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SPRINGFIELD – Ryan Whitaker doesn’t have many opportunities to throw the football.
Whitaker is the quarterback for a Springfield team that runs the ball with a lot of success, behind one of the baddest offensive line units in Delaware County. Senior running back Mike Turner has run for 1,000-plus yards. A week ago Turner and Tanner Coll each cracked the 100-yard plateau in the Cougars’ District 1 Class 5A first-round drubbing of West Chester Henderson.
The third-seeded Cougars are so good at “ground-and-pound,” they were averaging better than 270 yards rushing per game entering Friday’s district quarterfinal against No. 6 Marple Newtown.
Whitaker showed that he can be a secret weapon. And on Friday he took the Marple Newtown defense by utter surprise with his timely passing, which proved to be a big factor in Springfield’s 20-7 victory.
Winners of 10 consecutive games, Springfield (11-1) will play another Central League foe, No. 2 Strath Haven, in the district semifinals next Friday. Strath Haven advanced with 26-21 win over No. 7 Upper Dublin.
Whitaker was 4-for-5 for 111 yards and two touchdowns. His first scoring strike was a 12 yarder to Chris Dolan in the corner of the end zone with 10:30 left in the second quarter, extending the Cougars’ lead to 13-0. Later in the quarter, with the Cougars backed up at their own 25, Whitaker executed a play-action fake to perfection. He found Ryan Johnston all alone in the middle of the field, and the senior tight end did the rest, sprinting 75 yards to the house.
Sure the Cougars can dominate teams by taking the air out of the ball. Turner was awesome once again, accumulating 186 yards on 36 carries, and scored on the opening drive of the game from nine yards out.
But opposing defenses shall not sleep on Whitaker and the Cougars’ sneaky good passing game.
“Their defense kept going for the run because we kept pounding it five yards a carry and, when you do that all the time, people are wide open by 30 yards,” Whitaker said. “The offensive line (Gus Bryan, Mike Miller, Dean Brown, Lucas Aaron, Ryan Benjamin), they are the greatest. They make everything happen. They’re fun to be around and they’re just great people. And they have great personalities and that’s what you need out of your teammates.”
Whitaker had thrown for only 406 yards before Friday’s game. His career high of 140 yards and two TDs came in the Cougars’ 22-0 win over Marple in September. So, it’s something about playing the Tigers that seems to bring out the best in Whitaker.
“I’m just happy we won,” he said. “It feels great. (Marple) is a great team, so to come out and beat them again feels amazing.”
Turner has run for more than 100 yards in six of Springfield’s 12 games. Fullback Nate Romano added 58 yards Friday, running over would-be tacklers at will. Springfield amassed 248 yards on 44 carries (5.6 yards per carry). While the Cougars didn’t find the end zone in the second half, their ground game successfully quieted Marple’s physical defensive front.
“Obviously we are a run-heavy team, but when we have the throwing game in our back pocket, we have plays that we can execute and it’s such a big help,” Turner said. “You saw it, the two passing touchdowns, that is huge in a game like this. We don’t do that every game. There’s some games where we throw the ball less than five times, but to have those passing plays in our back pocket, it’s huge.”
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Springfield quarterback Ryan Whitaker, left, gets rid of a pass while under pressure from Marple Newtown’s Luke Moyer Friday. Whitaker threw for two touchdowns as the Cougars went on to a 20-7 victory in a District 1 Class 5A quarterfinal game. (Pete Bannan – MediaNews Group)
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