[tps_title]Upper Perkiomen Indians [/tps_title]
Upper Perkiomen’s Tyler Whary runs through the hole en route to a 16-yard touchdown in the second quarter of the Indians’ 47-35 victory Friday. (Sam Stewart – Digital First Media)
Confidence is key for surging Upper Perk
RED HILL >> Upper Perkiomen head coach Tom Hontz has been with this group of seniors since eighth grade.
An undefeated season in middle school was the highlight until the Tribe’s high school program reversed course in a big way last season, advancing to the District 1 Class 4A playoffs after finishing with a combined eight wins in the previous four seasons combined. 
So what does Upper Perkiomen do for an encore after a 5-6 season? Hopefully a lot more, says Hontz.
“We’ve got a lot of veterans coming back, especially at the skill position and I think that’s going to help Tyler Keyser, or whoever is at quarterback, immensely,” said Hontz. “The playoff game against Pottsgrove was a heck of a game and we hope we can go a little further this year. We just have to believe and have confidence in ourselves this year, if we do, we can go a long way.”
The Indians return a bevy of starters in 2017, including left guard and defensive tackle Cole Fryer, receiver and cornerback Ryan Kendra, Bo Duka at safety and wide receiver and Tyler Whary at running back and linebacker. All made major contributions in 2016, Kendra finishing third in the PAC in receiving yards (749) with Whary finishing with 1,193 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground, good for third in the league.
What Upper Perkiomen will need to replace is the void left by program record-holder Zeke Hallman, who graduated in the spring. Hallman set the mark for most passing yards in a season (1,938), eclipsing the mark of 1,727 set by Sean Nevin in 2005. His replacement was one of his main targets in 2016: Tyler Keyser. Keyser, who finished last season with 393 yards receiving and seven scores, gets to show off his arm for the first time since guiding the Indians to an undefeated season — in eighth grade.
“He threw to me in eighth grade and we did pretty well back then,” Kendra said of Keyser. “We’ve been practicing all offseason so we’re starting to jell pretty quickly. He knows all the routes since he was a receiver up until this point. We have all the confidence in him.”
Confidence is Key
Upper Perkiomen enters the 2017 season confident. One of the main reasons stems from the team’s two losses to Pottsgrove last season. Rahsul Faison torched the Indians for 152 yards and three touchdowns in a 62-21 stomping in Week 7. Four weeks later, Upper Perkiomen went toe-to-toe with their Frontier Division foe, eventually falling 28-14 in the first round of the district playoffs.
“We learned that if we work hard we can compete with any team,” Kendra said. “We lost to Pottsgrove by 40, then in the district game we were only a touchdown away in the fourth quarter. We just need to stay confident in our abilities.”
“Exactly what I was going to say,” Whary added.
News and Notes
Whary’s 1,193 yards ranked eighth in school history for most rushing yards in a season. Craig Austin holds the record of 2,292 set in 1997. Kendra’s 50 receptions also slots him fifth in the school history books for most in a season. Kellen Jarett hauled in a school-best 76 in 2006.
Happy 60th
Week 1’s contest against Boyertown will mark the 60th meeting between the two teams. Boyertown leads the all-time series 40-16-3 and has won the last seven matchups, its last loss coming Thanksgiving of 2009.
By Sam Stewart; sstewart@pottsmerc.com
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