Mistakes too much for Interboro to handle against Perk Valley

GLENOLDEN >> Interboro’s inability to sustain drives on offense and avoid penalties caught up with the Bucs in the second half as Interboro gave up a six-point lead going into the fourth quarter and dropped a 21-13 verdict to Perkiomen Valley in a non-league game.

The turnaround wasn’t all self inflicted.

The Vikings, led by a pair of sophomores in quarterback Cole Peterlin and running back Jon Moccia, outscored Interboro 21-6 in the second half, 14 in the fourth quarter.

Perkiomen Valley committed five penalties for 50 yards and had a field goal attempt blocked in the first half. A young team like this could have folded, but head coach Rob Heist’s unit didn’t.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of our kids the way they played in the second half tonight,” Heist said. “They were resilient, they played with a ton of heart and they just kept fighting.”

Interboro coach Steve Lennox had a hard time trying to figure out what happened in the fourth quarter.

“We hurt ourselves in key places and points with penalties and mistakes,” Lennox said. “We would take ourselves out of a drive here and a drive there. We were going in to score and we had a touchdown called back. When we had the lead I was a little disappointed we didn’t shut them down a little bit better on defense.”

Interboro committed five second half penalties totaling 55 yards and fumbled a kickoff return deep in their own territory after the Vikings had taken the lead 14-13 with 4:40 left in the game.

Peterlin was an example of that resilience. The scrappy, 5-foot-10, 165-pounder shook off a first half interception to lead the Vikings to three second half touchdowns. Two by Moccia, who scored on runs of 23 and 55 yards.

After the Bucs turnover, Peterlin hit Remy Sell with a 10-yard slant to the end zone with 3:15 left in the fourth to seal the victory.

Peterlin finished 14 of 20 for 159 yards, a TD and an interception. Moccia had 137 yards on 10 carries.

“Cole’s doing a great job,” Heist said. “We’re throwing a lot at him. Our offense is tough for a first-year quarterback to sort of digest, especially in our fourth game of the season here. And he’s doing a really nice job. I’m proud of how he’s carrying himself. He’s poised and he’s making good decisions.”

Interboro went up 7-0 on their first drive of the game when Kalie Kuyateh scored on a six-yard run. The drive went 64 yards on 12 plays.

The Bucs had another long drive in the second quarter but it stalled on the Vikings 10.

Another drive, with 3:39 left in the half, ended up a punt after a 25-yard touchdown run by Kuyateh called back because of a penalty.

The only other Interboro score came in the waning seconds of the third quarter when Tim Convery scored on a 50-yard punt return.

Lennox said this loss was tough but he kids will be back.

“It’s deflating,” Lennox said. “A champion’s got to find a way. You’ve got to pick it back up. We’ll try and pat each other on the back, we’ll pick each other back up. We all make mistakes, we won’t ever have a perfect game. Hopefully we can build on this game and be better for it. We’ll see.”