.

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"This win does so much for the morale of the program," Dence said. "The last memory of this season for the next seven, eight months is a big win and that gets kids excited for the weight room and wanting to get ready for next season."

When next season comes, though, the Patriots won't have Spivey.

"What a special player and a special kid," Dence said. "He's going to do well for himself at Coastal Carolina. He'll be a defensive back for them and they're getting a really good player."

Three things we learned

There are rivalry games and then there are rivalry games when you play an opponent for 136 straight years. And when you do that, like Germantown Academy and Penn Charter did, you get full effort on every play. And, in turn, every big play and botched play, is magnified.

One of the best things about this rivalry is that every fall team plays against the other on Saturday morning leading up to the football game. All told, 10 sports were played with GA winning five and Penn Charter winning five. "We knew we were down 5-4 in the overall competition and to get the win, and even it up, is just another nice thing about winning the game," GA head football coach Matt Dence said.

When you do this 136 straight times, you learn to do it right and GA always does. There were plenty of food trucks on hand with serious grub (Chickie's & Pete's and Nick's Roast Beef, to just name two) and no admission, as usual, was charged. Imagine that.

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Game balls

Germantown Academy senior quarter Tristan Machado. He threw for 212 yards and a pair of touchdowns and also kept his cool under pressure from a persistent Quakers defensive front.

Germantown Academy freshman defensive back Jack Durkin. Durkin, one of a handful of freshmen to earn significant time for the Patriots this season, had a key interception and also fell on a fumble.

They said it

"I started at cornerback as a freshman when we beat them last, but it feels better to do it in our senior year," Germantown Academy's Evan Spivey said.

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Drew Markol: dmarkol@theintell.com; @dmarkol

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: H.S. football: Germantown Academy edges archrival Penn Charter, 28-27