Owen J. Roberts shuts down Conestoga for first time since 2009

TREDYFFRIN >> Coming into Friday night’s season opener at Teamer Field, Owen J. Roberts was wary of Conestoga’s ground attack.
“We were very concerned about their running game,” said OJR second-year head coach Rick Kolka. “We knew we had to stop their running game first.”
The Wildcats’ defense came through Friday night in a convincing 39-0 victory against Conestoga. Owen J. Roberts held the hosts to just 54 yards on 21 carries, and the Pioneers had to punt five times in the first half.
“We stopped them up front,” said Kolka. “[Senior defensive lineman] Nick Duliakas was in their backfield all night long, and [defensive linemen] Dan Hultz, Aidan Hayward and Brendan Lewis had good games, too.”
It was a nice turning of the tables for Owen J. Roberts, who had started off each season since 2009 with a Week 1 loss to Conestoga – and five of those six straight losses were by double digits.
The Wildcats moved the ball offensively too, as the visitors exploded for 27 second-quarter points. OJR junior quarterback Dawson Stuart threw for more than 150 yards in the first half.
“Coming into the game, we liked the matchups [against Conestoga] in the corners and in the slots,” said Kolka. “We think we can throw the ball efficiently, and we feel all of our receivers can catch the ball – we played seven different receivers tonight, and six of them had catches.”
The game was scoreless through most of the first quarter. On the fourth play of the game, Conestoga defensive back Peyton Jones intercepted a Stuart pass at the Pioneers 40 yard line, but the hosts ran a three-and-out, then on fourth-and-24 had a punt blocked. Conestoga senior Ronan Carter recovered the punt and made a 19-yard run, but it wasn’t enough for the first down.
Just a few plays later, Owen J. Roberts drove to the Conestoga 7 yard line only to see its drive stall; then the Wildcats’ 30-yard field goal attempt was blocked.
With 2 1/2 minutes to go in the first quarter, a Conestoga punt was returned 61 yards by junior wide receiver Sean Praweckyj, to the Conestoga 1 yard line. Stuart plunged over from the one to give Owen J. Roberts a 6-0 lead.
Midway through the second quarter, Owen J. Roberts started a drive from midfield, picking up 53 yards on five Stuart passes that ended with a six-yard touchdown recption by Praweckyj.
Just six seconds later, a Conestoga pass was intercepted by OJR junior linebacker Ted Bradford at the Pioneer 22 yard line and returned for a touchdown to put the visitors ahead 20-0.
“Bradford’s interception was a real momentum-changer,” said Kolka.
Owen J. Roberts built on that momentum, forcing a Conestoga punt after a three-and-out, and driving in for another touchdown to make it 26-0 with 4:54 left in the first half. The key plays on this OJR drive were a 33-yard Stuart pass to Hunter Hinrichs, and a 10-yard touchdown run by junior running back Hunter Scherfel.
On the following series, the Wildcats stopped Conestoga deep in its territory on another three-and-out, forcing a punt to the Pioneers 35. Stuart hit Hinrichs for a 26-yard pass, then completed a nine-yard touchdown strike to junior Connor Zuch to make it 33-0 at the half.
There were a total of 18 penalties in this game, 11 by Conestoga.
On the Pioneers’ sideline, Marquis Weeks, making his head coaching debut for Conestoga, saw the loss as a learning experience for the Pioneers.
“We made a number of mental errors that we’ll have to correct,” said Weeks. “On special teams, we had a punt blocked, and another one run back [for a 61-yard gian]. There’s not a down you can take off in this game. … Not to take away anything from Owen J. Roberts, they dominated at the line [of scrimmage], but everything [that went wrong for us tonight] was self-inflicted, so we can work on these things in the coming week.”
Owen J. Roberts doesn’t plan to take things easy in the next week either.
“We’ve got a big game coming up [Sept. 2] against Great Valley,” said Kolka.