Upper Perkiomen rebounds with 31-14 win over Schuylkill Valley

RED HILL >> A 61-point loss to open the season would seem to be enough to rattle anybody’s confidence. But apparently not the Upper Perkiomen football team’s as the Indians recovered from that Week 1 shellacking with a 31-14 win Friday night over Schuylkill Valley.

Upper Perk (1-1) scored first and fought off a couple of Panther challenges to lead the rest of the way in the non-league contest at Bill Keeny Stadium.
Michael Boyle passed for 203 yards and two touchdowns, including a 93-yard connection with Chidike Eruba, and Zach Schwartz rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns and also made two interceptions for the Indians. Michael Goad ran for 115 yards and both of the scores for Schuylkill Valley (0-2).

The Indians kept working hard in practice, undeterred by the 61-0 loss to Boyertown in their opening contest.

“We grind it, week in and week out,” said Boyle, who finished with 9-for-13 passing accuracy, including completions of 34 and 35 yards. “The Boyertown game was just a fluke. We had it in us the whole time.”

“We worked really hard on defense and offense,” said Schwartz. “I think we deserve this win.”

Upper Perk was forced to punt on its first two possessions of the night. But Aiden Void got the ball back for the Indians the first time with an interception and then Schwartz picked off a pass and returned it to the Panther 17-yard line. Boyle hit Samuel Carino in the end zone with a 5-yard pass four plays later to open the scoring.

Then the Panthers drove from their own 25 to the Upper Perk 37, but Schwartz went up high to intercept a 3rd-and-11 pass at the seven. On the next play, a defensive lapse left Eruba wide open by 15 yards and Boyle lobbed him a pass for a breakaway score and a 14-0 advantage with 8:06 remaining in the half.

Goad quickly knocked the lead back down to seven points when he scampered 52 yards for a touchdown on the next play. But the Indians bounced back with an 8-play, 65-yard drive with Schwartz scoring on an 11-yard run for a 21-7 lead at the half.

Schuykill Valley came out with an impressive 6-play, 65-yard drive to open the second half, with Goad running in for the score from 19 yards out. But the Panthers fumbled the ball away on their next try and did not make it past midfield again until the final minutes.

“We adjusted the way we guarded their pitch offense,” said Boyle. “We shut them down. We were confident all week and we made some really crucial defensive adjustments and they were very important for us. And Schwartz, our safety, did a great job coming down with the ball.”

Eruba caught three passes for a total of 162 yards, Kane Krier rushed for 33 yards and the Indians gained 369 total with no turnovers. Logan Watkins booted a big 35-yard field goal with 6:33 remaining to make it 24-14 and Schwartz wrapped up the win when he squeezed through the defense and broke into the clear for a 42-yard TD run with 2:15 left.

Schuylkill Valley gained 288 yards on 45 carries, including 91 yards by Dominic Giuffre and 55 by Brayden Woods. But the three interceptions along with two fumbles and 10 penalties were too much to overcome.

“Total embarrassment,” said Panther coach Bruce Harbach. “Changes will be made. You can’t turn the ball over five times and have 100 yards in penalties two weeks in a row. They’ve got to be students of the game and they’re not. The past two weeks (including a 39-12 loss to Twin Valley) have just been horrible. We’ve got to figure this out in the next couple of weeks.”

Upper Perkiomen 31, Schuylkill Valley 14

Schuylkill Valley 0 7 7 0- 14
Upper Perkiomen 0 14 0 10- 31

UP-Carino 5 pass from Boyle (Watkins kick)
UP-Eruba 93 pass from Boyle (Watkins kick)
SV-Goad 52 run (Crills kick)
UP-Schwartz 11 run (Watkins kick)
SV-Goad 19 run (Crills kick)
UP-Watkins 35 FG
UP-Schwartz 42 run (Watkins kick)

Team Stats

SV UP
First downs 16 12
Rushes-yards 45-288 31-166
Passing yards 54 203
Total yards 342 369
Passes 6-17-3 9-13-0
Fumbles-lost 3-2 0-0
Punts-avg 1-21 2-40.5
Penalties-yards 10-81 5-30

Individual Stats

Rushing

Schuylkill Valley: Goad 13-115, 2 TD’s; Giuffre 13-91; Woods 11-55; Hohenadel 6-14; Crills 2-13. Upper Perkiomen: Schwartz 19-130, 2 TD’s; Krier 6-37; White 1-3; Boyle 5-(-4).

Passing

Schuykill Valley: Goad 6-17-54, 3 INT’s. Upper Perkiomen: Boyle 9-13-203, 2 TD’s.

Receiving

Schuylkill Valley: Hohemadel 2-16; Spotts 2-10; Lackner 1-19; Gerner 1-9. Upper Perkiomen: Eruba 3-162, 1 TD; Void 2-16; Northern 2-(-1); Schwartz 1-21; Carino 1-5, 1 TD.

Interceptions: Upper Perkiomen: Schwartz 2, Void 1.s