High school football: La Salle rallies late to upend North Penn
LANSDALE — He'd had big games before, but nothing like the one on Friday night.
Junior Stevie Davis, who stands just 5-foot-6 and weighs 175 pounds, played much, much bigger for La Salle High in its opener at North Penn as he rushed for a career-high 241 yards on 30 carries to help the Explorers post a 37-28 non-league victory in a matchup of state powerhouses.
"If you remember, in our opener last year against Bishop McDevitt, Sam Brown (now at Rutgers) couldn't play and Stevie stepped in and ran for 100 yards," La Salle head coach John Steinmetz said. "So we knew what he could do and he really played well. And our offensive line was really good all night and just did a great job."
Davis, who scored the game's final touchdown on a 37-yard jaunt midway through the fourth quarter, got better as the game went along as he ran for 103 yards in the first half and 138 after intermission.
"I've never had a game like this on varsity," Davis said. "You'd have to go all the way back to peewee football.
"I'm not the biggest player out there, but I'm not afraid to put my shoulder down when I have to."
As good as Davis was, freshman quarterback Gavin Sidwar was nearly as impressive.
He completed all but three of his 16 passes for 213 yards and four touchdowns.
"I sat next to him on the bus over here and he wasn't nervous," Davis said. "He went out and played like he's capable of playing and he's only a freshman."
The Knights jumped out to a 28-17 lead at the start of the third quarter thanks to a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from sophomore Jay Ford-King, but wouldn't score again.
"Give La Salle a lot of credit," North Penn head coach Dick Beck said. "They're very, very good upfront and their freshman quarterback came in and made some incredible throws.
"We gave up too many big plays and give them credit for making them."
Three things we learned
Despite the loss of running back Sam Brown (Rutgers) and Abdul Carter (Penn State), La Salle is legit. The Explorers kept hanging in and hanging against a strong North Penn team before finally taking the lead early in the fourth quarter.
La Salle senior defensive tackle Darold Dengohe is the real deal. The James Madison recruit had three sacks and applied pressure all night.
North Penn senior quarterback Ryan Zeltt, a four-year starter, is also the real deal as was superb in throwing for 264 yards and a touchdown. "That was one of the best games I've seen Ryan play for us," Beck said.
Game balls
Stevie Davis, La Salle junior running back. If you'd never seen Davis play, you'd look at him and not think much. But give him the football and everything changes. He has the speed to go around people or go through them.
Gavin Sidwar, La Salle freshman quarterback. Sidwar came into his first varsity game after a couple of series and looked like he belonged right away. He threw two first-half touchdowns and add another two in the second half. In fact, he completed his first 10 passes of the second half and finished with 213 passing yards.
They said it:
"We pretty much thought coming in that we would run the ball, but Gavin (Sidwar) also did a great job throwing and that really helped open things up," said La Salle junior running back Stevie Davis.
Drew Markol: dmarkol@theintell.com; @amarkol
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Junior running back Stevie Davis helps power La Salle past North Penn
