Perkiomen Valley QB Sturm interested in wins, not records, ahead of district visit to Haverford

Perkiomen Valley junior quarterback Stephen Sturm is 35 yards away from breaking former Perk Valley quarterback Zach Zulli’s single-season record of 2,541 yards set in 2008.

But as the PAC-10 history books await its next chapter, Sturm can’t be bothered about individual achievements.

He just wants to win.

“Zach is a great guy and I respect him a lot,” Sturm said. “But I try not to focus on that (setting records). If I start to focus on that I’m not focusing on the game plan.
“I want to win games. People don’t remember you for the records, they remember you for what you did with your team, if you won in playoffs. People look down on the PAC-10 but if we start beating league champions they’ll be impressed more with that than me breaking a record.”

Sturm is coming off the Vikings’ first loss of the season, a 28-14 loss to Spring-Ford. He threw for 298 yards and a touchdown in the loss on 32-for-55 attempts, but never got into the rhythm that makes him and the offense dangerous. This week, he, along with the rest of the Vikings, are using their performance last week as extra motivation as the team seeks to advance past the first round for the second time in the team’s four Class AAAA appearances against No. 7 Haverford Friday night.

“We really focused on intensity and execution this week,” Sturm said. “We need to turn that switch on and start playing faster. We realized if we lose we’re out, and we want to keep playing football right now.

“Last week let me know that things go a lot faster and that I need to go through my reads faster. I have to be content with getting 10 yard gains and you gave to get excited for short gains. You can’t expect 40-50 yards runs and wide open throws on this stage. Everything is a lot faster and I know that things are going to have to be done with better execution and the ball is going to have to get out faster if I want to perform well and we want to win Friday.”

His game will need to be on as Sturm goes toe-to-toe with one of the best quarterbacks to come out of Delco in the 5-9 senior Jack Donaghy. Donaghy has thrown for 2,021 yards and 24 touchdowns (180.53 passer rating) for Haverford (7-0 Central League, 9-1 overall). Donaghy has passed for the most career yards in Haverford history, breaking the 47-year-old record earlier this year and has passed for the fifth-most yards in Delco history.

Offensively, Haverford is a spitting image of Perkiomen Valley.

Mike Romanofsky, the team’s leading rusher, uses bruising runs to pick up the majority of his yards; similar to Perk Valley tailback Ronnie Arch. Haverford’s receivers rank in the Top 10 in the Delaware County Daily Times coverage area in receptions with Bobby McClure leading the team in receptions (32 for 537 yards and eight touchdowns). Defensively, Haverford runs the same 3-3 stack as Perk Valley.

“They’re a lot like us,” Sturm said. “They’re not too big but they’re very fast like us. They play the same defense as us at some points. There’s no real outstanding players on defense but they’re all very good and really rally to the ball. I can tell they’re a real close team and they have a good quarterback who’s a real good athlete.”

NOTES >> Perkiomen Valley has reached the District 1-AAA playoffs for the third consecutive season, most notably reaching the semifinals before falling to North Penn in 2013. … Perkiomen Valley’s Justin Jaworski can become the second player in PAC-10 history to eclipse 1,000 yards receiving Friday night. The junior wide receiver enters the game with a PAC-best 57 receptions for 906 yards. … Perk Valley reached the Class AAA playoffs twice in 1998 and 1999, both seasons ending with a loss to Strath Haven. … Spring-Ford’s Ricky Venuto passed for a season-low 34 yards in last week’s victory but leads the league in QBR (194.0). … Haverford earned the No. 16 seed last season before falling in the first round to district runner-up Coatesville.