Welcome to Great Neshaminy Moments.

November 1954. Celebrated in Sandy Oppenheimer's November 26, 1954 piece in the Courier Times is the 'Skins first ever "perfect" season. Finishing 10-0 that year, the Tribe closed its season in powerful fashion as they recorded a 53-6 win over a tough Bensalem Owls club which was 7 and 2 going into the game. Exacting a measure of revenge with the win, it was the Owls that had handed the Redskins their only defeat in the 28 games leading up to the '54 closer (a 7-6 thriller the year before that robbed Langhorne of an otherwise unblemished 1953 season).

And what a club was the 1954 team! Featuring Errol Faunce and his passing and running skills, Dashing Don Cameron and Cannonball Joe "Shorty" Moronese in the backfield with Stan Covington and Marty Ahlum at ends, the Langhorne boys put up 349 points while yielding but 83 as they followed boss Harry Franks to the top of the LBC mountain.

   Having won 10 straight games, including yesterday’s 53-6 walloping of Bensalem, and having earned the undisputed championship of the Lower Bucks league, the all-conquering Neshaminy team finally came to the one thing that will stop them from winning anything more this year – the end of the schedule.

    Neshaminy unleashed the full force of its offensive power against Bensalem to atone for last season’s 7-6 defeat that makes its record 28 wins out of the last 29 games instead of 29 for 29. A record crowd thronged the Langhorne field to watch what was billed as a close game.

    Using a strong ground attack Neshaminy pushed across eight touchdowns with Dashing Don Cameron getting three, Cannonball Shorty Moronese garnering three and Errol Faunce getting the other two. Neshaminy tore through the Owls with a completely new set of plays that Coach Harry Franks introduced this past week after intensive and secret drills.

Around End

    Particularly effective was a variation of the statute of liberty play that broke Don Cameron around the end after taking the ball from Faunce who faked a pass. In the fourth quarter the play produced a 55-yard Cameron touchdown run that was the longest scoring play of the game.

    Bensalem scored its only touchdown on an accurate pass from Harry Shurr to end Roger Jenkins which covered 24 yards but otherwise the Owls couldn’t do much with the Neshaminy defensive line which continually rushed the passers and pulled down the runners.

Miss Lake

    On defense Bensalem missed the services of Bob Lake, who usually makes 50 per cent of their tackles and most of their interceptions. Lake couldn’t play because of a sprained ankle which forced him to watch the game from the sidelines.

    It would have taken Lake at his best to stop the rampaging Redskins though. Their blocking assignments were carried out to perfection to pave the way for the running backfield which got two touchdowns in the first quarter, one in the second, two in the third quarter and three more in the fourth as Neshaminy kept the pressure on all the way.

Rushes

    Moronese scored his touchdowns on his bull-like rushes of one yard, two yards and one yard again. Cameron got his three on a 13 yard rush, a one yard rush that was set up by a 59 yard run by him after a pass from Faunce and the 55 yard jaunt on the handoff.

    Faunce went three yards in the first quarter and 34 in the fourth. Although the records haven’t been checked this was probably one of the few times that Neshaminy won a game without a scoring pass. However, aerials played their important part in the game as the Redskins used them to set up many of the touchdowns.

Glory

    Moronese and Cameron, both seniors, went out in a blaze of aerials. Other Neshaminy seniors playing their last game, but having the satisfaction of knowing they had been with an undefeated team and league champs, are Fred Buhner, Norman Bailey, Bob Hurst, Dennis Page, Bob Rothenbach, Fred Sangillo, William Simmers and Dick Wilt.

    The win gave Neshaminy the edge in the 25 year old series. They have now won it 12 times, lost 11 and tied 2. Bensalem now has a 7-3 season record and finishes third in the league with a 5-2 record.

(Editor's Note:  The 1954 team was an offensive powerhouse which averaged 34.90 points per game which is still to this day the third best of any Neshaminy squad while the 349 total points scored was a Lower Bucks record at that time.  And as testament to the terrific players it had, 13 of them are in the Redskin Football Hall of Fame - Don Cameron, Bill Barrett, Joe Moronese, Ned Moyer, Monty Ahlum, Fred Buhner, Errol Faunce, Stan Covington, Andy Davis, Robert Rothenbach, Donald Boyer, Robert Hurst and George Rumsey - while three coaches from that era are similarly honored - Harry Franks, John Petercuskie and Pal Allison.)