Spring-Ford’s Moore, Pergine claim PAC doubles championship
GRATERFORD >> Spring-Ford’s Cameron Moore and Josh Pergine paired together on the doubles court for the first time two years ago.
Even with a missed season in between, the duo’s bond remained strong.
Moore and Pergine displayed their chemistry Monday by outmatching Pottsgrove juniors Wyatt Lear and Troy Watts in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, to claim the Pioneer Athletic Conference boys tennis doubles title at Perkiomen Valley High School.
“It was great to do it my senior year,” Pergine said. “I was really looking forward to playing with Cam and getting back out here. We played sophomore year together. It was great to be back on the court with him.”
It was Moore’s second title in a month after winning the league’s singles crown for the first time over Owen J. Roberts’ Jason Sawicki on April 10.
“I really wanted to win the PAC doubles because I won the PAC singles,” Moore said. “It felt really great to win them both, especially with my partner that I had two years ago my freshman year.”
Moore and Pergine won the first set before Watts and Lear answered in the second to force a three-set championship match under the lights at PV.
The Spring-Ford duo jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third before Watts and Lear rallied again to tie the score 2-2.
With Pergine serving, the Rams jumped out to a 4-3 lead and never looked back, taking the next two games to finish off the championship win.
“There was one game that it felt like we really turned it around, I think it was my service game,” Pergine said. “After that, it felt like we had all the momentum to bring it home.”
Moore noted the back-and-forth nature of the doubles championship match played out similarly to his singles semifinal a month earlier.
“We both tried to mentally reset ourselves and clear our heads to forget about what just happened,” Moore said. “Just reset and play our game.”
Monday’s semifinal round was pushed from Saturday due to weather.
Moore and Pergine downed Phoenixville’s second seeded Josh Starczewski and David Clipper, 6-3, 6-2, in the first semifinal.
Lear and Watts came from behind to beat Perkiomen Valley’s top seeded team of Aaron Fry and Carter Young 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-3 to advance to the title match.
It was a tiring day for the Falcons’ duo, but they fought until the end to make an exciting final.
“I am VERY tired, very tired,” Lear said.
“We had a long day at school too,” Watts added. “It was a pep rally thing, so that didn’t help. But you gotta come out here and play your hardest.”
Watts previously advanced to the doubles second round as a freshman.
He and Lear were the first Falcons doubles team in at least a decade to advance to the PAC doubles championship, according to coach Gus Tellis.
“It’s something that doesn’t really happen that often, so it’s nice to be able to do that,” Watts said.
“Especially to go this far as juniors, it’s pretty cool to do that,” Lear added.
With their advancements Monday, both Moore-Pergine and Watts-Lear qualified for the District 1 Class 3A doubles championship.
For Pergine, who also won a PAC title with the Rams football team this fall, the key to Monday’s win was a similar formula to one used on the gridiron — good coaching and crowd support.
“We got a good coach (John Brennan) who put us in the right direction between sets today and that really helped us out and the team showing up to support us,” Pergine said.
