Kyle Beller said it has been nice to drive home on a Friday night with a smile on his face.
That’s something Beller has long waited to do, and this year, the third-year Pennridge High football coach has had a pleasant postgame ride home 11 times.
His Rams are 11-1 and are in the District 1 semifinals. They will host Coatesville at 7 p.m. Friday night, just two wins away from the first district title in school history and three victories away from an appearance in the state finals.
It’s an exciting time for the 46-year-old Beller, a 1997 Dieruff High grad who coached the Huskies for seven seasons and went 22-47 before resigning in 2019.
He spent two seasons on Joe Henrich’s staff at Bethlehem Catholic and two years with Matt Senneca at Whitehall but always wanted a second shot at being a head coach and got it at the Perkasie school.
After going 3-8 in his first year and 4-7 in 2024, everything has come together this fall for Pennridge. The Rams, who opened their season with a 31-21 win over Liberty, are ranked 10th in the state by Pennlive.com.
“It has been a great journey,” Beller said. “At Dieruff, we just couldn’t get over the hump and then I left there and went to Becahi and then to Whitehall. When I went to those places I wanted to see how some other guys do it. You always want to get better at your craft. When I went to those places, I thought we were doing a really good job and I just took little nuggets from what Joe and Matt were doing. I just learned some minor details that I wish I had when I was at Dieruff or we might have gotten over the hump.”
At Pennridge, Beller came into a tradition-rich program with great support, great facilities and a great fan base.
“Just seeing the commitment level of everyone across the board and now seeing the reward of that commitment has been special,” he said. “For me, the biggest reward is seeing them grow and help them get over he hump and seeing the confidence level and the excitement grow. That’s really the most satisfying thing.
“At a personal level, I might look back on it in December when it’s done and reflect on what this team has been able to accomplish. But right now, we’re still working and trying to keep the process going. That’s what we talk about a lot.”
Beller has a balanced team that averages 28.4 points per game and allows 14.9.
They feature an experienced senior quarterback in Noah Keating, who has thrown for 1,340 yards and 13 TDs. He has also run for 303 yards and 11 scores. Their top running backs include seniors William Dougherty and Ryan Rowe have both rushed for close to 700 yards and have combined for 13 TDs. The receiving corps is led by junior Sean Leuthe, who has 27 receptions for 471 yards and three TDs.
Sophomore Blake Landherr and Rowe lead the defense with 94 and 84 tackles, respectively.
“We play in a very competitive conference,” Beller said. “We’re down to the final four in District 1 6A and three of the four teams left are Suburban One National Conference teams. I came from the EPC and that’s a great league, but we play really good football in this conference, too.”
Pennridge’s Noah Keating celebrates in the final seconds of a 21-9 win over Downingtown East. (Nate Heckenberger – For MediaNews Group)
Beller enjoyed the opportunity to open the season with Liberty in back-to-back seasons so he could still stay connected to his old league.
“Beating them in Week 1 this year was a big momentum boost because, let’s be honest, Liberty came down here in Week 1 last year and they gave it to us,” Beller said of a 40-14 defeat. “I wasn’t expecting that, but they had a great team last year and hats off to them because they came down here and took it to us.
“So we went up there this year knowing they were going to be good again. But our kids played a really great game in all three phases. We started that off game and punched it in right and got the momentum going.
“That gave us the confidence our kids needed and really the whole season has been like that. Liberty came back and tied that game up, but from that point, our kids just turned it on. They did a great job on defense and ran the ball well.
“Jeff Hollenbach, our offensive coordinator, really called a great game and kept them off balance and our kids really played a great game. I kept following Liberty all season and was impressed with what they did on offense. They put big numbers up on people, so it was a real nice opener for us.”
Beller said on that opening night his kids learned how to win and it’s something they have been able to do 10 more times.
“We did a lot of stuff in the offseason and were in the weight room every day and we just did things where we were always competing,” Beller said. “Our kids embraced it. They learned how to compete.”
Beller, who is a business teacher at the high school, said he has been impressed by the community support and that’s something he’ll rely on since Coatesville will present numerous challenges on Friday night.
“Pennridge people love their football,” Beller said. “It reminds me of being at Whitehall. The people are there, win or lose. The last two years we’ve had good crowds even though we didn’t have the best records. This year, they’ve been phenomenal. The community is behind us and and the administration here backs all sports, all extracurricular events. They know how important it is from the top down. They’ve all been great. We are playing good football, we’re getting great support and just want to keep working and take this as far as we can go.”
