Upper Merion spoils Pottstown’s Homecoming, gets first win of season
POTTSTOWN >> If you were looking for a statistical showdown between two high-flying offensive powers, then Friday night’s matchup between Pottstown and Upper Merion simply wasn’t for you.
However, if you were looking for a game that pitted two teams playing like each had nothing to lose, then under the lights at Grigg Memorial Stadium was the place for you.
Upper Merion picked up its first win of the season — and the first for head coach Victor Brown — with a 27-6 win over Pottstown in a matchup between two bottom-dwellers of the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s Frontier Division.
“It’s great for us to finally get this team win,” said Brown. “It seemed like for once our offense and defense — we were able to click and feed off each other. The kids thrived tonight. They rose to every challenge we gave them.”
After allowing the Trojans (0-4 Frontier, 1-6 overall) to march it down field on the opening drive, the Vikings settled in and settled down the rest of the way. Upper Merion (1-3 PAC Frontier, 1-7 overall) rattled off 27 unanswered points while virtually dominating both sides of the field on their way to the win.
The Vikings racked up 261 yards of total offense while limiting Pottstown to just 167 on the night. Running back Dave Brown had a big part in that. The senior racked up 100 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 11 carries, including 55 yards total capped by a 6-yard touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter to give his team a 20-6 lead three minutes into the second half.
“I followed right behind the line, they led me right to the end zone,” said Dave Brown. “It’s great to finally come out with a win. All week, we talked about how we’d had enough. We didn’t want to lose any more. We came out and showed that we were ready to win.”
Mixing in a steady dosage of Brown, tailback Taiyan Lobban and quarterback Anthony Swenda, the Vikings controlled the ball and the clock most of the way.
Swenda was efficient behind center. The sophomore kept it for 76 yards rushing and also converted a third-down 25-yard scoring pass to Ahmad Stone in the third quarter for his lone completion on the night. Lobban rushed it 18 times for 51 yards.
“We had a very good week of preparation,” said Victor Brown. “This was probably the best week of practice we’ve had — I know offensively, for sure. On Tuesday, we had a very good offensive practice and we did some new things defensively. We built up to this all week.”
Pottstown head coach Mark Fischer was equally impressed with his team’s practice during the week leading up. Unfortunately, though, it didn’t translate out on to the field Friday night.
“This is not at all what we were expecting,” said Fischer. “We had a good week of practice, we did a lot of good things leading up. We’ve got to be better.”
The Trojans turned it over twice during the second quarter — a fumbled kickoff return followed by an interception forced by Lobban — which gave Upper Merion all the advantage it would need to take control.
Quarterback Owen Morton was a workhorse for the Trojans. The senior carried it for 66 yards and also connected on a 13-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Adams in the opening quarter. Adams wound up with three receptions for 47 yards while running back Josiah Wiggins had 32 rushing yards on eight carries.
“We kept trying to get back to what we do well, our bread and butter,” added Fischer. “We had a couple long runs which set some things up for us offensively. We’ve just got to take advantage in those situations.”
Things get no easier for Pottstown as they hit the final stretch of the season. Looming next is Friday’s matchup against Upper Perkiomen (2-1, 4-3) while Upper Merion faces Phoenixville (1-3, 1-7) next week.
