FRANCONIA, Pa. — Souderton knows its path to the playoffs is to just keep stacking wins. Starting with last week’s win at Cheltenham, Big Red put an emphasis on getting back to basics and its guys up front took that message strongly. Souderton’s offensive line put together another stout effort on Friday against Bensalem, even earning a second half off thanks to their work. With the line locked in, Souderton handled the visiting Owls 44-13 for a second straight win. “It’s definitely our physicality,” senior tackle Tommy Lynch said. “Our first couple games, we really weren’t that physical. Our coaches told us we needed to step it up, we realized we needed to step it up and we did.” Lynch, who also started on last year’s team that went 10-0 in the regular season, said the unit started to get sloppy after a dominant first quarter against Quakertown in what became a crushing loss. With a veteran group – all five starters on the offensive line are seniors – making up the lead blockers, the Souderton (4-3, 3-1 SOL Continental) coaches wanted them to set the tone using their base plays from the Wing-T. Senior Evan Meenan mans the other tackle spot, converted from guard after senior Julian Adorno found a role on the inner part of the line opposite senior Jayden Bergey, who is back after missing last season due to injury. Anchoring the line is senior center Austin Paturzo, another returning starter. The line is supported by senior tight ends Chase Johnson and Jack Potson, both solid blockers and athletes able to be options in the pass game. “The offensive line has been getting better as the year’s gone on,” Souderton coach Ed Gallagher said. “It’s a credit to them, it’s a veteran group and they’ve been executing. (Cheltenham and Bensalem) threw a lot of different fronts out there over the past couple of weeks, so they had a lot of work to do in practice to understand a lot of the blitzes they did.” With the line clearing the path, Souderton dominated the first half, building a 37-0 halftime lead and never allowing Bensalem (3-4, 1-3 SOL) to build any momentum coming off a quality win last week over Council Rock South. The Big Red defense put together a good effort as well, which helped get a few extra possessions and the offense came through by scoring every time it had the ball. By halftime, Souderton had rushed 28 times for 207 yards and three scores while Ben Walsh had completed 7-of-13 passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns. The line did concede two sacks, one of them to Owls standout senior Jaden George, but otherwise executed against a physical front that shifted prior to almost every snap. “Our coaches have given us great schemes, they’re making great playcalls and we’re just making the blocks,” Paturzo said. “Our running backs have been playing great as well, Elijah Hampton and Caleb Moyer, I definitely owe those two a shoutout.” Bergey, who is considering a military career after graduating, noted the Souderton line isn’t the biggest around but the team’s offense allows them to play to their strengths. The coaching staff has put them in position to succeed and over the last couple weeks, they’ve been delivering. “I trust all these guys,” Bergey said. “I think it was just knowing what we’ve got and trusting each other, then allowing the backs to do what they can do. When we’re on, that’s when they’re on, so we have to allow them to do what they can do.” Moyer, Hampton and Houston Marshall all rushed for touchdowns. Hampton added a receiving touchdown and fullback Michael McCormick caught the other from Walsh, who operated well in the pocket and extended a couple plays with his movement. The line also played a key role in the team’s three conversions on fourth down in the first half. Paturzo and Bergey propped up the scout team players for helping get the starters ready for a variety of looks, so they went in confident they could pick up the yards they needed. “Communicating on the offensive line is one of our biggest things,” Lynch said. “Always being on the same page and knowing what you’re doing on every play helps out a lot. On our double team, knowing we’re both good, we both know what we’re doing and we have the power to do our job gets us through.” JoJo Sudi added an 88-yard touchdown on the first snap of the second half to wrap Souderton’s scoring. Bensalem, which has battled injuries all season, played hard the entire game and got a couple scores in the second half. Myles Annan connected on a 25-yard touchdown to Evan Varallo in the third while Aidan Mayfield, who played almost every snap at tailback and linebacker, added a nine-yard touchdown run in the fourth. Souderton, which moved over .500 for the first time this fall, knows its best chance to make the postseason is to keep winning. Upper Dublin’s dramatic win over Quakertown on Friday has kept the door open to a conference title as well, the teams meeting in the final week of the regular season. Paturzo said that’s plenty of motivation, all five seniors on the line very much wanting to get back into the District 1-6A playoff field. Bergey added that Big Red feels like on its best day with its best guys that it can stand toe-to-toe with any team in the district. The starters got the second half off thanks to the running clock, not a bad thing with a short week on deck ahead of Thursday’s home game with Council Rock North “It’s just been trust,” Bergey said. “Knowing who we lost last year, not to focus on last year, we also knew what we had coming in. We knew we had a good quarterback, we knew we had good backs and we’re seniors, we had to step up. “These past two games, we did that, we’re going to keep doing that and we just have to keep it rolling.” Souderton 44, Bensalem 13 Bensalem 0 0 7 6 – 13 Souderton 9 28 7 0 – 44 SCORING First Quarter S – Caleb Moyer 12 run (Micah Schirripa kick) 6:11 S – Safety 3:29 Second Quarter S – Elijah Hampton 7 run (Schirripa kick) 11:53 S – Houston Marshall 3 run (kick miss) 7:08 S – Ben Walsh 2 pass to Michael McCormick (Two-point run) 41.3 S – Walsh 23 pass to Hampton (Schirripa kick) 0.8 Third Quarter S – JoJo Sudi 88 run (Schirripa kick) 10:12 B – Myles Annan 25 pass to Evan Varallo (Tommy Hurst kick) 6:10 Fourth Quarter B – Aidan Mayfield 9 run (kick miss) 4:00 TEAM STATISTICS S B First Downs 17 9 Rushes-Yards 37-324 13-25 Passing 7-14-2-0 9-18-1-0 Passing Yards 79 105 Total Yards 403 130 Penalties-Yards 4-30 3-30 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing: S – Houston Marshall 8-51, Michael McCormick 6-28, Elijah Hampton 5-48, Ben Walsh 4-13, Jack Potson 1-2, Caleb Moyer 2-57, JoJo Sudi 3-96, Noah Porter 1-1, Terrel Dickerson Jr 3-14, Chase Hart 2-4, Colin Harrris 1-5, Luka Camacho 1-5; B – Aidan Mayfield 9-34, Thomas Bailey 1-2, Myles Annan 3-(-11). Passing: S – Walsh 7-13-1-0-79, Brett Pollock 0-1-0-0-0; B – Annan 9-18-1-0-105. Receiving: S – Timmy Meehan 1-12, Hunter Smeltz 1-1, Potson 1-8, Hampton 2-30, Chase Johnson 1-26, McCormick 1-2; B – Bailey 3-21, Shane Varallo 1-6, Mayfield 3-48, Evan Varallo 2-30.