Perkiomen Valley offense still humming with win over Owen J. Roberts
BUCKTOWN >> Sean Owens knew there was something wrong last week as fellow wide receiver Justin Jaworski laid on the ground for several few minutes before being helped off with a knee injury.
“He’s a tough kid,” said Owens, “I knew it had to be something serious to keep him down that long.”
He knew there was something wrong, and he knew it would be up to him to fix it.
Owens seamlessly filled in for a sidelined Jaworski on Friday night during Perkiomen Valley’s 43-7 rout of Owen J. Roberts at Henry J. Bernat Field in both teams’ opener in Pioneer Athletic Conference action.
The senior receiver hauled in four catches for 75 yards and three touchdowns — all during the first half — as the Vikings jumped out to a 36-0 lead through the opening two quarters.
“It went just like we did it in practice all week,” said Owens. “We stuck to our offense and that’s worked for us all season. The key thing is our timing and getting the rhythm routes down.”
The result improves Perkiomen Valley to 5-0 on the season (1-0 in PAC play), while Owen J. Roberts falls to 2-3 overall (0-1 PAC).
No small task, the Vikings seem quite capable of filling in the shoes of Jaworski — the PAC’s all-time leading receiver — no matter how long he’s sidelined.
Quarterback Stephen Sturm threw for five touchdowns, completing eight of his 11 attempts for 164 yards through the air. Running back David Williams racked up 105 yards of total offense with 60 receiving yards on three catches and a pair of touchdowns. He also ran one in from a yard out for PV’s final score.
“Justin’s obviously a huge piece of our offense. He’s a guy you really can’t replace,” said Owens, “but we believe that we’re explosive enough to be able to still make the plays.”
Sturm was quick to give his wideout a nod.
“With Jaws (Jaworski) out, we needed someone to step up for his absence,” he said, “Tonight it was Sean. It easily could be anyone and that’s the way we like it.
“We have so many athletes that we can afford to have someone go down and have no drop off.”
“We asked everybody on offense to step up in Jaws’ place and they did just that,” said Perkiomen Valley head coach Rob Heist. “We got the run-game going a little bit with David … the guys up front did their jobs. It was a really solid effort from all of our guys.”
The Vikings racked up 296 yards of total offense and scored on six of their nine drives — with the second-stringers coming up empty-handed on the final two possessions.
Owen J. Roberts’ lone score came midway through the fourth quarter on the heels of Mike Langley’s blocked punt. Running back Hunter Scherfel carried it in from two yards out on the following play to put the Wildcats on the board.
OJR set the tone for themselves early on, though, coughing up two first-down turnovers during the opening quarter.
“Those two turnovers early really put us behind,” said Owen J. Roberts head coach Rich Kolka. “I thought we did some nice things, we just weren’t consistent. Too many little breakdowns here and there.
“If we can eliminate those breakdowns, I think we can be a much more consistent offensive and defensive team.”
Quarterback Dawson Stuart threw for 69 yards, completing six of his 13 passing attempts. He was sacked four times and picked off once by Matt Ford-Bey.
Scherfel ran it 13 times for 25 yards while Hunter Hinrichs hauled in four catches for 56 yards.
Zeroing In
The Vikings’ defense has yet to pitch a shutout on the season and Friday night proved to be their closest yet.
“Of course you’d like it ideally,” said Heist of a shutout, “but they (Owen J. Roberts) made a great play blocking the punt. There isn’t much you can do there at the 1-yard line.”
That’ll Work
On the point-after attempt following Perk Valley’s first score, kicker Garrett Patla lined up for the kick with Remy Sell holding. After a high snap flew over his head, Sell corralled the ball on the run then heaved it up to Brendan Schimpf, who took it in for the two-point conversion.
Keeping The Pace
Perkiomen Valley has had its way with the Wildcats over the past few seasons. After Friday night’s tilt, PV now holds a 217-34 advantage in the teams’ last five meetings.
