Pope John Paul II blanks Upper Perkiomen
UPPER PROVIDENCE >> Pope John Paul II scored on all five of its possessions in the first half and added scores on punt and interception returns Saturday afternoon in a 49-0 win over visiting Upper Perkiomen in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division opener for both teams.
Quarterback D.J. Clarke went 12-for-13 for 183 yards and two touchdowns – all in the first half – Josh Little rushed for 68 yards and Kese Williams caught five passes for 82 yards for the Golden Panthers (3-2). Emanuel Northern ran for 71 yards for the Indians (1-4).
“It was a great team effort,” said Pope John Paul coach Rory Graver. “We came out and did what we needed to do.”
“You know they’ve been working since January, last December,” Upper Perk coach Tom Hontz said concerning the Golden Panthers. “They’re a well-oiled machine. They don’t make many mental or physical mistakes. They’re strong. That’s the dedication to the weight room.”
Williams returned the opening kickoff 39 yards to the Upper Perk 46 yard line and the hosts needed just three plays to score as Little ran for nine yards on the first play, Clarke rushed for two and Little scored on a 37-yard pass from Clarke.
Williams caught a 38-yard TD pass from Clarke on the hosts’ next possession and then ran in from 13 yards out to make it 21-0 with 3:03 remaining in the opening quarter.
Then Brendan Kenning pulled in a 37-yard scoring toss from Clarke early in the second quarter, Boyd Skarbek scored on a 9-yard run and Derek Skarbek returned a punt 63 yards for a score late in the half for a 42-0 advantage.
The Golden Panthers ran up 318 total yards before the intermission while holding Upper Perk to 45.
Clarke completed his first 11 pass attempts and then finished up with a 20-yarder to Williams to set up the 9-yard TD run by Boyd Skarbek.
“He’s a coach’s son,” Graver said concerning Clarke. “He’s a highly intelligent quarterback. He just sees things. He can identify the defense and see where the ball should go.”
Freshman Dimitri Toman picked off a pass and sped 87 yards into the end zone to wrap up the scoring midway through the the third quarter.
“I thought the varsity, when they were in there in the first half, executed well,” said Graver. “I’m proud of our young guys. We wanted to keep things going and play at a high level in the second half. They made some nice defensive plays in the second half, for sure.”
Northern provided the Indians’ longest gain of the day on a 38-yard run on the opening possession of the second half. Upper Perk drove 52 yards on eight plays to the PJP 14, but Toman pulled off the interception and took it the other way for the score.
As has been the case for much of the season, Upper Perkiomen played short-handed.
“We’re about half a team,” said Hontz. “We had eight to 10 players missing because of contact tracing and another eight injured. We were playing a lot of sophomores and freshmen, a lot their first year playing football.
“I saw some good things from Manny Northern. Jose Vera is coming back to us and he did a nice job in the secondary. As always, Brady Thompson and Josh Hill were yeoman-like. We have Pottstown next. We’ve got to regroup. That’s going to be a good game.”
PJP will travel to Phoeniville next week.
“As always after a win or a loss, we’ll enjoy this for five minutes,” said Graver. “Then we’ll have a really tough game at Phoenixville. They’re a pretty darned good football team.”
