Spring-Ford tops Norristown in PAC Liberty opener
WEST NORRITON >> Norristown and Spring-Ford may be at different stages in their respective program building, but they have a similar core belief.
With each week that goes by, the Eagles and Rams want to finish it a little better than they started. Spring-Ford got a pretty complete game on both sides of the ball Saturday afternoon at Norristown and the Eagle, despite a loss, saw some guys step up.
A breakout game from Nick Teets helped the Rams to a 36-6 victory in the PAC Liberty Division opener for both teams.
“We were able to do a few more things, but there’s still a few more things to clean up here early in the season,” Spring-Ford coach Rich Brubaker said. “As long as you see progression in each week, that’s what you’re after right now.”
Saturday favored the passing attack for both teams. Norristown (1-4, 0-1 division) never really established a running game, but quarterback Daniel Watson was able to connect with a few of his receivers for some nice gains. On the other side, the Rams ran the ball 20 more times than Norristown but found yardage tough to come by.
Outside of a 64-yard keeper by quarterback Ryan Engro, the Rams (4-1, 1-0) couldn’t break off many significant gains against a tough Norristown front.
“We’re still trying to see who’s going to rise to the occasion,” Eagles coach Joseph Milligan said. “Expectations are pretty high for what we want out of the kids and we’ve let them know they have to play at a certain level. Right now, we’re not getting it out of everyone so we have to keep pushing, pushing and pushing.”
Engro rushed for 95 yards with a touchdown and threw for 228 yards and three scores. His 15-yard keeper put Spring-Ford on the board on its first drive and his 64-yard jaunt set up Stephen Brill’s one-yard plunge, which only came after the Eagles stuffed him three times at the goal line.
The Rams’ passing game was a little up and down early, due to the play of Norristown’s secondary but once Engro hit Teets for the first time, things opened up. The 5-foot-6, `140-pound sophomore shined at slot receiver, catching five balls for 163 yards and two scores.
His 14-yard catch put Spring-Ford up 19-0 at the half, then he went 78 yards for a touchdown on the Rams’ third play of the second half.
“We’ve been waiting for Nick, he’s been switching in and getting some time and he’s been struggling as sophomore sometimes do, but today he was in the right spots,” Brubaker said. “We felt like we could make some plays over the middle. He made the one big play, made it to the end zone and showed some speed too.
“He finally had that breakout game and when you look at our receiving core with him stepping up, we have some kids that if teams want to continue to go man against us, we’re going to make some plays.”
Brubaker also felt his secondary played well against Norristown’s passing game. The Rams picked off three Eagles passes with safety Alex Kortetke snaring two of them.
Norristown’s passing game is still a work in progress, but there are clearly pieces to work with. Travis Cummings had 86 yards receiving while Christian Thomas had 68 yards and Thomas threw for 198 yards. Nick Dinolfi got in for a few snaps at QB as well, but had to exit the game with an injury.
“It comes down to working at it and getting them to trust each other,” Milligan said. “We have a first-year player at quarterback, a sophomore at quarterback. It’s basically a whole new receiving corps, we had a guy that came in from Carroll, so for us to be together and doing what we’re supposed to be doing after only having the job for four months is big.”
Engro made it 33-0 when he hit Noah Baker for a 19-yard touchdown. Taylor Smith hit a 22-yard field goal to make it 36-0 before Norristown moved down the field and scored on a three-yard keeper by Watson.
“People aren’t going to get credit unless you win and we win together and we lose together,” Milligan said. “As much as they’re playing at a certain high level, they know they have to play at an even higher level until we can get the rest of the crew together. It’s all about being a team.”
SPRING-FORD 36, NORRISTOWN 6
SPRING-FORD 6 13 14 3 – 36
NORRISTOWN 0 0 0 6 – 6
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
SF – Ryan Engro 15 run (kick fail) 8:42
2nd Quarter
SF – Stephen Brill 1 run (run fail) 10:56
SF – Engro 14 pass to Nick Teets (Taylor Smith kick) 1:40
3rd Quarter
SF – Engro 78 pass to Teets (Smith kick) 9:19
SF – Engro 19 pass to Noah Baker (Smith kick) 5:51
4th Quarter
SF – Smith 22 field goal
N – Daniel Watson 3 run (run fail) 2:16
Team Stats
SF N
First downs 18 9
Rushes-Yards 35-212 15-64
Passing 13-26-3-0 15-30-0-4
Passing Yards 228 217
Total Yards 440 281
Penalties-Yards 6-40 7-65
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Punting 4-33.3 5-32.2
Individual Stats
Rushing: SF – Stephen Brill 15-53, Ryan Engro 5-95, Armante Haynes12-39, Joe Colletta 3-25; N – Likine Wallace 3-2, Zahir Haynes 4-11, Daniel Watson 6-45, Nick Dinolfi 2-10
Passing: SF – Engro 13-26-3-0-228; N – Watson 13-26-0-3-198, Dinolfi 2-4-0-1-19
Receiving: SF – Nick Teets 5-163, Blaize Scarcelle 2-18, Noah Baker 4-34, Brill 1-8, Dante Bonnani 1-9; N – Wallace 2-10, Christian Wallace 4-68, Travis Cummings 5-86, Kirk Wilson 2-29, No. 4 2-24
Interceptions: SF – Alex Koretke 2, Bonnani, Max Bunn
