Pottstown overcomes heat, Boyertown 28-14

POTTSTOWN >> They’re tired of being called “that weak Pottstown team.”

Saturday afternoon against Boyertown, Brandon Tinson and the Trojans sent a message to the rest of the PAC-10.

This team isn’t weak anymore, physically or mentally.

Tinson, battling cramps throughout the second half on a warm afternoon, rushed for a game-high 146 yards as Isaiah Mayes also eclipsed the 100-yard mark in the Trojans’ 28-14 victory over the Bears at Grigg Memorial Field.

“I followed Isaiah and my lead blockers,” Tinson said. “The line did what they had to do, they opened the holes and I followed my blockers. They took care of me. I told them ‘If you take care of me, I got your back. I got your back, you got my back.’”

The win marks the first time the Trojans have started 3-0 since 2003, but more importantly for head coach Don Grinstead the Trojans’ PAC-10 schedule is off on the right note.

“It feels great to be 1-0 in the PAC-10,” Grinstead said. “Our kids deserve a lot of respect. They work so hard, they work hard everyday. We have a lot of good kids in this program that really work hard and give it everything they have. Give credit to my assistant coaches as well, our coaches did a tremendous job preparing our kids this week.”

“It feels great, we stayed mentally and physically tough,” Bryant Wise, who finished with 74 yards rushing on 13 carries said. “We had a lot of players going through a lot of different things, different sicknesses, cramps and stuff like that. We just had to fight through it and show how big our hearts were.”

The preparation was instantly visible, same with toughness … especially in Tinson.

The senior signal caller battled through severe leg cramps throughout the entire second half and was sidelined on a key defensive series in which Boyertown quarterback Lawrence Garnett (10-of-22 150 yards, two touchdowns) found a double-covered Jerry Kapp (4 receptions, 95 yards) for a 67-yard score to bring it to 14-7 late in the third.

Tinson more than made up for his time missed, re-entering at quarterback the next series and answering the Bears’ score, scampering for a 38-yard touchdown that gave Pottstown a two-touchdown advantage going into the fourth.

The 5-10, 175-pound quarterback finished with two touchdowns and eclipsed his season-best rushing mark of 136.

“I was just disappointed in myself for allowing it (the cramping) to happen,” Tinson said. “I knew I should take care of my body, I’ve been trying but I guess I have to do better. It’s never my team’s fault, it’s my fault for cramping. They can’t take care of me, I have to take care of myself.”

“He’s (Tinson) a fighter, that kid is a fighter,” Grinstead said. “He’s been fighting all four years. He’s been a part of a lot of bad outcomes in these kinds of games. It means the world to me to watch these guys have some success and overcome adversity in a tough game like this.”

The win is Pottstown’s first over Boyertown since 2012, but that result was in jeopardy in the second half as the Bears overcame a first half performance that saw them yield 41 yards of total offense and failed to convert on two red zone opportunities.

Garnett and the Bears chipped away at the 14-0 deficit, with the aforementioned 67-yard pass to Kapp making it 14-7. After Tinson’s touchdown run on the next series, Boyertown answered in the middle of the fourth as Chris Berry caught a perfectly placed ball from Garnett for a 14-yard score.

The Bears were then in position to get the ball back with two minutes remaining, but from there the game went south … and in a hurry.

Facing a third and 10 from its own 48, Wise delivered the back-breaking blow to the Bears’ comeback attempt. The senior running back seemed to be headed for a short gain but two impressive cuts helped him spring for a 37-yard gain that was capped off by a Mayes touchdown two plays later to make it 28-14 with 1:45 left.

“Bryant made a good cut and cut back across the field,” Grinstead said. “We challenged our offensive line in the huddle, we called a timeout and challenged them to get off the ball and stay on their blocks. We didn’t want to give them the ball back with three or four minutes to go with three timeouts. We knew we needed a couple first downs so it was a big play by our offensive line and obviously Bryant made a couple of moves.”

Boyertown finished with 10 penalties for 95 yards in the loss, its second straight game that it’s penalty yards reached near 100.

“Penalties didn’t help us there one bit,” Boyertown head coach George Parkinson said. “I was a little disappointed that last week we had 100-something yards of penalties and today we had 90. We can’t win football games with close to 100 yards of penalties, it can’t happen. We have to be way more disciplined. Our practice this week is going to be on being disciplined and being focused.

“Today we made way too many mistakes. I didn’t feel like most of our boys came ready to play. I thought they came ready to play physically, I thought they played a great physical game of football, but the mental game wasn’t there. Mentally we broke down quite a few times today and I think that hurt us on both sides of the ball.”

Boyertown faces Spring-Ford next Friday night, Pottstown looks for its first 4-0 start since 2002 when it travels to Pope John Paul II Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.

For the members of the Trojans, they feel this season could be special.

“I’m just so proud,” Mayes said. “I have a good feeling in my heart. We’re going to be something. We’re not the same Pottstown that we were the year before or the year before that.”

“We’re taking it week by week, day by day,” Tinson added. “We’re going to go somewhere we haven’t been before and break the tradition of ‘this weak Pottstown team’.

“We’re breaking it.”

NOTES >> Pottstown dominated time of possession, holding the ball for 31:51 to Boyertown’s 16:09. Boyertown finished with 218 yards of total offense after having 41 at the end of the first half. … All of Garnett’s 152 passing yards came in the second half.