Mercury Week 1 Football Review: Pottstown gets Delaney first win behind freshman QB

Imagine growing up with an older brother, looking up to him and his football teammates, only to find those role models looking to you to save the day as they reached the climactic points of their careers – senior year.

Does that sound like a dream come true… or completely overwhelming? Pottstown coach Jeff Delaney didn’t have time to find out what freshman quarterback Joneil Oister thought of the matter, so he played it safe.

“We told him he didn’t necessarily have to lead,” Delaney said after Oister led a comeback 14-13 win over Octorara Friday night. “We told him to focus on being himself, doing his job, and just kind of let the seniors around him watch his back and follow their examples.”

With only about one week to prepare the freshman Oister for his initial start, Delaney took a conservative approach in the early going Friday. He leaned heavily on the running game, specifically sophomore Malachi Neely (83 yards rushing), who was also making his first varsity start.

“We were hesitant to run (Joneil) early, because we don’t really have another quarterback ready to go,” Delaney said. “We’ve got a couple kids we’re grooming, but for the moment, he’s the only guy.”

But as time would down and Octorara clung to a 13-6 lead, it was Oister’s time to shine.

Escaping from the pocket with under four minutes to play, Oister traversed 25 yards for a TD scamper to bring the Trojans within one. That’s when Delaney made the fateful decision to go for two and the lead. He turned to his freshman signal-caller, who found fellow freshman Gabe Hicks in the end zone for the conversion and a 14-13 lead that the Trojans wouldn’t relinquish.

“Joneil’s been around this senior class his whole life, and they’re a tight-knit group,” Delaney said. “To be able to be out there with them – those are the kids he’s wanted to be around, especially his own brother.”

His brother is Pottstown H-back/LB Jon Oister, a senior who contributed in a big way defensively Friday, notching several tackles and recovering a critical fumble to keep Octorara at bay while the offense found their legs.

“Joneil was stressed, I know he was nervous,” Delaney said. “And there were mistakes, some learning experience-type situations earlier in the game. But to be able to come back, keep drives alive, make good decisions … those are his plays in the end. And he was on cloud nine.”

Delaney was quick to credit this year’s senior class for making the transition from freshman to starting quarterback an easy one for the younger Oister.

“It’s a tough situation,” said Delaney. “This class, and it’s a big class of seniors this year – they’re the ones who deserve credit for staying level this whole time.”

Delaney has been around the game long enough to know this won’t be a “happily ever after” story. There’s still plenty for the freshman to learn, and it continues this Friday when the Trojans host Upper Moreland, a team looking ready for a resurgence after a dominant 21-0 win over last year’s District 1 Class 3A finalists, New Hope-Solebury. On the other hand, there’s also plenty that Pottstown hasn’t shown in its offense yet, owing to the need to get Oister comfortable in the starting role.

“Specifically, I want to get (Dereck and Daniel) Darden more involved offensively,” said Delaney. “We can run with them, throw the ball … they add new dimensions to our offense.”

Around the Area >> For all the hype around the opening Friday night of football, the area’s best game in Week 1 didn’t take place until Saturday afternoon, when Pope John Paul II welcomed 6A Catholic League foe Roman Catholic. In a painfully familiar tale for the Golden Panthers, the hosts jumped out to a 26-0 lead only to see the Cahillites rally for a nail-bating – but thrilling – 47-46 win.

Pope John Paul II QB Kamal Gray exploded into his senior season, throwing for four first-quarter touchdowns en route to a 19-for-30, 430-yard performance punctuated with six TD passes. But after Justin Kormos and Steve Skarbek intercepted Roman on consecutive fourth-quarter drives, PJP was unable to run out the clock, and the Cahillites took advantage with a late 50-yard TD connection between QB Jayden Pope to WR Malachi Harris (eight catches, 172 yards on the afternoon).

The lost lead triggered memories of PJP’s 21-0 halftime lead in last year’s 3A District playoffs, only to see New Hope-Solebury rally for a 42-34 upset. The Golden Panthers get their opportunity to avenge that defeat when New Hope-Solebury visits this Saturday.

Boyertown and Upper Perkiomen were on a similar path Friday night, combining for 55 points in a first half that saw five touchdowns of 50+ yards. Jamie Moccia’s 90-yard kickoff return and Noah Segal’s 53-yard scoring strike to Connor Rohrbach were offset by touchdown runs of 65, 64, and 64 yards from Upper Perkiomen RB Logan Simmon (262 yards on the evening.)

But after halftime both defenses stiffened, Boyertown’s in particular as they held the Tribe to 68 total yards in the second half. Jon Myers added a late 16-yard TD scamper as the Bears went to 1-0 with a 35-27 victory.

Owen J. Roberts’ defense and special teams each contributed a score in a 28-0 shutout of visiting Conestoga. Sam Kuhl recovered a fumble in the end zone in the first half, while Connor Leister returned a punt 44 yards for the game’s final score. Aside from tossing two first-half touchdown passes, QB Cooper Chamberlain converted all four extra point attempts for the victorious Wildcats.

Notes >> Phoenixville struggled to recover from early injuries to RB/LBs Aidan Foley and Owen Koch in a 22-6 loss to Great Valley. The Phantoms limited the Patriots to only 196 yards of total offense but couldn’t overcome a pair of costly turnovers and poor exchanges on punts, resulting in an early safety and a later Great Valley TD after a bad snap was recovered at the two-yard line.

Defending Frontier champ Pottsgrove fell behind 24-0 and fell to 0-1 on the season despite a late rally to make the final margin 31-18. Making his first varsity start, QB Joe Silvestri found Ethan McMonagle for a pair of second-half scores for the Falcons. Senior RB Isaiah Taylor added 87 yards on the ground.

Despite a 34-24 loss to Central Bucks South, it was a big night for Spring-Ford’s Dante Bonanni, who became the school’s career leader in receptions (102). Bonanni also set the school record for receptions in a game with 12, moving within 110 yards of the school record for receiving yards in a career.

Ethan Kohler made the most of his seven completions on the night, finding Randy Washington for a pair of long scoring plays in Perkiomen Valley’s 29-10 victory over Avon Grove. Kohler, a sophomore, provided the bookends to the night’s scoring, finding Washington for 60 yards and a score on the first play from scrimmage, then finding the senior wideout for 52 yards with only four minutes to go to ice the win for the Vikings.

Methacton’s 34-6 victory over Harriton gave the Warriors their first 1-0 start since 2007. Michael Torcini returned a kickoff 90 yards for a TD and added 100 yards and a score on the ground, while Nick Olivieri picked off a pair of Rams passes. Junior quarterback Mike Merola tossed for three touchdown passes.

Looking Ahead >> Perkiomen Valley will host Downingtown East Friday night in what figures to be not only the game of the week in our area, but perhaps all of District 1. Spring-Ford travels to Harry S. Truman in a matchup of Class 6A playoff squads from a year ago, while Pottsgrove welcomes Academy Park in its own home opener.

Owen J. Roberts meets Daniel Boone in a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference championship game (won by the Blazers), while Upper Merion and Norristown clash in the Battle of the Bridge.

Phoenixville kicks off the long weekend with a Thursday night visit to Northeast High where the Phantoms will take on Martin Luther King High, and Boyertown christens its new stadium when the Bears host District 3’s Exeter.