It's so much more than a game when Pennridge and Quakertown play on Thanksgiving
Nobody wanted to talk about it, but it was on the minds of just about every Quakertown football player, coach and fan leading up to the Panthers' annual Thanksgiving morning arch-rivalry game against Pennridge.
And what was the elephant in the closet?
Simple.
What would it feel like if the Panthers lost to the Rams?
After winning a school-record 12-straight games to open the season.
After reaching the District One Class 6A semifinals for the first time.
After giving Garnet Valley more than it wanted in that semifinal.
After being stuck in a five-game losing streak against the Rams and being dominated in the all-times series at 58-28-5 entering Thursday.
Would two-straight losses soil the best season, and the best team, Quakertown has ever had?
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Nobody wanted to talk about it, but the answer was a resounding yes.
"This is such a big game not just for the team and coaches, but for the whole community," said Quakertown senior running back Tyler Woodman, who scored two touchdowns and ran for a game-high 99 yards in a 21-0 Panthers victory.
"They beat us last year (21-14) and that game was kind of weird because of everything going on (with the pandemic limiting live attendance at Memorial Stadium to about 200 people).
"It's just an important game and what happened today was something positive for the community and it was great to be a part of it."
How positive?
Well, before the district semifinal game at Garnet Valley, three long-time Quakertown fans, independent of one another, asked a reporter (uh, me) how I thought the Panthers would do against Pennridge.
Again, this was before the supposed biggest game in school history with the Panthers one win away from reaching the district finals.
(Now, I would argue, and will always argue, that local rivalries are much more important than driving two hours to face a team most 16-year-olds had never heard of. And it was refreshing to be asked about the Pennridge game minutes before a district semi, but I digress).
Ok, back to the story at hand.
Quakertown made sure, in front of thousands of fans this time at Helman Field, that they weren't going to ruin something that started years ago when several members of the team were playing together for the Quakertown Midget Football Association.
And it was hardly a bad Pennridge team that they dominated —the Rams had just 152 yards of total offense.
The Rams won seven games and made the district playoffs.
"Pennridge is legit," said Central Bucks West head coach Rob Rowan before the game.
"Quakertown will have to play well because Pennridge will try and run the ball right at them and will battle all day."
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The Rams did just that, but could only muster 110 yards on the ground and were shut out for the first time all season by a remarkably stingy Panthers defense which held eight of its 14 opponents to 10 points or less.
The game was chippier than usual with the teams combining for 10 personal fouls and 240 yards of penalties (150 of them by the Rams). Way, way too many, but also an indication of how intense this game always is — a game Quakertown head coach George Banas will never forget.
"This is just a special group of kids," said Banas, a former Panthers standout and the team leader for the past dozen seasons, while fighting back tears.
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"A group I'll never forget. I could walk away from coaching tomorrow and be content because the bonds we built are that strong. I told them at halftime that they weren't just playing for each, but for everybody out there (in the stands and the the community).
"I wanted them to take it all in, and that can be hard in the moment for high school kids, but this group did."
Drew Markol: dmarkol@theintell.com; @dmarkol
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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Pennridge/Quakertown football rivalry on Thanksgiving always delivers
