Perk Valley’s Sturm, Jaworski eclipse all-time career records
They came into the season on the apex of making history.
Now, just three weeks into the 2016 season, Perkiomen Valley’s Stephen Sturm and Justin Jaworski have accomplished just that.
Sturm, the reigning Mercury All-Area Player of the Year, shattered the all-time PAC record for career passing yards held by former PV great Zach Zulli while Jaworski eclipsed the mark for most career receiving yards, besting the mark set by Upper Perkiomen sensation Ronnie Gillespie in 2011.
“I just feel really happy for the boys,” PV first-year head coach Rob Heist said. “They both deserve everything they get. I hope their success continues for the rest of our season.”
Sturm’s 424 yard performance in a 38-20 victory over Pennridge last week was enough for him to eclipse the mark of 5,844 set by Zulli (2009 grad). His career total now stands at 6,106 yards. This season, Sturm has passed for 990 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Vikings (3-0 overall) and is on pace to throw for 3,300 yards, more than 200 yards better than the single-season mark he set in 2015 (3,087).
“Setting the record means quite a bit to me,” Sturm said. “I heard stories about him saying that he was the best quarterback to come from PV. They have a ‘fathead’ of him on the wall. Coach Heist has a bunch of stuff on him so I looked up to him for inspiration. Eclipsing him for the record is a pretty good honor.”
Jaworski started the season 300 yards away from Gillespie’s career mark of 2,147. He’s eclipsed it already after a string of 200-yard plus receiving games. His 689 yards receiving are by far a league best, likewise is his career total of 2,563 yards.
“It’s cool to get the record,” Jaworski said. “It’s definitely an honor, but having a quarterback like Steve (Sturm) really helps a lot. It wasn’t something I expected to happen so it’s definitely awesome that it did. I had a lot of people help me along the way, whether it be Coach Reed, Coach Heist or Steve.”
Sturm and Jaworski have been largely responsible for Perkiomen Valley’s surge in its district perception. The Vikings are 22-4 since the duo first started on varsity and made the District 1-AAAA second round last season, hosting the school’s first home playoff game since 2008.
Still, the Vikings’ loss to Spring-Ford in the PAC title game still looms large for the two, as both Sturm and Jaworski are looking to make amends for a disappointing finish to PAC play last season. That track continues Friday against the Haverford School, winners of 21 straight.
“Obviously it’s nice to set the record and I’m happy with it but I’m not focused on that right now,” Sturm said. “I want to keep pushing the envelope and see what we can do. I’m sure some kid will come one day and break my record. I’m just focused on one thing and that’s Haverford next week.”
“Individual goals are cool but we want to make up for last year when we lost to Spring-Ford in the championship,” Jaworski added. “That’s the goal and maybe even compete for District 1.”
