HORSHAM – When you win a league championship, a target is put on your back as teams look to knock off the defending champs. On Friday night, however, Council Rock South did the beating.
Coming off a 9-1 season in 2025 in which they were crowned Suburban One League Continental champions, the Hawks opened their 2026 season with a 42-0 road win over Hatboro Horsham.
“We are going to build off this,” CR South’s head coach CJ Szydlik said. “Wins are hard to come by, especially on the road, no matter who you are playing or how it goes.”
The Hawks, led by senior quarterback and three-star Navy commit Cannon Benzio, came out of the gates hot. After a fourth-down stop by its defense, CR South drove 74 yards on its opening possession, capping the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run from senior running back Chris Guinter.
Early in the second quarter, the Hawks added to their lead after lightning struck. Senior defensive end Ryan Lewis blocked the Hatters punt and returned it for their second score of the night.
“Last year I was pretty much just a special teams player, so I know how big that part of the game is,” Lewis said. “Making a play on special teams can swing a whole game, so I am just proud I was able to make that play for my team tonight.”
On the next drive, Benzio scrambled to his right, directed traffic and found junior wide receiver Logan Smith in the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown.
Despite leading 21-0 at the break, the Hawks did not fully look the part of a championship team in the first half.
“I think we made some uncharacteristic mistakes as a football program that we normally don’t do,” Szydlik said regarding the first half. “However, I think we responded really well after a little bit of a lashing during the halftime, and that’s because we got a seasoned group.”
During the half, the light bulb was screwed on tight.
On the first play from scrimmage of the third quarter, junior wide receiver Rocco Szydlik took a jet sweep 55 yards to the house. Two minutes later, on the Hawks second play from scrimmage of the quarter, Benzio and senior wide receiver Brody Walker delivered the knockout blow as they connected for another 55-yard touchdown.
“We knew we had to come out strong in the second half,” Walker said. “Our first half wasn’t our best performance, and we knew that heading into halftime. We knew we had to step it up and put them away early, and that’s what we did right away.”
In the blink of an eye, the Hawks led 35-0.
CR South opened up the fourth quarter the same way it opened the third — with a touchdown. Junior running back Joey Flaville took a counter, fought through a cramp and scampered into the end zone to make it 42-0.
The Hawks defense remained relentless until the final whistle, securing the shutout and a 1-0 start to the season.
For the Hatters, head coach Tom Butts said he thought his team did a lot of things well and played hard, but said the self-inflicted mistakes are something that cannot happen against good football teams.
“We are going to bury this one,” Butts said. “We are going to break down the film, grade it, and get it back to the kids. We will watch some of it, but you've got to put games like this behind you and move on.”
Hatboro Horsham will look to turn the page when it travels to West Chester Henderson on Friday night, while CR South will look to build off its dominant performance as they host Perkiomen Valley on Thursday.