Brendan Ricciardi | November 3, 2023
NEWTOWN SQUARE, PA — The first play of the game may not have gone Marple Newtown’s way, but the rest of the game sure did.
After Penncrest stunned the crowd with a surprise onside kick that they recovered, it looked like things might go a bit different than they did last week when Marple got the best of them 28-7.
The Lions were unable to capitalize on that momentum however, and Marple took it and ran with it as they won this one by a final score of 48-13.
It took just one play for the Marple Newtown offense to get going as David Bertoline took a deep shot and Trey Saviour hauled it in for a gain of 36 yards. That got the Tigers offense moving, and Brett Wolski had a 26 yard touchdown run to get the first points of the game for either team.
After getting a stop on defense, Marple Newtown used the same formula as another gorgeous deep ball from Bertoline again found Saviour for a gain of 45. In a world full of Delco teams that solely run the ball, it was refreshing to see a team just chuck it.
The Tigers again cashed in on this drive when Bertoline tossed it up and Joey Yukenavitch somehow hauled it in for the touchdown even with a defender tipping the ball. It was just very good composure from Yukenavitch to stay focused and make the catch.
The Tigers defense once again got them the ball back, and after a bad punt, the Tigers were already in Penncrest territory. This time it was the usual suspect Brian Box getting in the end zone for the first time when he ran for 16 yards and a score to take a commanding 21-0 lead.
Penncrest would not go quietly, however, as quarterback Nico Tozzi recently returned from injury and launched a bomb over the top to Blase Persichetti who made a fantastic catch to get the Lions in scoring position. That led to Matt Ferry punching it in from two yards out to get the Lions on the board.
Any momentum that Penncrest had was quickly wiped away when Brett Wolski took the ensuing kickoff 68 yards to the house to stun the Penncrest sidelines and make it a three score game again.
With a 28-6 lead going into the half, Marple Newtown had their “put away” drive to start the second half as they took about five minutes off the clock before Brett Wolski scored his third touchdown of the game from eight yards out to make it 34-6 Tigers.
The Tigers would add some more points on the board thanks to touchdowns from Lou DiLuzio and Michael Favacchia while Nico Tozzi added one on the ground for the Lions to give us a final score of 48-13, which is the most points Marple Newtown has scored in a playoff game in program history according to their twitter account.
With the win, Marple Newtown advances to the PIAA 5A District 1 quarterfinals for a rematch with #3 Springfield, who beat them 22-0 back on September 15th.
As for Penncrest, there are still a lot of positives to take from this season as they finish the year 5-6 after going 1-10 last season.
Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews