Pen Argyl came away with no points on its first possessions of Saturday afternoon’s home against Palisades after reaching the red zone.

The Pirates then overcame a deficit to take the lead in the final 87 seconds of the first half and forced a three-and-out on the Green Knights’ ensuing series.

It appeared head coach Brady Mutton and his Pen Argyl bunch were headed for more heartbreak on The Hill.

But something happened on the way down the momentum mountain: Palisades threw the hosts a bone. Instead of running out the final 15 seconds of the first half, the Pirates opted to run a play.

They fumbled. The Green Knights’ Jamie Accatino recovered and got a field goal out of it to cut the halftime deficit to four points.

Palisades spent the rest of the game going down the momentum mountain and Pen Argyl rolled to an impressive 38-21 victory.

“This is a hump we got over,” Mutton said. “It’s not the end of the season. We’re not done yet. There are other things to do, but this is a hump we haven’t been able to get over. We beat a 4-0 team that was playing great football. We looked awesome out there today. We finally got there.”

Pen Argyl had several emotionally draining losses last season, including a 21-20 setback at Palisades when it failed on a conversion in the fourth quarter.

This one could have gone down that same path, but Accatino’s fumble recovery was the first of many big plays made by the Green Knights.

Leading 14-10 and getting the ball to start the third quarter, Palisades still appeared in good shape. It had a second-and-1 on that opening possession but a running play that netted nothing was following by an incompletion and led to a punt.

The Pirates managed only 67 rushing yards on 13 carries and threw the ball 33 times.

Pen Argyl took advantage of two questionable pass interference calls against Palisades’ Lincoln Cook, both on third down, to regain the lead on its first series of the second half.

Caiden Faust had the first of his two rushing touchdowns, a 6-yarder with 7 minutes, 1 second left in the third quarter.

Palisades responded with an eight-play, 60-yard drive capped by Jack Trickel’s 22-yard touchdown run for a 21-17 lead at the 4:12 mark of the third.

The Green Knights then seized momentum for good less than a minute later when Mason Soos hit Faust with a 76-yard touchdown pass on third-and-11.

Chris Crespo, who caught a 27-yard touchdown pass in the first half, intercepted a Trickel pass on Palisades’ next series.

Eight plays later, Faust scored from nine yards out for a 28-17 lead less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.

Faust then picked off a Trickel pass on third down of the ensuing Pirates possession and returned it 34 yards for the game-sealing touchdown.

“That fumble recovery definitely changed the game,” Faust said. “It brought out ambition to win up, the entire team. We also were fired up from last year, losing to them by one point. We thought about that at halftime.

“As soon as we got those interceptions, Palisades just dropped their heads.”

Pen Argyl got two more defensive stops and ran out the clock to move to 4-1.

It was Palisades’ defense early on that was making the key stops.

Pen Argyl’s first drive of the game stalled when Silas Day and William Kapp stopped Faust on 4th-and-3 from the Palisades 11.

The Green Knights’ second consecutive promising drive ended on a fourth-down incompletion after a third-down quarterback draw was snuffed out by Carter Kilhefner for a five-yard loss. Kilhefner had three of the Pirates’ seven tackles for loss.

Pen Argyl finally scored on its third series thanks to consecutive long completions by Soos. A 30-yarder to Zach Metzgar was followed a perfectly thrown 27-yarder to the back right corner of the end zone to Crespo for a 7-0 lead at the 10:22 mark of the second quarter.

Metzgar had a career-high six receptions for 109 yards. He also had a 39-yard run.

Trailing 7-0, Palisades’ offense finally got going after. A five-play, 55-yard drive was finished off when Trickel hit Cook for a 6-yard TD pass. The Pirates then drove 78 yards in eight plays, the last 44 coming on a Trickel TD pass to Mason Schultz on third-and-7. That was the second time in two weeks those two hooked up on a long TD pass on a third-and-long situation.

Pen Argyl’s next drive stalled, but Palisades fumbled the snap. Accatino’s recovering was followed by Soos hitting Metzgar for a 19-yard gain to the Pirates’ 13-yard line. That set up Reid Kotulka’s 30-yard field goal as time expired to pull the Green Knights within 14-10 at halftime.

“If we don’t get that field goal,” Mutton said, “that fumble might not have mattered as much.”

Pen Argyl retook the lead on its first series of the third quarter when Faust ran off the left side for a 6-yard touchdown after the two pass interference calls. The first pass was not going to be caught; Cook intercepted the second one.

Palisades (4-1), which won five of the previous seven meetings with Pen Argyl, visits Blue Mountain (2-3) at 7 p.m. Friday. Pen Argyl (4-1) also plays at 7 Friday at Salisbury (2-3).

Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com

PEN ARGYL 38, PALISADES 21 

Palisades: 0; 14; 7; 0 — 21  

Pen Argyl: 0; 10; 14; 14 — 38

ORDER OF SCORING

Second quarter

PA: Mason Soos 27 pass to Chris Crespo (Reid Kotulka kick), 10:22

Pali: Jack Trickel 6 pass to Lincoln Cook (Blake Oglialoro kick), 8:45

Pali: Trickel 44 pass to Mason Schultz (Oglialoro kick), 1:27

PA: Kotulka 30 FG, 0:00

Third quarter

PA: Caiden Faust 6 run (Kotulka kick), 7:01

Pal: Trickel 22 run (Oglialoro kick), 4:12

PA: Soos 76 pass to Faust (Kotulka kick), 3:19

Fourth quarter

PA: Faust 9 run (Kotulka kick), 10:44

PA Faust 34 INT return (Kotulka kick), 10:18

TEAM STATISTICSPal; PAFirst downs; 11; 19Rushes-yards; 13-67; 45-191Passing yards; 188; 240Comp-Att-INTs; 19-33-2; 11-21-0Punts-avg.; 4-37.0; 2-32.5Fumbles-lost; 2-1; 0-0Penalties-yards; 5-55; 4-26

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Palisades) Ashton Fitzgerald 4-12; Max Woerner 2-6; Jack Trickel 7-49, TD; (Pen Argyl); Caiden Faust 24-71, 2 TDs; Mason Soos 13-48; Terrell Estes 2-(-1); Rocco DeCesare 1-3; Jamie Accatino 3-32; Zach Metzgar 1-39; team 1-(-1).

Passing: (Palisades) Trickel 19-33-2, 188 yards, 2 TDs; (Pen Argyl) Soos 11-21-0, 240 yards, 2 TDs.

Receiving: (Palisades) Lincoln Cook 6-47, TD; Mason Schultz 2-54, TD; Fitzgerald 4-27; Woerner 3-26; Silas Day 3-28; Solomon Riddle 1-6; (Pen Argyl) Faust 4-104, TD; Metzgar 6-109; Chris Crespo 1-27, TD.

https://www.mcall.com/2025/09/20/pen-argyl-football-knocks-palisades-from-unbeaten-ranks/