Spring-Ford races to 56-0 victory over Pope John Paul II

UPPER PROVIDENCE >> Spring-Ford will vie for its second PAC-10 Championship in five seasons next week.

On Saturday, however, the Rams took care of their necessary business.

Matt Gibson and Jason Wilson both eclipsed 100 yards on the ground while Ricky Venuto threw for 200 yards and three scores as Spring-Ford raced to a 56-0 victory over winless Pope John Paul II on the Golden Panthers’ Senior Recognition Day.

“I thought our kids competed,” Pope John Paul II head coach Rory Graver said. “We saw glimpses in the first half. We put together a nice drive but it stalled inside the 20. But again, you have to give credit to Spring-Ford. They’re a darn good football team, that’s the bottom line.”

Spring-Ford (8-0 PAC-10, 9-0 overall) compiled 537 yards of total offense in the commanding win that sets the stage for a winner-take-all season finale against undefeated Perkiomen Valley (8-0, 9-0) for the PAC-10 10 title next Friday night.

Gibson finished with 112 yards rushing on five scores, including scores from 30 and 62 yards, respectively. Wilson came in the late stages of the second quarter and finished with 170 yards and two scores on 12 rushes in a little more than a quarter’s worth of time.

Quinn McKenna also had a solid performance, hauling in five passes for 116 yards and two scores for a Ram offense that wasn’t penalized and played without starters Stone Scarcelle, Trey Jarmon and Teddy Dylinski.

“We talked about cleaning up what we do,” Spring-Ford sixth-year head coach Chad Brubaker 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.”

Pretty good may have been an understatement.

The Rams were consistent throughout, scoring a touchdown on eight of its 11 drives. The team had built a commanding 21-0 lead after the first behind solid play from senior signal caller Venuto before going into the half with a 42-0 edge.

Wilson, the scout team running back, made the most of his touches in the third quarter, rushing for 108 of his 170 yards in the frame before capping off his day with a 7-yard score to make it 56-0 eight seconds into the fourth. The senior broke runs of 24 and 58 yards in the third quarter and is now 13th in the PAC in rushing with 373 yards.

“These guys practice like everyone else and when they get their opportunity we expect them to work hard and play hard,” Brubaker said, “Jason’s a guy that works for us on scout team, emulates the other team’s running back and when he gets his shot he’s a hard runner who keeps his shoulders square and bangs up in there.”

The defense also made easy work of PJP, registering six sacks and an interception while holding the Golden Panthers to 110 yards of total offense and -7 rushing yards. Tim Rudderow finished with an interception while Tanner Romano and Joe Campbell each finished with 1.5 sacks.

Jared Johns-Lupold led PJP (0-8, 0-9 PAC-10) with 59 yards receiving and Dan Cirino finished with 11 receptions for 44 yards while Matt Duff finished 17-of-31 for 119 yards.

It just wasn’t nearly enough.