Pottstown’s Watson breaks loose against Methacton in defensive-minded win

FAIRVIEW VILLAGE >> Pottstown coach Jeff Delaney knows he has some playmakers on his team.

The problem for the Trojans’ head man has been getting freshman quarterback Joneil Oister to trust those weapons.

In his fourth varsity start Friday — a 14-0 win over Methacton — Oister finally answered his coach’s call, and the beneficiary was junior wideout Jahzeel Watson.

Watson, who came into the game with three catches this season, caught five passes for 103 yards. His highlights included a 35-yard touchdown grab in the third quarter to put his team up two scores and a 22-yard grab along the sidelines in the fourth that helped flip the field in a game dominated by both defenses.

“Coaches just gave me my opportunities, chances throwing me the ball, and I just came down with it and balled out for my teammates,” Watson said.

.@TrojansofPHS WR/DB Jahzeel Watson on his big receiving night and Pottstown’s defensive effort in win over Methacton. @PottstownTrojan pic.twitter.com/rh8r7ceQXx

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) September 14, 2019

While he didn’t have many opportunities to throw the ball as the Trojans leaned on a running game led by Ezra Figueroa, who ran for 105 yards and a score, Oister made the most of his chances.

The freshman completed eight of his nine throws for 126 yards and a touchdown. Along with Watson’s big day, Daniel Darden caught three passes for 26 yards. Oister also added a two-point conversion toss to fellow freshman Gabe Hicks.

“I think what we’ve been trying to do is get the playmakers that opportunity to make a play,” Delaney said.  “We’ve been talking to Joneil about, ‘If you get Jah one on one, throw the ball to him.’

“Sometimes that younger quarterback, it’s a little hard for them in the beginning, but in the end he did it, and that was huge.”

Pottstown (3-1) took a 6-0 lead early in the first quarter after taking advantage of a Methacton (2-2) fumble on the Warriors’ opening drive of the game. Figueroa broke off a 37-yard run on Pottstown’s first play from scrimmage and added another five-yard gain before punching the ball into the end zone on a 10-yard run.

Outside of the big run by Figueroa on the first drive and the pass play to Watson in the third quarter, Methacton’s defense did a good job holding the Pottstown offense in check.

Brent Romano had three sacks for the Warriors, and Dan Meier added another. The Warriors also made a fourth down stand inside their own 10-yard line in the second quarter to keep it a 6-0 ball game heading into halftime.

Methacton coach Dave Lotier said his defense played solidly all around, but couldn’t make the big play to swing the momentum the Warriors’ way. He was also disappointed with the way his team helped the Trojans with penalty yards, getting flagged eight times for 71 yards.

“The thing I’m most upset about is the selfish penalties and the personal fouls,” Lotier said. “That’s not the team we’re going to be. I’m not sure where that came from. We hadn’t been doing that all year.

“We’re going to clean that up because losing is one thing, but losing and not playing the game the right way will not occur here.”

Pottstown held Methacton’s offense to five first downs and 114 total yards.

Dereck Darden had two sacks for Pottstown, and Jorge Mundo and Figueroa both added one. Bobby Richards hauled in two interceptions, and Mason Miller picked off a pass.

The gang tackling of Pottstown was what Delaney was most impressed with. There appeared to be at least three or four Trojans in on the tackle on every Methacton running play.

“We were a little bit more aggressive than we’ve been,” Delaney said of his team’s defense. “We wanted to kind of go after them…It was really more of a committee effort. We talked about it. We can’t have one guy making tackles. We can’t have two guys, and that’s what you saw tonight, we had so many guys.”

In place of injured starter Mike Torcini, Justin Carfrey was the lead back for Methacton, getting his first varsity start. Carfrey fumbled on his first carry of the game, but responded well, finishing with 17 carriers for 115 yards to make up the majority of the Methacton offense.

The passing game never got going as Methacton’s quarterbacks combined to go 2-for-15 for 13 yards with three interceptions.

“First of all, credit to their defense,” Lotier said of Pottstown said. “Those kids flew around. They played football tonight. With us offensively, it was one of those nights where it was something different every play.

“One time it’d be a missed block, the next time it’d be a bad snap. Then we’d have a penalty. All night, we had too many negative plays that put us behind the sticks, and we weren’t able to recover from those negative plays.”

The Warriors open up PAC Liberty Division play next week with a road trip to Boyertown, while the Trojans head to Pottsgrove to open up their Frontier slate.

Like Methacton, Pottstown, which was penalized eight times for 65 yards, will focus on minimizing penalties as it gears up for division play.

“Little mistakes, penalties especially, ” Watson said of what Pottstown needs to improve on. “We’ll work on it next week. We’ll be fine.”