Perkiomen Valley needs to clean up penalties; Spring-Ford cruising into showdown

They both left the field 9-0.

However, the mood between Perkiomen Valley and Spring-Ford couldn’t be any more different.

For good reason, too. Penalties will do that to you.

The yellow handkerchief raised ire with the Vikings despite a completely otherwise dominant showing in a 45-0 victory over Upper Perkiomen Friday.

Justin Jaworski hauled in a school-record, nine passes for 214 yards while David Williams also eclipsed the 100-yard mark in receiving. 

Stephen Sturm had the fourth-best performance in PAC-10 history, throwing for 384 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. All while the defense pitched its third-straight shutout.

But in the face off 11 penalties for 121 yards, the stats seemed to matter very little, especially to head coach Scott Reed, Jaworski and tailback Ronnie Arch as they all echoed the same sentiment … limit the penalties.

“We were getting yards but we had so many penalties,” Jaworski said. “We have to clean that up. We’re not going to convert on a first and 30 against Spring-Ford. We just need to tighten up some screws but we’ll get to where we need to be.”

“That first half was sloppy,” Arch said. “We put up 26, and for what we’re capable of, that was really poor.”

“We’re not going to be able to play behind the sticks all night and get first downs the next couple of weeks,” Reed echoed later. “We shot ourselves in the foot. We can’t recover from that in a game the magnitude of next week and beyond.”

That’s because the team the Vikings face with a PAC-10 title on the line is firing on all cylinders … at the right time, too.

Spring-Ford (8-0 PAC-10, 9-0 overall), playing without starters Teddy Dylinski, Stone Scarcelle and Trey Jarmon, cruised to a 56-0 victory over Pope John Paul II Saturday.

Senior quarterback Ricky Venuto was his usual self, throwing for 200 yards and three scores while Matt Gibson ran for 112 yards, needing only five carries to do so.

More importantly, a team that was hindered by penalties throughout the past three weeks, saw that problem vanish. The offense was flag-free Saturday, and the Rams only saw themselves penalized twice – once for a false start on a PAT and a personal foul called on a late hit on PJP quarterback Matt Duff.

Not too shabby for the Rams in the eyes of head coach Chad Brubaker.

“We talked about cleaning up what we do,” the sixth-year head coach said. “We can’t wait for the big games to clean things up, we need to make sure that we are doing the right thing all the time. We did a pretty good job.”

Now, with a PAC-10 title on the line, which teams will we see Friday?

Advanced Ticket Sales

Advance ticket sales for the Perkiomen Valley/Spring-Ford football game Friday, November 6th at Spring-Ford will be sold at the respective schools Tuesday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. Tickets can be purchased inside the athletic office at Perkiomen Valley High School or the main office at Spring-Ford High School. The cost is $3 for students and $5 for adults.

Wendy’s Heisman

Phoenixville senior Cory Bird, along with girls soccer player Lainey Michaud were recently named School Winners for the prestigious Wendy’s High School Heisman Award which highlights exceptional high school seniors and their achievements in the classroom, on the field and in the community. Michaud and Bird will move on for consideration in the next stage of the program where they could be named a State Finalist.

“Lainey and Cory are great examples of what it means to be a student-athlete at Phoenixville Area High School. Our school and community are honored to have two of our finest recognized as some of the country’s top student-athletes with the Wendy’s High School Heisman name,” said Matt Gionta, Director of Student Activities and Athletics at Phoenixville Area High School.

Created by Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas in 1994, the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award has honored more than 600,000 of the nation’s most esteemed high school seniors who have been a part of the program for the past 22 years. Since its inception, Wendy’s High School Heisman Award has awarded 252 National Finalists and 42 National Winners.

Warrior Honored

Methacton’s Liam McClure was featured in a special documentary produced by the Philadelphia Eagles. The eight-minute ‘Road to Victory’ documentary focuses of McClure from his birth to his high school years, growing up with a form of autism. The Eagles production staff came down to Methacton High School to film the feature during the first week of training camp back in August. McClure had recently hauled in his first reception, good for six yards, in the team’s loss to Pottsgrove two weeks ago. The link to the video can be found under the videos tab on philadelphiaeagles.com

Have a day, Adam

Pottsgrove’s Adam Girafalco registered three interceptions, a PAC-10 best in 2015, in a 47-3 victory over Owen J. Roberts Friday. Girafalco now leads the league in interceptions with five.

District One Rankings

Perkiomen Valley and Spring-Ford are tied for seventh in the latest District 1-AAAA Power Rankings. The two will square off for the PAC-10 title Friday. A win will likely boost the winner to No. 3 or No. 4 in the district with the loser falling to No. 10 or No. 11, forcing that team to travel for the first round of districts.

Downingtown East and Downingtown West are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Those two will also meet Friday.

Upper Dublin is ranked third with Unionville No. 4, and Haverford and Quakertown tied for fifth. Following Perk Valley and Spring-Ford the rankings are as followed: North Penn, Pennsbury, Upper Darby, Central Bucks East, Council Rock North, Garnet Valley, Plymouth Whitemarsh and Pennridge.

In Class AAA, Pottstown is No. 3 entering its impending date with No. 5 Pottsgrove. Academy Park still holds the No. 1 ranking with Upper Moreland No. 2 and Interboro No. 4.

Player of the Week

Justin Jaworski, Perkiomen Valley

Junior wide receiver set a school record with nine receptions for 214 yards in 45-0 victory over Upper Perkiomen.

Coach of the Week

Dave Rackovan, Hill School

Rackovan led The Hill to its first victory of the season, a convincing 60-29 victory over Mercersburg.