BOYERTOWN >> After scoring twice in a little over four minutes at the outset on Friday, Boyertown couldn’t do much of anything over the next 20 and fell behind visiting Norristown. But a long touchdown pass from Ryder Gehris to Jason Oakes just before the half put the Bears on top for the rest of the night in a 32-21 Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division win at Memorial Stadium.
Oakes also returned a punt for a score and a well-rounded rushing effort by the Bears (1-1 Liberty, 2-4 overall) piled up 223 yards. Brendan Farrell hit Rashon Giddens with two TD tosses for the Eagles (0-2, 0-6).
A four-play drive by the Bears to start the game covered 60 yards in less than two minutes, with Cole Yesavage (15 carries, 88 yards) running into the end zone from 46 yards out. Then the Boyertown defense quickly forced a punt and Oakes returned it 57 yards to make it 12-0 with 7:49 left in the quarter.
“The kids came out ready to play tonight,” said Bear coach Justin Konnick.
But the Eagles came back with an 80-yard drive, with Farrell connecting with Giddens for a 14-yard score. Then they scored again on a 35-yard drive the next time they had the ball, finishing up with a 1-yard sneak by Farrell for a 14-12 advantage.
The Bears got the ball back with 22 seconds left until the half, advanced to the Eagle 48-yard line on a pass interference penalty and scored from there with nine seconds left when Gehris lofted a long pass down the middle to Oakes with nine seconds remaining to put the Bears on top for good at 18-14.
After that, the Boyertown defense held the visitors to only 24 more yards until Farrell connected with Giddens again for 57 yards and a touchdown with under a minute to go.
“After scoring two touchdowns, we were trying to spread the ball around,” said Oakes. “At halftime, we fixed what we were doing. We just adjusted and switched our defense at halftime.”
And while the Bears kept the Eagles off the board for almost the entire second half, Boyertown increased its advantage to 26-14 on a five-yard TD run by Gehris and two-point conversion run by Oakes midway through the fourth quarter. The hosts clinched the win with a four-yard scoring run by Anthony Famularo (nine carries, 76 yards) with 62 seconds to go.
“We made a couple of adjustments at halftime with our defense,” said Konnick. “I thought we were getting great pressure on their running game all night.”
The Eagles gained just three yards per carry for the game (29 rushes, 87 yards), with much of that yardage produced by Meyon Ferrell with 51 yards on 18 attempts.
On the other hand, Boyertown had another good rushing night, averaging six yards per carry, without leading rusher Yesavage carrying the ball as much as usual.
“Everyone keys on Yesavage,” said Oakes. “He does all the dirty work. That opens up everybody else.”
“Anthony Famularo and Jason Oakes got more carries tonight,” said Konnick. “I tried to give the ball to everybody tonight. Knowing that they were going to put a lot of guys in the box, as everybody does to stop Cole, it gave us a little more confidence in our passing game. I knew I could sling it with Ryder.”
Konnick also pointed out another strong performance by the offensive line.
“Jason Henley does a great job with our young guys on the line,” he said.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Bears, thanks to the passing success and strong running from a number of backs.
“That gives us confidence going into next week (a home game against Methacton),” said Konnick.
Boyertown 32, Norristown 21
Norristown 0 14 0 7 – 21
Boyertown 12 6 0 14 – 32
B-Yesavage 46 run (kick failed)
B-J Oakes 57 punt return (pass failed)
N-Giddens 14 pass from Farrell (Murphy kick)
N-Farrell 1 run (Murphy kick)
B-J. Oakes 48 pass from Gehris (run failed)
B-Gehris 5 run (J Oakes run)
B-Famularo 4 run (kick failed)
N-Giddens 57 pass from Farrell (Murphy kick)
Team Stats
N B
First Downs 10 12
Yards Rushing 87 223
Yards Passing 101 73
Total Yards 188 296
Passes C-A-I 8-13-0 3-6-0
Fumbles 0-0 1-1
Penalties-Yds 7-65 5-50
Punts-Avg 5-26.0 1-20
Individual Stats
Rushing
Norristown: Ferrell 18-51; Montanez 5-19; Farrell 3-11, 1 TD; Carr 3-6; Totals 29-87, 1 TD
Boyertown: Yesavage 15-88, 1 TD; Famularo 9-76, 1 TD; J Oakes 7-36; Boorse 2-23; Gehris 1-5, 1 TD; L Oakes 1-4; Reinert 1-3; Foskey 1-(-12); Totals 37-223, 3 TD’s
Passing
Norristown: Farrell 8-13-101, 2 TD’s
Boyertown: Gehris 2-3-63, 1 TD; Foskey 1-3-10; Totals 3-6-73, 1 TD
Receiving
Norristown: Giddens 5-93, 2 TD’s; Byrd 3-8; Totals 8-101, 2 TD’s
Boyertown: Houck 2-25; J Oakes 1-48, 1 TD; Totals 3-73, 1 TD
Sacks: Norristown: Drummund 1-12, Boyertown: Palmiero 1-10
