Brown ‘the difference maker’ as Academy Park thumps Pottsgrove

Barry Brown made sure to point at his offensive line as a major key for Academy Park’s win over Pottsgrove Friday night.

Knights’ head coach Jason Vosheski also noted the team’s front five played well Friday night. But that’s not why they came out with the 56-21 victory, Vosheski said. That would be Brown.

Academy Park’s senior quarterback, though a first-year starter, totaled more than 350 yards of offense (165 passing and 192 rushing) and tallied five total touchdowns in the win, which included a 60-yard run, 66-yard pass and 74-yard pass.

“No discredit to any of their players or any of our other players, No. 3 was the difference maker,” Vosheski said. “He kind of took over big play after big play. Throwing the ball a little bit, running the ball more so.”

.@AParkFootball quarterback Barry Brown on his big night and Academy Park’s big win over Pottsgrove. pic.twitter.com/Wnw1OhwpIJ

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) August 31, 2019

 

Academy Park (2-0) set the tone early running right up the gut of the Pottsgrove (0-2) defense on the opening drive. After Devon Cobert, who finished with more than 100 yards, helped move the Knights down the field, Brown scored on an 11-yard keeper to put Academy Park up 7-0.

Pottsgrove running back Isaiah Taylor broke off a 59-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to tie the game 7-7, but Academy Park answered with 21 straight points to end the half up 28-7.

Senior wideout Alphonso Hayes started the offensive explosion with a 56-yard run on 4th-and-1 with eight minutes left in the half. Brown found Hayes for a 66-yard touchdown pass two and a half minutes later. Utensee Nankay capped the first-half scoring with a four-yard run.

“I don’t even know,” Hayes said of Academy Park’s big offensive night after scoring 13 points against Pennsbury last week. “We just got our minds straight. Chemistry is one thing. We played together for a lot of years.”

“Our offense was explosive today, but I feel as though we need to get better because we can do bigger things,” Brown added. “We were making mental mistakes and physical mistakes too.”

Academy Park recovered a pooch kick to start the second half, which Vosheski said was completely inadvertent. Brown broke off a 30-yard touchdown on the next play to give the Knights a 35-7 cushion 14 seconds into the second half.

Pottsgrove quickly responded as quarterback Joe Silvestri found Parker Janusek for a 71-yard touchdown pass to pull within three scores. It was the second week in a row the Falcons’ offense showed live in the second half after a slow offensive start. After being shut out in the first half, they scored 18 second-half points in a loss to Souderton last week.

“That’s kind of typical for a young team,” Pottsgrove coach Bill Hawthorne said. “They have trouble getting going, but they give it their all. That’s all I ever ask for. We’re making assignment and alignment mistakes, and that’s youth.”

The teams combined for 35 points in the fourth quarter. After Hykeem Green ran in a tough touchdown run for Academy Park, Amir Brunson returned a kickoff for Pottsgrove.

Brown’s 68-yard run where he escaped a sack and made several defenders miss and reversed field for the score, was the essential nail in the coffin, putting Academy Park up 49-21 at the end of three quarters. The senior quarterback tossed a 70-yard pass to Eric Willis less than two minutes into the fourth quarter to end his night.

“I can give that to my offensive line,” Brown said of his performance. “They were holding their blocks down all game, so they were able to back the defense up, so they can respect our pass. They started blitzing toward the end, so I was able to read the blitz and spin around and get out of trouble.”

Academy Park totaled 604 yards of offense compared to 208 yards for Pottsgrove, including 439 on the ground. Taylor was Pottsgrove’s top rusher, rushing 11 times for 65 yards. Sophomore running back Kayden White added 22 yards on the ground and 15 receiving yards for the Falcons.

Though he has an inexperienced roster, Hawthorne was happy his Pottsgrove team, which competes at the Class 4A level, got the experience of playing against two teams in larger classifications to open their season.

“We like playing bigger schools, and we like playing great competition,” Hawthorne said. “The fact of the matter is, we’re youthful, we’re learning, we’re fighting. I’ll take our effort. The kids are fighting, doing everything we ask. We’re just making some youthful mistakes.”