Owen J. Roberts’ skill players do it all in win over Norristown
WEST NORRITON >> Owen J. Roberts’ skill position players did it all in Friday’s 46-7 Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division win over Norristown at Norristown Area High School.
Quarterback Cooper Chamberlain threw for 143 yards and three touchdowns while running for 89 yards and two scores.
Chamberlain opened the game with back-to-back QB draws, totalling 32 yards and picking up a pair of first downs. The Wildcats (6-1, 2-1 PAC Liberty) six-play opening drive included four Chamberlain runs, including a four-yard touchdown.
“We knew with (Norristown’s) formation there would be one linebacker in the box and that works good for our offense,” Chamberlain said. “(Head coach Rich Kolka) likes to use me as a dual-threat quarterback running a lot and I don’t have any problems with that. I like running the ball and I like throwing it so it’s perfect.”
Jonathan Hannevig got the job done on offense, defense and special teams. The senior caught five passes for 63 yards and a touchdown on offense, grabbed an interception on defense and returned a punt 62 yards on special teams.
Dante Denardo scored offensive and defensive touchdowns. He returned an interception 32 yards to give OJR a 19-0 lead in the first quarter and caught a 29-yard touchdown to make it 39-7 in the third.
“Each week we have a different guy who shows up for the bigger game,” Kolka said. “Tonight it was Jon’s game. Before that Jon didn’t have a huge game while Dante had some huge games. Before that Cooper had some big games. Our running back (Josh Jackson) last week had 170 (yards). We have some guys that are multi-faceted. It’s fun to coach these guys. They do a really good job.”
“Everything went our way,” Chamberlain added. “We have athletes on both sides of the ball. They’re grinders during practice and it shows on Friday nights like these.”
Defensive scoring
Owen J. Roberts scored two defensive touchdowns against Norristown, bringing their season total to three. Denardo had the interception return and Avrey Grimm picked up a fumble and ran 15 yards into the end zone.
“Our defensive coach was challenging our guys this week about it,” Kolka said. “We usually have about three (defensive touchdowns) a year. It was cool to get the two tonight. It was really cool to see.”
Offensive rhythm
For the second straight week, Owen J. Roberts put a big number on the scoreboard. The 46-point performance followed a 35-3 win over Boyertown.
“We’ve had two back-to-back pretty decent offensive games,” Kolka said. “Our defense sets us up for that. It’s a two-way swing and that’s how it goes.”
Chamberlain wants to see the offense produce in bigger matchups.
“We’re starting to click,” the senior QB said, “but really the test is the two big teams in our PAC like PV and Spring-Ford. I don’t want to down our offense at all, I think we’re really clicking and doing well, but the real test are those teams like PV and Spring-Ford.”
The Wildcats lost to Perk Valley, 16-9, two weeks ago and will face Spring-Ford next Saturday.
Injury bug
The Eagles (0-7, 0-3) entered Friday’s game without their starting quarterback. Thomas Bellmon was on the sideline with his right arm in a sling.
Early in the second quarter, backup Nick DiNolfi took an awkward hit and exited the game, icing his neck on the bench for the rest of the first half.
From then on, running back Steven Haschak and wide receiver Travis Cummings took turns as the signal caller.
Norristown managed 195 yards of total offense, with 70 yards coming on a 4th-and-1 Zion Malone touchdown run in the first half and 60 yards coming on the final two plays of the game.
Honoring 2009 champs
At halftime, Norristown honored its 2009 Suburban One League championship team.
Led by head coach EJ Smith, the Eagles went 9-1 10 years ago, winning their first outright league title in over 25 years.
Smith and coaches Miles Burrell and Robert Brooks were on hand for the celebration, as well as players Mylo Hill, Anthony Robey, Nick Bloomer, Niko Dasilvio, Marcus Robbins, Tracy Pressley, Sheldon Mayer, Steven Waters, Tyler McAlpine, Kyle McClure and Evan Battalio.
