Souderton rallies in fourth quarter to top Pennsbury

FRANCONIA, PA. >> Danny Dyches’ biggest catch Friday night came on the defensive side of the ball.

A five-play, 69-yard drive capped by Ryan Sadowski’s 15yard touchdown run pulled the Souderton football team even with Pennsbury at 14-14 with 1:59 to go in the fourth quarter of their District 1-6A first round matchup. And on the first play of the ensuing series, the Falcons tried to surprise the Indians with a halfback pass.

Dyches, however, was ready for it.

“I seen the pitch and I heard people yelling “pass” so I knew it was going to be a pitch pass,” he said. “So I just read it and I went under the ball and caught it.”

Dyches’ interception set Souderton up at the Pennsbury 38 with 1:43 left. A sack knocked the Indians back nine but Ben Walsh connected with Chase Johnson for a 20-yard completion and three plays later Sadowski burst up the middle 27 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with only 16 seconds remaining.

“They didn’t see it coming, they keyed the wrong thing, they jumped the wrong gap and left me a touchdown,” Sadowski said. “I’ll take that touchdown.”

A low-scoring battle turned into a frenzied affair in final minutes of regulation, Sadowski’s pair of late rushing scores allowing the second-seeded Indians to survive the No. 14 Falcons’ upset bid and advance to the quarterfinals with a 21-14 comeback victory.

“We just knew we had it in us to beat this team,” Dyches said. “When we faced adversity, we didn’t back our heads down, we didn’t put our heads down so we knew we could do it. We knew.”

For Pennsbury (5-6), which was looking for its first district win since 2017, it was another tough loss in the 6A first round after last season as the third seed falling to No. 14 North Penn 22-21.

“The worst part is I know we could do it. I knew that group could do it, we had ‘em — we had ‘em,” Pennsbury senior linebacker Ben Primich said. “And it feels like a repeat of last year, it sucks.

“It’s something where you know you’re out there on the field, you can almost feel everything unwinding, you’re telling everyone ‘We got to stay locked in, this is it, we can do this, reset.’