Sisko, Pottsgrove top Interboro 33-8 in district opener

November 3, 2017

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LOWER POTTSGROVE >> Pottsgrove quarterback Jay Sisko knew he owed something to his teammates.

A week removed from last week’s forgettable loss against Perkiomen Valley in the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship game, the junior fully delivered.

Sisko ran for two touchdowns and threw another in leading the Falcons to a 33-8 win over Interboro during the opening round of the District One Class 4A playoffs on Friday night at Pennypacker Stadium.

Pottsgrove quarterback Jay Sisko outruns the defense for a 49-yard touchdown run Friday against Interboro. (Austin Hertzog – Digital First Media)

“Coming into tonight, I knew I owed the team something this week,” said Sisko, who was intercepted on three of his five passing attempts last week against Perk Valley. “Last week was a rough week, but we’re moved on from it. We had to move on from the loss. We’re in districts — it’s a whole new season, a new beginning.”

Now, the top-seeded Falcons (10-1 overall) will shift focus to next week as they look to defend their district title against the winner of Saturday’s matchup between No. 2 Pope John Paul II and No. 3 Upper Perkiomen. In turn, No. 4-ranked Interboro (5-6 overall) saw its district run ended at the hands of Pottsgrove for the second straight season.

Interboro’s Brett McLaughlin (6) is taken down from behind after a reception Friday against Pottsgrove. (Austin Hertzog – Digital First Media)

Pottsgrove’s standout running back Rahsul Faison was bottled up early on by his own standards — held to just 63 yards rushing on 12 carries in the first half as the Buccaneer defense had a constant swarm in the Pottsgrove backfield. The senior Stony Brook commit would get his, though, racking up a game-high 189 yards with a pair of touchdowns on the night.

“He’s a good player, he was really tough for our defense to contain,” said Interboro head coach Steve Lennox of Faison. “We had it going well in the first (half), but they wore us down in the second half.”

“That was definitely the most physical game that we’ve played all year,” said Faison. “They were getting right through early on, but we made some adjustments and got it moving in the second half.”

Pottsgrove’s option attack on offense kept the Interboro defense honest all game as Sisko was a threat to tuck it away and run with Faison in tow. Sisko racked up 120 yards rushing — including a 49-yard scamper up the middle on Pottsgrove’s second play from scrimmage — and posed a constant threat with his arm. He completed three of his six pass attempts for 63 yards, including a 49-yard touchdown streak up the middle to Bailey Delp late in the second half.

Interboro running back Andrew Grieb points for extra blocking on a carry around the end Friday against Pottsgrove. (Austin Hertzog – Digital First Media)

“They threw Bailey in there and I saw the safety bite on it,” recalled Sisko of his touchdown pass, “and I said, ‘That’s ours over the top.’ It was a perfect play for that situation.”

With last week’s loss still admittedly in the back of his mind, Pottsgrove head coach Rick Pennypacker liked the bounce-back he saw from his young signal-caller and the Falcons.

“Jay Sisko’s a competitor,” said Pennypacker. “He had a rough game last week, but it was good to see him bounce back with a great game tonight. He worked hard for us in practice all week and he deserved a game like this.”

Interboro’s ground game gave Pottsgrove fits early on. The Buccaneers’ ground attack featured plenty of deceiving counters, reverses and draws, an approach Lennox said has been their driving point all season.

“We don’t have the burst-away speed, so we have to try and keep people off-balance,” said Lennox. “It’s worked pretty well for us this season.”

Pottsgrove’s Jimai Springfield (1) follows his blockers for a long kickoff return to the 1-yard line in the second quarter against Interboro. (Austin Hertzog – Digital First Media)

Running back Andrew Grieb had 43 yards rushing on eight carries while fullback Joe Forte rushed it for 18 yards. Quarterback Jared Dellipriscolli finished with 82 yards passing, inflated by a 59-yard touchdown catch and run by Brett McLaughlin during the first quarter.

Dellipriscolli was sacked once by Isaiah Glover and also picked off by Desmond Austin and Kobey Baldwin.

Pottsgrove’s Isaiah Glover celebrates after he sacked Interboro quarterback Jared Dellipriscoli to force a turnover on downs in the first half Friday. (Austin Hertzog – Digital First Media)

Although next week’s game will come against a familiar PAC opponents regardless of Saturday’s winner, Sisko and the Falcons aren’t the group to take any game for granted.

“We’re coming at ‘em,” he said. “We’ll be up against a good team either way. We’re doing what we usually do — film, practice and a good week. We’ve just got to be ready to get after it.”

NOTES >> Although their district runs comes to a close, Interboro will host its annual Thanksgiving Day Game against Ridley later this month. The game will be aired on SportsRadio WIP as part of the first-ever 94WIP Turkey Bowl.