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Sports

Football: Phantoms Earn Historic Win

Second-half defensive surge powers Phoenixville to first-ever District 1 football playoff win.

Behind an increasingly aggressive defense that forced three second-half turnovers, Phoenixville turned a tight contest into a 44-20 celebration of the Phantoms’ first-ever District 1 AAA football playoff victory Friday night at Washington Field.

The win over visiting Interboro advances third-seeded Phoenixville to next week’s semifinal round. The 8-3 Phantoms will face seventh-seeded Academy Park, which defeated Springfield (Delco) 35-10 Friday night.

The two teams’ offenses alternated carving up the other’s defense in first half as Phoenixville took a 20-13 lead into the locker room.

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“We went into the locker room and figured out what they were doing to hurt us,” said senior defensive back Alec McQuiston. “The coaches did a great job of fixing what was going wrong and we really came out fired up. We had to step our game up.”

Interboro (7-4) kept the shootout going in the third quarter, receiving the second-half kickoff and quickly moving down the field. Eight plays later, Interboro’s 6-foot-3 wide receiver Rashon Fentress out jumped a Phantom defender in the end zone to haul in a 6-yard scoring pass. The ensuing extra point tied the game 20-20 with 8:23 left in the third quarter.

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While the Phantoms would continue their offensive onslaught, which would ultimately pile up 414 yards, Phoenixville’s defense finally stopped the Bucs’ offense. Phoenixville defensive coordinator Don Jackson credited both a halftime scheme change and a more determined effort from his defenders for the turnaround.

“Our kids played harder in the second half,” Jackson said, “but we also adjusted so they couldn’t get down on our inside linebacker. We moved our tackles down into the [guard-tackle] gap so Interboro would have to double team them.”

Pressuring Interboro to double team the defensive tackles freed the Phoenixville inside linebackers to step up and meet the Interboro running backs near the line of scrimmage without having to shed a blocker first. The players made the move pay off. In addition to slowing down Interboro’s running attack, linebackers Jesse Gervasi and Ryan Pannella each forced fumbles that the Phantoms recovered.

McQuiston contributed an interception and returned it to the Interboro 3-yard line, setting up senior fullback Vinny Nattle’s third touchdown run of the game and slamming the door on Interboro.

“The defense really came up big in the second half,” Phoenixville head coach Bill Furlong said. “We had some young guys in there. [Sophomore tackles] Ryan Guyris and Colin Savery played well. It was the first game of their lives with the varsity and it’s a playoff game. It took them a little while, but they came on.”

Guyris and Savery were part of the defensive tackle rotation that Jackson lined up a little further inside in the second half to free the Phantom linebackers.

While the Phantom defense stepped it up, the Phoenixville offense never let up. Nattle carried the ball 26 times for 145 yards, pushing him over the 1,100-yard mark n the season. Travis Andrews rushed for 115 yards, including scoring runs of 43 and 37 yards. Phoenixville gained 361 yards on the ground behind the offensive line anchored by Alex McLemore, Brian Highland, Ernie Knight, Tom White and Gervasi.

McQuiston, who also plays quarterback, completed four of seven passes for 56 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Yenchick.

“We practiced real hard this week,” Nattle said. “We were pumped for the game, and at the first snap we were ready to go. After the kickoff, we were ready to hit and ready to play.”

After the final play and post-game talk from Furlong, the celebration stayed on the field, where the rowdy student section also known as Phantom Nation joined the players.

“This is great feeling,” Nattle said. “It’s been a great season so far and we want to keep rolling with it.”

“These kids earned it,” Furlong said. “The seniors here have been getting their brains beat in for the past two years [consecutive losing seasons]. They all pretty much played as sophomores and they probably weren’t ready then. The same is true with the juniors who played as sophomores last year. We had so many injuries in the past two years that some of these kids played when they were so young. They took so many lumps that they really deserve this. It’s history. It’s the first time for Phoenixville and they played well.”

Phoenixville  6          14        6          18—44

Interboro        7          6          7          0—20

P—Travis Andrews 1 run (kick blocked)

I—Ryan Tambon 5 run (Mike Christaldi kick)

P –Andrews 43 run (pass failed)

I—Shawn Frampton 13 run (kick blocked)

P—Ryan Yenchick 9 pass from Alec McQuiston (Andrews run)

I—Rashon Fentress 8 pass from Josh Breen (Christaldi kick)

P—Vinny Nattle 1 run (kick failed)

P—Nattle 14 run (run failed)

P—Nattle 3 run (run failed)

P—Andrews 37 run (pass failed)

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