Methodical Spring-Ford shuts out Methacton, 35-0
FAIRVIEW VILLAGE >> Spring-Ford used a methodical offense and a stifling defense Friday night in a 35-0 Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division win at Methacton.
Ryan Engro completed 15 of 17 pass attempts for the Rams (2-0 PAC, 4-2 overall) for 174 yards and two touchdowns and Armante Haynes ran for 94 yards. The Spring-Ford defense held the Warriors (0-2, 2-4) to 65 total yards.
“The good thing about tonight is we were a little more methodical,” said Spring-Ford coach Chad Brubaker. “We did a better job of letting the game come to us.”
The Rams accumulated 318 total yards on the night, but only two running plays and seven passing plays gained 10 or more yards.
“We came into the game knowing we’ve got to get better than the slow start we had last week,” said Engro. “We did a good job managing drives. The linemen opened up a ton for the running game. For the most part, we did a good job blocking for short passes, getting 10 yards on swing passes.”
The Rams scored on two of their three possessions in the opening quarter, with Engro running into the end zone from seven yards out and then five yards with a 54-yard run by Haynes setting up the second score. Then the defense stopped a Methacton fake punt play at the Warrior 18 yard line and Haynes scored on a 1-yard run shortly afterwards to make it 21-0 early in the second period.
Engro connected with Dante Bonanni on the Rams’ longest play of the night, a 43-yard touchdown pass, for a 28-0 advantage late in the first half and a 24-yard completion from Engro to B.J. Beard set up a 1-run TD pass to Josh Hellauer to complete the scoring midway through the third quarter.
The Ram defense held the hosts to 41 yards on 10-for-21 passing and 24 yards on 30 running attempts.
“They’re playing great right now,” Engro said concerning the Spring-Ford defenders. “They’ve stepped it up a ton.”
“As many yards as our offense has put up, defensively, they’ve been playing well,” said Brubaker. “The defense has really been the ones who have helped us get through some of the lulls that we’ve had.”
Methacton had no turnovers and only two penalties all night, but had trouble executing its offensive plays and was unable to sustain drives while being forced to punt six times.
“We can’t beat a good team when we have self-inflicted wounds,” said Warrior coach Dave Lotier. “I thought we improved as far as playing a little more physical, but our execution wasn’t there. We told them they (the Rams) are going to execute and they have good players and we have to execute too.”
The Warriors have already improved on last year’s 1-9 record, but have struggled at times this season due to injuries and youth.
“We’re playing some young guys,” said Lotier. “They’re learning on the fly. Once we figure it out, we’ll be just fine. I thought our team played hard. We’re going to get some players back from injury the next couple weeks. We’re going to do just fine.”
Things won’t get any easier for the Warriors next week when they visit three-time defending division and PAC champion Perkiomen Valley. Spring-Ford will try to do the same things it did on Friday when it travels to Boyertown.
“We’ll just keep at it,” said Brubaker. “Worry about ourselves and make sure we do the little things.
