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CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 46, PENNRIDGE 43
When it comes to Senior Nights, they don’t get much better than this one. The Titans – who have seven seniors on their roster – not only upset the conference-leading Rams in a thriller, the win was the 200th of coach Jason Campbell’s career.
“It’s a nice accomplishment, but what my players did tonight was even more special than that,” the Titans’ coach said. “It was a great night. I had a front row seat watching my team play really hard at both ends of the floor for all four quarters.
“Pennridge is a great program. Dean Behrens and his staff always do a great job. The Pennridge kids – they’re fighters, and they’re winners. They never quit.
“I said to the guys – I’m never going to forget this night because it’s their Senior Night. I really wanted to win and not because of my 200th. I wanted to win just for our seniors and how much they’ve gone through.”
The Titans took a 42-32 lead into the fourth quarter, but any thoughts that they were going to cruise to the win were put the rest pretty quickly. Christian Guldin, who had six points in the fourth, led the Rams’ rally.
“They had it down to a one-point game near the end,” Campbell said. “Fortunately, (Alex) Dietz was able to hit a couple of free throws, and we wind up preventing them from getting a three-point basket. Pennridge certainly got a couple of looks at the end to tie it up. It was like slow motion when it was happening.
“It was a nail biter at the end, especially when we only had one field goal in the fourth quarter and two made free throws. The fourth quarter just felt like an eternity.”
The game marked the return of Josh Consoletti, who was sidelined with an injury.
“He was the only one to hit a bucket in the fourth quarter for us,” Campbell said. “The other things he did – he plays really great defense. He took offensive charges tonight. I put him in to be the in-bounder, which I typically don’t – although he is the quarterback of the football team. Tonight I threw him in there and he made some great passes to break Pennridge’s press, right-on-the-money passes. Just those little things make a difference in possessions that he was able to do for us. I think he certainly was an unsung hero for us.”
The win was especially significant for a Titan squad – hit by the injury bug – that had lost eight of 10 games.
“This was huge,” Campbell said. “To have seven seniors – these guys have been banged up, nicked up. Zach O’Connor is still out, and another unfortunate incident tonight to John Hackendahl, who got injured on an offensive charge he took. He landed wrong on his wrist. That’s twice now – a concussion and a broken wrist. It tears your heart apart.
“To be able to win this game with him sitting on the bench for the last five or so minutes, I’m so glad we pulled it out. It eases the pain a little bit for one night for him.
“On Saturday we lost by a point to William Tennent after fighting back and going ahead in the second half of that game – my guys could have easily come into practice and folded, but this group of guys tried to stay positive. I know it’s hard for them to try and stay in that right state of mind, but they’ve done enough to believe in each other, and they really did an awesome job of executing our game plan and correcting the mistakes we’ve been making in this eight-out-of-10 losing streak. It’s incredible what the kids can do when they all pull together and execute and do it the right way. It’s a big win.”
For the Rams, Guldin led the way with 14 points, and Trent Fisher had 11. Luke Yoder finished with nine and Colin Post had six.
Central Bucks South (10-9, 5-5 SOL) will travel to Neshaminy Saturday for a non-league game at 11:30 a.m. Pennridge (13-5, 7-2) will host Souderton for its Senior Night Friday.
Game Summary brought to you by
Pennridge 10-12-10-11 43
Central Bucks South 13-17-12-4 46
Pennridge (43) – Connor Pleibel 1 0-0 3; Luke Yoder 4 1-2 9; Christian Gulden 5 1-3 14; Colin Post 3 0-0 6; Trent Fisher 3 5-5 11; Totals 16 7-10 43.
Central Bucks South (46) – Mike Waltrich 4 0-0 11; John Hackendahl 2 0-0 5; Josh Consoletti 1 0-0 2; Josiah Harrison 1 0-0 2; Alex Dietz 6 2-3 15; Nick Wursta 1 1-2 3; Michael Farley 4 0-0 8; Totals 19 3-6 46.
3-pointers: Pennridge – Christian Guldin 3, Connor Pleibel, CBS – Mike Waltrich 3, John Hackendahl, Alex Dietz.