Boyertown-Upper Perk, Pottsgrove-West Catholic suspended by storms

August 27, 2021

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RED HILL >> Big plays were the order of the day for Boyertown in its season-opening matchup at Upper Perkiomen Friday night.

Unfortunately, the sky made a big play, too.

The Bears scored three touchdowns on plays 40 yards or more to go into halftime with a 21-0 lead on their neighbors in a non-league meeting of Pioneer Athletic Conference squads.

That’s where the score remained after lightning and rain forced the suspension of the contest. The game will resume at 8 a.m. Saturday morning back at Upper Perkiomen.

Boyertown’s Leo Egbe breaks a tackle on the way to a 40-yard touchdown run against Upper Perkiomen on Aug. 27. (Austin Hertzog – MNG)

Junior quarterback Anthony Panarello had a pair of touchdown passes while throwing for 139 first-half yards on 3-for-7 passing. His first TD was a 50-yard swing pass to Roman Marinello that the senior running back took to the house to open the scoring at the 2:38 mark of the first quarter. Later he hit sophomore Jason Oakes in stride down the seam for an 85-yard TD pass with 21 seconds to halftime.

Upper Perkiomen quarterback Gorje Navarrete (7) has his pass knocked down by Boyertown’s Luke Ordway during their game on Aug. 27. (Austin Hertzog – MNG)

In between, senior running back Leo Egbe (8 rushes, 58 yards) took a pitch on 4th and 5 and broke a tackle on the way to a 40-yard touchdown run with 9:28 remaining in the second quarter.

Luke Ordway led the Bears defense with a pair of pass deflections that contributed to Upper Perk quarterback Gorje Navarrete’s 3-for-11 start. Tribe running back Logan Simmon had 25 yards on 12 carries in the first half.

Upper Perk, which won last year’s matchup 42-14, did not have a red zone possession in the first half.

Both teams had an interception in the first half: William Falkner caught a pass knocked down by Marinello on a fake punt pass from UP’s Nevan Smith. Smith got even when he picked off Panarello in the final minute of the first quarter.

Pottsgrove-West Catholic suspended in first quarter

LOWER POTTSGROVE — Pottsgrove’s season-opening, non-league football game against West Catholic at Pennypacker Field Friday night was suspended due to thunderstorms.

West Catholic leads 6-0 with 7:21 remaining in the first quarter with the contest tentatively scheduled to resume at 3 p.m. on Monday.

The teams sat out a lightening delay before the game began. Then West Catholic received the opening kickoff and scored on the fourth play from scrimmage, a 67-yard pass from Kal-El Durham to Marcel Jackson and failed on a two-point conversion try with 9:49 left in the quarter.

The Falcons faced a 3rd-and-eight situation at their own 24-yard line on their first possession, but Amir Brunson burst 69 yards down the left side to the Burrs’ seven on the final play before the game was suspended.

Pottsgrove is coming off a shortened 2-2 season and West Catholic went 0-4 when Philadelphia teams played in the spring. The Falcons lead the all-time series 2-1 after a 15-14 win in 2018.