Perkiomen Valley races to 49-14 victory over OJR
GRATERFORD >> Owen J. Roberts quarterback Mitch Bradford scooted 70 yards for a touchdown on the Wildcats’ second play from scrimmage Friday night.
Just a minute into the game at explosive Perkiomen Valley’s Thomas J. Keenan Stadium, the underdogs were up, 7-0. It looked like the night might be interesting.
But just a few minutes later, it was over.
Perkiomen Valley answered the wake-up call.
Playing ravenous defense and pyrotechnical offense, the Vikings romped to a 42-7 halftime lead and cruised before their home crowd to a 49-14 PAC-10 victory.
“It was a wake-up call, definitely,” said Perkiomen Valley senior linebacker Ryan Light, who had six first-half tackles. “We knew they were going to come out hard. We know how to adjust, and the way we practice kind of sets the tone for the game.”
“It really did wake us up,” added Viking senior running back Ronnie Arch.
After Bradford’s 70-yard score, the Wildcats basically went backwards, mustering only 57 yards rushing in the first half. Perk Valley’s defense recorded nine tackles for negative yardage in the first two quarters.
It took the Vikings offense all of one play to get going. Responding immediately to Bradford’s big run, Perk Valley flyer David Williams scorched the turf for a 67-yard TD run. Soon the Vikings were really sailing, especially prolific junior quarterback Stephen Sturm. He threw for 191 yards in one half of work, completing 11-for-13 for three touchdowns.
“They weren’t giving us anything deep, so we took it play-by-play, chunk-by-chunk,” Sturm said. “Over the middle it was open a lot, and once that opened up we were able to throw the ball down the field.”
Two consecutive first-quarter turnovers deep in their own end of the field set the Wildcats up for a tough night. Punting from their own 20, a fumble was recovered by Perk Valley’s Ryan McCourt. After OJR’s defense made two tackles for losses, Sturm connected with Sean Owens for a 19-yard TD. On the next OJR play, Bradford was intercepted by Justin Jaworski, who took it to the house for a 21-7 Viking lead.
Less than three minutes into the second quarter, Arch took a pass down right sideline for 48 yards, setting up his 7-yard TD run. Next Perk Valley possession, on the first play, Sturm found Jaworski on a crossing route for a 64-yard score.
“We’ve had this attitude of trying to come out every game and play like we finish, because it takes us a while to start playing to our full potential,” Sturm said. “That’s one thing we have to work on.”
The Viking defense was led up front by T.J. Foley, John Tittle, Nick Marren, Light, McCourt, Tim Nestor and others. There were no cracks the rest of the half after Bradford’s wake-up run. OJR did manage a TD drive in the second half led by the resilient Bradford and shifty Adam Pinelli, who caught the TD pass.
“I thought the defense played pretty great tonight,” Perkiomen Valley coach Scott Reed said. “And our O-line did a nice job of protecting and closing the game out on the ground. We had a good week of practice, and I was glad to see kids make some plays and execute.”
”That’s a very talented football team,” OJR coach Rick Kolka said. “A lot of our guys did a nice job competing. I thought early there were two or three plays that we didn’t make that would’ve kept us in the game longer. When they got the momentum onus, they certainly kept it.”
Notes >> Sturm has thrown 13 TD passes in the first four games … Perk Valley is now 4-0 overall, 3-0 in the PAC-10. OJR is 1-3, 1-1 … The Vikings nearly hit their scoring average (50) … OJR is the first team to score on the Vikings in the third quarter this season … Sturm utilized four receivers for multiple catches in the first half.
