Football
Week 1 SAC Wrap-Up: Snider, Homestead Each Stunned in Opening Week
North Side at Snider
Final Score: 47-17 North Side
The tone was set on the first play from scrimmage.
North Side MLB Jasuan Lambert flew past the blockers and immediately went to strip the ball from Snider QB Deron Swanson. He did so successfully and DE Jaylen Walker picked it up and returned it for a North Side touchdown, putting the Legends in front only 16 seconds into the game.
It didn’t stop there.
After Snider responded with a touchdown of their own, North Side took their first snap on offense and turned it into a 70 yard touchdown on a Taylor-Turner connection. From that point on, the Legends didn’t look back and never trailed or tied the Panthers.
“We didn’t want emotion to take over,” Coach Brevard said after the game. “Like I told the boys, we aren’t playing Snider, we’re playing North Side, because at the end of the day we can’t stop ourselves.”
After his post game speech, Coach Brevard could be seen in the end zone, by himself. One can only imagine what he must have been thinking and feeling, after beating Snider by 30 points, and giving them their worst loss since September 13, 2013 at Penn when they were shutout 38-0. It also gave North Side their first win over Snider since 2013, breaking a string of 7 straight losses to the Panthers.
“It’s huge,” Brevard said. “The past three years, we’d start 0-1, then 0-3, and very quickly you’d get in that mindset of the gauntlet and everybody is not as excited to start the season. But starting July 6, it just felt different this year and I’m just so proud of the boys. I think this is just such a huge game for these boys and for North Side turning the corner.”
Something definitely felt different. North Side was expected to compete in this game, and some, including us, picked them to win outright. However, no one expected the kind of physical beatdown that the Legends delivered in Spuller Stadium on Friday. Snider came in with their huge offensive line and major college prospects such as OT D.J. Moore and MLB Domanick Moon on both sides of the ball. Yet, it was North Side delivering the punishment. The Legends made 2 sacks and 5 TFL, along with their scoop-and-score on the first play of the game. They continuously got pressure on the quarterback and never let Snider’s offense get comfortable. It even resulted in an early interception by their star safety Arieon McCarter.
On the other side of the ball, the Legends offensive line more than held their own against Reece Thomas and company. The line opened up huge holes for RB Jasuan Lambert to run through, allowing him to have a solid day on the ground with 94 yds and 1 TD, while averaging 7.8 yds per carry. Lambert, taking over for Alex Holliday-Robinson, proved himself on Friday and showed that he’ll be a major part of this team moving forward.
But the real story for North Side was at quarterback and could be summed up in a popular phrase among the Legends faithful: Duce was loose.
QB Duce Taylor had one of the most incredible performances for a North Side quarterback in a long time. There were questions coming in about Taylor and how he would do against his former school. Even his head coach was a little nervous.
“I was very surprised with Duce,” Brevard said. “You could just tell he was tense this week and we had to have a private discussion just to let him know, ‘Hey man, keep the main thing, the main thing.’”
Taylor kept his composure and shook off any pressure he may have felt early. He went on to have the best performance of any SAC quarterback in week 1, throwing for 378 yds and 4 TD while passing for a very efficient 18/26. Duce led the Legends down the field for three consecutive drives ending in a touchdown. The air raid continued through the end of the first half and into the second, as Taylor made unbelievable throw after unbelievable throw.
“For me, I’ve been working hard in the offseason,” Taylor said. “Training every day, just working and working. So really, when I came here, it was expected out of me so [this win] does feel good.”
For the Panthers, this will be the first time they start the year 0-1 since 2011. Snider simply could not find any consistency on offense and were looking for an identity the whole game on both sides of the ball. Senior QB Deron Swanson was replaced at halftime by sophomore QB Luke Haupert after struggling under center and committing a pair of turnovers. The offense did run a little smoother under Haupert, who could be the starter next week at Carroll, but by that point the game was far out of reach anyway.
It will be interesting to see where each of these teams end up this year. All of Snider’s question marks turned out to be critical issues, while North Sides optimism about the season was affirmed in week 1. Both teams have challenging games ahead in week 2, with Snider playing Carroll as previously mentioned, while North Side heads home to face Dwenger.
“Another sound opponent,” Brevard said. “State championship caliber team, so we’re excited for the task and again, next week North Side plays North Side.”
Wayne at Bishop Dwenger
Final Score: 35-12 Dwenger
From one impressive performance by a QB to the next. Dwenger QB Brenden Lytle had no problem completing 11 of 16 passes for 170 yds and 4 TD. As anticipated, WR Rocco Ciocca played a big part in the passing game, having 6 receptions for 127 yds and 2 TD. On defense, John Michael Fabini came up big with 2.5 sacks, and 3.5 TFL in total. Dwenger led 35-0 in this game heading into the fourth quarter, before Wayne was finally able to get on the scoreboard. Things didn’t go in favor of first-year Wayne head coach Sherwood Haydock in week 1, but the Generals will try to keep their heads up while they continue to search for their first win since 2018.
Carroll at Bishop Luers
Final Score: 48-14 Carroll
If they wanted to, the Chargers probably could have scored 100. The Chargers led 48-7 at the half, with QB Jeff Becker passing for 182 yds and 4 total touchdowns. The majority of those passes found their way into the hands of WR Mason Englert, who had a field day at wideout with 6 receptions for 149 yds and 3 TD. The Chargers did exactly what they needed to do in week one by putting on an offensive showcase in the first half, before the backups came in. They’re a team no one wants to face right now. Oh and look out for junior Ethan Beaupre. He had two interceptions in the game and will only make the Carroll secondary even scarier to face.
Northrop at Homestead
Final Score: 25-21 Northrop
Well that was unexpected. If North Side over Snider wasn’t already shocking enough, how about Northrop being able to take down the reigning SAC champs in week 1. Homestead held a 21-13 lead at halftime and was about to go up by two scores in the third, until a strange sequence of plays occurred. With Homestead in the red zone, they committed a false start, had a rare dropped pass by WR Jared Kistler that would have been for a touchdown, another dropped pass by RB Braeden Hardwick, and then an interception by CJ Davis to keep Sparty off the board. At the end of the day, RB Damarius Cowen and his 276 rushing yards and 4 TD were too much for Homestead to handle and gave the Bruins an upset win.
Concordia at South Side
Final Score: 49-0 Concordia
One punt return for a touchdown is rare enough, but how about two? That’s exactly what Concordia did on Friday, with two punt returns for touchdowns against the Archers, each coming in the third quarter. The Cadet defense was the real story in this game, shutting out South Side and coming up with a safety and 2 picks. We’ll see if they can replicate that performance against a downcast Homestead team next week.
