Turnovers help Norristown top Boyertown, 12-6

BOYERTOWN >> Norristown knows what it’s like to turn the ball over in key situations. But on Friday night, the Eagles found themselves on the other side of luck, scooping up three fumbles in the second half on their way to a 12-6 victory over Boyertown.

“Finally being on the other side is great,” Norristown coach Joe Milligan said after reminiscing about his team’s turnover troubles earlier this season. “We were flying around the field and making plays. That’s what we preach on defense.”

The two teams were tied at 6 going into halftime after Norristown running back Xzavier Gorski scampered for a 31-yard score and Boyertown’s Jamie Moccia answered with a 25-yard touchdown run of his own in the second quarter.

“Jamie made a great run on simple belly play,” Boyertown coach TJ Miller said. “He made a great cut, Zach Davis made a great block and then Jamie finished by doing what Jamie does.”

Boyertown continued to build momentum in the second half. Connor Rohrbach came down with an interception on the first play of the third quarter and the Bears offense drove down to the Eagles’ 12-yard-line. But a fumble stopped the drive in its tracks.

“You can’t turn the ball over, we preach it every day,” Miller explained. “When you have kids on the field, mistakes will be made, but we need to eliminate those mistakes because they hurt us tonight.”

Norristown wasted little time, driving 86 yards on their next 12 plays before quarterback Daniel Watson scored on a QB sneak from three yards out to give the Eagles a 12-6 lead they would never relinquish.

Boyertown fumbled on all three of its second half possessions, negating drives of 38 and 48 yards, and also a 20-yard completion. The Bears finished with 218 yards of offense, 93 of which came from Moccia on the ground.

“To play from ahead is real big for us,” Milligan explained. “We’ve been playing from behind in our games recently. But to change our program, playing from ahead is one of the things we’re trying to stress here.”

With Norristown’s rushing attack, it’s easy to see why Milligan feels that way. Led by Gorski’s 122 yards, the Eagles finished the night 194 rushing yards and 11 rushing first downs. Watson went 8-16 passing and finished with 116 total yards.

“Norristown has always been known as a run-first team,” Milligan explained. “We started that way since we got here in late June, but as we’ve gone along, we’ve added more to our passing game because we want to be balanced. That’s where our success on offense will come from.”