Panther Pride: A Historic Season of Quakertown Football

Panther Pride: A Historic Season of Quakertown Football

Dylan Aponte, Staff Writer

The entire regular season for the 2021 Quakertown High School football team has been a triumphant journey through level 6A of the Suburban One League. Throughout the season, there have been blowout wins, a rise in school spirit, and highlight reel plays. All of this amounted to an astonishing 10-0 regular season record. This is the first time in over 50 years that the Quakertown football team has achieved this feat. The team was led by captain Senior Quarterback Will Steich who had a career high 63% completion percentage during his third season as the varsity quarterback. The team’s leading rusher, Senior Tyler Woodman, ran for 1,323 yards over his first full year on the varsity football team. His carries nearly tripled from 67 to 183. In addition, Woodman also returned two kickoffs for touchdowns. One of Quakertown’s other captains, Freddie Retter, had perhaps the best season out of anyone on the team. He racked up 59 tackles with 15 of those being sacks. Retter also recovered a fumble this season. 

This magical season culminated with Senior Night on October 29th at Alumni Field against William Tennent. A ceremony took place to recognize all the senior football players as well as the cheerleaders prior to the game. Each senior had their name announced and a video played on the video board. They then ran to mid-field to greet their parents and/or siblings. The majority of the starters are seniors, so next year’s team will need to be heavily reconstructed. The game ended in a 50-6 Quakertown win, but that is not the real story of the game. That title belongs to the conditions. The temperature was a moderate 55 degrees, but the high speed winds combined with the pouring rain made it for a night many people will never forget. The student section dwindled as the night went on, and the band was even sent home after the 2nd quarter. A few brave, and some may say dedicated, fans stayed for the entire game. One of those fans, Will Robinson, commented on the evening’s weather: “I was cold and wet from the moment I left my car, so I figured why not stay and support the team for the entire night”. Mr. Robinson has been to 6 of the 10 games during the miraculous run this season. He recalls lots of cheering, high fiving from strangers, and an all time high of player to student section interaction. The team has beaten two teams in the playoffs so far by wide margins in each. They play the number one seeded Garnett Valley next, who are also undefeated.