North Penn football is ready to punch back in Pa.

No. 2 Knights look to exact revenge on No. 1 Ridley in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Joseph Santoliquito
By
Aug 24, 2010, 9:47am
It has hung there for some time — 10 months to be exact. It is the sour bitter taste that ended a promising season where everyone across Pennsylvania had anointed them state champions even before the calendar turned to December.

There was just one slight problem with the North Penn Knights' quest for a PIAA Class AAAA (large school) state championship — in the way stood Ridley, another powerhouse program in Southeastern Pennsylvania with as storied a past as North Penn's, with the same type of blue-collar, hardcore players that fill up the Knights' roster each season.

What ended North Penn's season at 13-1 still sticks to the Knights. It tugs at their very core. The Knights were slammed up and down the field that chilly Dec. 4, 2009 night by Ridley. A legalized mugging is the way some objective observers viewed it, hard-nosed football is the way Ridley described it, and cheap-shot football is the way some from the North Penn sidelines saw it.

Any way you want to look at it, Ridley beat the heavily favored Knights 19-10 in the District 1 championship game. But it wasn't just a scoreboard pasting North Penn absorbed. Ridley knocked out seven North Penn players — three left the field with concussions.

"They hit us like we just said something nasty to their mothers," is the way one North Penn player described it.

The problem with that is it's usually the Knights delivering the big, crunching blows. North Penn wasn't used to being treated that way, being thrown all over the field. To a man, they vow that won't happen again this season.

North Penn's Ralph Reeves.
North Penn's Ralph Reeves.
Photo courtesy of North Penn football
"It's still with us, it's a game I'll remember because I watched the whole game from the sidelines, watching our players dropping left and right," said North Penn's second-team all-state junior linebacker Ralph Reeves, one of the most imposing defensive forces in the state who suffered a hairline fracture in his right ankle in the first quarter against Ridley.

"There is a pride factor here and we came out and didn't do a lot of things right. We weren't used to being handled like that. I would love to play Ridley again, and I think our whole team would love to play them again.

"There is definitely a respect there. You have to respect a team like Ridley that can come out and beat us the way they did; you have to respect them. They kind of punched us on the jaw, and instead of reacting, we didn't do anything. We just stood there. This is definitely a season of unfinished business. This is the year we punch back."

Poor La Salle. The defending PIAA Class AAAA state champions lost a lot to graduation and may have to face North Penn's wrath in the season opener for both teams. The Knights seem primed to unleash 10 months of frustration on someone. The Explorers wear gold and blue, but on Friday, Sept. 3, North Penn will be seeing Ridley green.

North Penn's Craig Needhammer.
North Penn's Craig Needhammer.
Photo courtesy of North Penn football
There's a lot to like about the 2010 Knights. Aside from the 6-1, 225-pound Reeves, who will play middle linebacker and has the ability to be everywhere on the field, North Penn returns the dangerous Craig Needhammer, who rushed for 1,458 yards last year, including 29 touchdowns, and wide receiver Dom Taggart, another speedy threat who caught 32 passes for 533 yards and 10 TDs.

Corey Ernst, a 5-10, 170-pound junior, will take over at quarterback.

"Our goal is to get back to the district championship game again, like we did last year," Reeves said. "Everyone worked hard this entire offseason, getting bigger and stronger in the weight room. We were all dedicated. We have a really focused team and a group of guys that can't forget the way we out last year. That kind of thing doesn't happen to us. It won't happen again."

With Ridley returning eight players from that district championship team, including most of its skill position players, it seems there is a good chance both teams could indeed meet again in the district finals.

North Penn waited 10 months to get back on the field again. The Knights could patiently wait another three more to avenge an ugly, chilly bone-cracking night.

Southeastern Pennsylvania Preseason Top 10
1. Ridley (Folsom)
2. North Penn (Lansdale)
3. LaSalle College (Wyndmoor)
4. West Catholic (Philadelphia)
5. Pottsgrove
6. St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia)
7. Archbishop Wood (Warminster)
8. Interboro (Prospect Park)
9. Cardinal O'Hara (Springfield)
10. George Washington (Philadelphia)

Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.

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