Phoenixville football clinches first winning season in 10 years with win over Upper Perkiomen

Phoenixville >> The last time the Phoenixville’s football team finished the year with a winning season, most of the Phantoms’ current varsity roster was still learning how to speak the alphabet in elementary school.

But on Friday night against Upper Perkiomen (2-3, 1-3 PAC Frontier), a strong start on both sides of the ball spelled out a dominant 48-8 victory for Phoenixville (6-2, 4-0 PAC Frontier), pushing the Phantoms to six wins on the season and guaranteeing a winning campaign for the first time since 2012.

“I’ve gotta be honest with you, they just show up and do the work,” Phoenixville coach Anthony Ciarlello said. “I criticize them – they show up and do the work. I praise them – they show up and do the work. They are great teammates as well, I have a group of young men that are just great teammates and I think that is what pushes them to be better.”

A large part of Phoenixville’s success on the gridiron has been carried by junior running back Sam Moore, who came into Friday’s game leading the conference in rushing yards and added another 173 yards and a touchdown on the ground in the Phantom’s win.

“It really does feel great,” Moore said on securing the team’s winning season. “Last year we were so close, we ended the season 5-4 but lost that first district game. So to have been that close, to overcome that this year feels awesome.”

Senior defensive back Ahmid Spivey came away with huge plays on both sides of the ball for Phoenixville, breaking off a long 52-yard scoring run off of a jet sweep on the Phantom’s second play of the game and coming away with an interception in the same quarter.

“We kind of spoke it into existence,” Spivey said. “We’ve been practicing since last December, building that trust between our backs and our line, getting that chemistry up so that we knew what to expect coming into this season.”

Phoenixville seized momentum early thanks to Spivey’s scoring run and an interception by Darius Watson on the Indians’ ensuing possession, which in turn set Moore up for a short rushing touchdown and an early 14-0 Phantoms lead.

The offense continued churning for Phoenixville in the first quarter as the Phantoms took a 28-0 lead heading into the second thanks to scores from Deacon Williams and Hayden Tenbroeck.

Upper Perkiomen found its way into the end zone late in the fourth quarter, as Logan O’Donnell found Eric Romanowski for a 20-yard touchdown to put points on the board for the Indians.

The Phantoms’ wire-to-wire victory over Upper Perkiomen not only secured the program’s first winning regular season in a decade. With the win, Phoenixville finds itself locked into a tie for first place in the Frontier Division of the Pioneer Athletic Conference with undefeated Pope John Paul II (8-0, 4-0 PAC Frontier), whom the Phantoms will host next Friday night in a winner-take-all matchup that will decide the owner of this year’s Frontier title.

“It’s a huge game, going to be the toughest game that we’ve played all year against one of the best teams we’ll play all year,” Ciarlello said. “We have to show up on Monday and be ready to work. It’s going to take more than what we’ve done all year for next Friday night to be successful.”

Phoenixville 48, Upper Perkiomen 8
Upper Perkiomen 0 0 0 8 – 8
Phoenixville 28 14 6 0 – 48
SCORING
First quarter
PV – Ahmid Spivey 52-yard rush (Michael Sposato kick)
PV – Sam Moore five-yard rush (Sposato kick)
PV – Deacon Williams seven-yard rush (Sposato kick)
PV – Hayden Tenbroeck 25-yard pass from Talon Romance (Sposato kick)
Second quarter
PV – Darius Watson 14-yard rush (Sposato kick)
PV – Romance 77-yard rush (Sposato kick)
Third Quarter
PV – Moore 15-yard pass from Romance (kick failed)
Fourth quarter
UP – Eric Romanowski 20-yard pass from Logan O’Donnell (Michael Boyle 2PC rush)
TEAM STATISTICS
UP PV
First downs 4 9
Rushes-yards 17-50 30-363
Passing yards 21 56
Total yards 71 420
Passes 3-9-21 5-7-56
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-2
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Upper Perkiomen: Tyler Hoffer 5-49, Eric Romanowski 2-12, Joseph Reed 1-4, Zach Swartz 1-
0, Michael Boyle 1-(-1), Brody Weiss 7-(-14). Phoenixville: Sam Moore 18-173 1 TD, Talon
Romance 2-75 1TD, Ahmid Spivey 1-52, Darius Watson 3-31 1 TD, Landon Koch 2-18, Deacon
Williams 4-15 1 TD.
Passing
Upper Perkiomen: Boyle 3-19-21 1 TD. Phoenixville: Romance 5-7-56 1 TD.
Receiving
Upper Perkiomen: Romanowski 1-20 1 TD, Weiss 2-1. Phoenixville: Hayden Tenbroeck 3-38 1
TD, Moore 1-20 1 TD.
Interceptions
Phoenixville: Ahmid Spivey, Darius Watson