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Nolan Pounds Leads The Wissahickon Trojans Into Battle Over The Sun Valley Vanguards
By: Ted Podberesky | September 14, 2024
The Wissahickon Trojans (2-1) took the field tonight hosting the Sun Valley Vanguards (1-2).
Wissahickon came into this game lighting up the scoreboard and putting up 50+ in their last two. Sun Valley on the other hand looked to bounce back following a loss last week to Upper Perkiomen. Trojans quarterback Nolan Pounds had an impressive showcase and made it possible for Wissahickon tonight, leading his team to a 42-14 victory over Sun Valley.
Wissahickon started with the ball to start the game and wasted no time on their opening drive. The Trojans came out aggressive starting off with some tough downhill runs from Quasir Sampson before switching to the speed of Dom Harvey-Sheppard, who got out in space on a jet sweep and ran in for Wissahickon’s first points of the game on a six yard run.
Quarterback Nolan Pounds led his offense back onto the field after a punt from Sun Valley with six minutes remaining in the first quarter. Just a couple plays in, Pounds scanned the field and quickly found his man Quentin West on a 26 yard touchdown pass to push Wissahickons lead to 14-0.
Following another punt from the Vanguards, the Trojans offense took the field again with a ton of momentum. It didn’t take long before Nolan Pounds found Quentin West again, firing a bullet down the field on a post route. West hauled in the pass and headed for the end zone before being hawked down and stripped of the football on the one yard line where Josh Yanonis scooped up the ball and ran all the way back to Wissahickons own forty yard line.
After some runs from Jack Penzone and Rocco Radico the Vanguards offense was forced to pass on fourth down. Scharrer tried to connect with Yanonis in the end zone but put just a little too much on the throw and ended up being a turnover on downs, Wissahickon took over as time came to an end in the first quarter.
Shortly after the start of the second quarter Nolan Pounds started to get hot again, completing a couple short passes before taking the top off the defense and floating the ball in the air on a perfect throw to Kareem Lee who fell inside the ten. Quasir Sampson cleaned it up for the Trojans offense, rumbling in for a seven yard touchdown just the play after to add to their lead 21-0.
For quarterback RJ Scharrer, the field started to open up a bit more for the Vanguards offense in the second quarter. Scharrer constantly found his big body tight end Aidan Cook on multiple throws, including a contested grab from wide receiver Jhamil Smith.
Sun Valley had a promising drive in the second quarter before linebacker Rory Testa made a tackle for loss on third down shutting the Vanguards down. Testa was the heart of the defense tonight flying from one side of the field to the other making tackles and even leading the defense on third downs when they needed to get off the field.
Before the quarter came to an end the Trojans were faced with a fourth down and brought out their punt team. This was no regular punt however, Jason Murray Jr took the snap, found an opening and headed off to the races, weaving and bobbing his way through defenders on a 70 yard fake punt return touchdown. Wissahickon now had a commanding lead over Sun Valley 28-0 heading into halftime.
Sun Valley’s wide receiver Jhamil Smith started off the second half on a 40 yard return into Wissahickons territory. After a quick screen to Josh Yanonis who got tackled inside the ten, quarterback RJ Scharrer was set up in great field position and rushed in for a one yard rushing touchdown.
Though, it wasn’t long before Wissahickon joined back in on the fun. The Trojans marched their way down the field, before Pounds found another one of his playmakers in the flat down in the red zone where Dom Harvey-Sheppard made a couple quick moves to get in for an 11 yard touchdown with eight minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Sun Valley had a quick three and out on their next drive, which ended up being punted back to the Trojans. Wissahickon looked to Nolan Pounds to put it away with one final drive. After a couple good hard runs from Sampson, Pounds put the seal on their victory scoring once more coming from a 30 yard pass to running back Kareem Lee for a touchdown, extending their lead 42-7.
The Vanguards offense started to move again towards the end of the third quarter. Tight end Aidan Cook and Jack Penzone came up big in this drive making multiple catches into Wissahickons territory. With time winding down in the quarter Scharrer tried to find Jhamil Smith in the end zone but was picked off by Jason Murray Jr.
The last quarter was a dog fight, both teams battled back and forth constantly for the rest of the game. It wasn’t until Sun Valley came into scoring distance and Scharrer found his guy Yanonis who realed in an unbelievable catch for a touchdown in the corner of the end zone.
Wissahickon Trojans received the ball back with three minutes to go and ran down the clock to secure their victory over the Sun Valley Vanguards 42-14.
Quarterback Nolan Pounds who threw 3 touchdowns tonight said, "I've been bonding relationships with these guys for years, every time we step out onto the field something clicks between all of us." Pounds kept it short and sweet talking about their teams goals going forward, "Just keep winning."
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