Perkiomen Valley crowned Pioneer Athletic Conference champion with 10-0 league run

The Perkiomen Valley boys lacrosse team knows how to celebrate. 

The Vikings celebrated its season-opening win over nemesis Spring-Ford like it won a championship. They celebrated with the same elation when they defeated Methacton in overtime on April 23.

On Wednesday night when a championship was actually on the line, celebration made way for coronation.

Perkiomen Valley used a 17-1 demolition of Interboro at Thomas J. Keenan Stadium to complete a 10-0 conference run to clinch its first Pioneer Athletic Conference championship.

Final: Perkiomen Valley 17, Interboro 1. @PerkValleyBLAX is the PAC boys lacrosse champion for the first time. pic.twitter.com/pxUkzbSari

— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) May 6, 2021

The Vikings ended Spring-Ford’s decade-long grip on the PAC crown and put itself atop the league for the first time since it began in 2007.

“The hard work has paid off finally,” said senior captain Gavin Stevens. “We worked a lot in the offseason together, so to see it pay off is huge. This is a big day fo

r all of us. I couldn’t be prouder of the guys.”

Losers of the past two contested PAC championship games in 2018 and 2019, Perk Valley is a program that has known heartbreak. But that was merely a memory on a night where the Vikings got big games from seniors Jack Scaliti (2 goals, 4 assists) and Dillon Kane (3 goals), and juniors Matt Farrington (4 goals, 1 assist), Dane Hagen (2 goals, 2 assists) and Dallas Pulliam (10-for-10 faceoffs). Sophomore Shea Fusco added three goals.

For the seniors who took their lumps as underclassmen, their time was now.

“We’ve always been a young team ever since our freshman year. We got playing time our sophomore year and we always got stomped on because we were so young, inexperienced,” said senior captain Sam Nice (1 assist). “But this year we had everybody coming back, we had the chemistry, now we have the size and the speed and we went from there.”

In a season where the league champion would be determined by regular season record as a result of modifications due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PV head coach Bryan Churchey asked his team to treat every game as a one-game playoff. 

“Building off that 1-0 mentality, we actually did that every week and we didn’t obsess over the past,” Stevens said. “Looking back now, we’re 10-0 and we’re PAC champions. It’s a great attitude to have and I appreciate Coach Churchey for putting that mentality into the team. 

“Look where it’s taken us.”

“Especially with the big games, it helped taking it one game and not thinking about the final goal,” said Scaliti. “Spring-Ford was a one-goal game, Meth

acton a one-goal game, they were neck and neck. It’s nice to not get ahead of yourself and think about the end goal. It’s the task at hand and what you have to do.”

Churchey has experienced the entire journey. The 2007 Perk Valley graduate competed in the league’s inaugural season after playing on PV’s 2006 championship team of the Penn Valley Lacrosse League. After playing collegiately at Cabrini, Churchey returned to his alma mater as head coach in 2013.

On the night one of his biggest goals was achieved, his first thought was to go back to the beginning.

“I think back to being 24 years old and I’m applying for the head coaching job. There’s candidates twice my age. ‘Why should we believe in you?’” he said. “I said because I know what this program is capable of, I know where it can be, I know where I want to take it and I’m going to get us there if you give me the opportunity.

“For nine years I’ve worked on that tirelessly with my staff, with the players buying into our culture and the way we do things. Our biggest thing is to leave a legacy, leave the program better than you found it. Every class has done that.”

The current Vikings seniors — Nice, Scaliti, Stevens, Kane, Aidan Owens, Mason Nester, Riley Milligan, Brandon Baker, Justin Coates, Thomas Carroll, Ryan Lanza, Ryan Poston and goalie Jacob Klosinski — can say the same.

“We’re a great team this year because we have seniors who are bringing their teammates with them and showing them how the work is done,” said Churchey. “I can’t think any higher of them. I’m extremely proud of them.”

With its top two hurdles already cleared with their April 9 win over Spring-Ford (8-7) and April 23 topping of Methacton (7-6 overtime), the Vikings’ title path was clear. Their margin of victory against all other PAC opponents were nine goals or greater, a trend that continued Wednesday against an undermanned Interboro side that entered 1-4.

Farrington scored twice in the opening minute, it was 5-0 within six minutes and 10-0 by the 5:33 mark of the second quarter despite the best efforts of Interboro goalie CJ Jones (8 saves in the first half).

It was 13-0 at halftime and the second half was played with a running clock. The PV starters who exited at halftime returned for the final minute to be on the field to finish what they started.

NOTES >> Other scorers for PV were Poston (1G, 1A), Aidan McCabe (1G) and Matt Horgan (1G, 1A). Sophomore Colin Delo was 9-for-9 on faceoffs. … Interboro’s goal was scored by Nick Mormando. … Perk Valley’s regular season continues with non-league matches with Emmaus, Crestwood, Owen J. Roberts, Haverford and Wissahickon between May 7-14.

 

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