Football: Methacton holds off Pottstown, 22-14

October 28, 2023

Levi Borkowski let a few Pottstown ball carries slip through his hands earlier in the night.

With the game on the line, the Methacton senior linebacker wasn’t going to allow that to happen again.

Borkowski wrapped up Trojans’ running back Nahzier Booker on the 14-yard line and the final seconds of the clock ran off to seal the Warriors’ 22-14 Senior Night win over the Trojans.

“It definitely felt good,” Borkowski said. “I missed a good bit of tackles on the one drive and I missed the kickoff return, so that really felt good to get back at that and make that play.”

Pottstown’s final drive started at its own 25-yard line with three minutes, 30 seconds left in the game. Senior running back Nahzier Booker broke off a long run on fourth down to get his team into Warriors’ territory.

A miraculous catch by senior running back Dimark Lyons on a 33-yard pass — that was tipped by both a Methacton and Pottstown player — from senior quarterback Dillon Mayes moved the Trojans’ to the Methacton 14-yard line with 11.2 second to go.

After a spike to stop the clock, Pottstown tried to break Booker loose on an outside run, but Borkowski, who also had a sack in the game, made the tackle and with no timeouts left for Pottstown the game ended.

“We left a lot of things left on the table,” Pottstown coach Levert Hughes said. “We just left our destination in other people’s hands instead of taking care of our business.”

After being denied on the goal line by Pottstown on their first red zone trip, Methacton did all of its damage from close range, punching in three one-yard touchdowns.

Junior quarterback Kolby Howarth ran in two of them — the first with 9:46 left in the second quarter to give his team a 7-0 lead.

Lyons answered with a 10-yard touchdown and Mayes converted the two-point conversion to put Pottstown ahead 8-7 with 2:24 left in the half.

Howarth used his arms and legs to march the Warriors back down the field before senior Anthony Perillo punched in another one-yard score to make it 15-8 Methacton at halftime.

Perillo ran 10 times for 54 yards and a score. Howarth ran for 39 yards and added 90 more through the air. Senior Wes Conover added another 30 yards on the ground to go along with a key interception defensively.

“Honestly, we didn’t play that well,” Conover said. “But at least we still came out with the W.”

“I think everyone’s heads weren’t screwed on, and we are a little all over the place, but we found a way to make it work,” Borkowski added.

Howarth’s second touchdown sneak of the game gave Methacton a 22-8 lead with 1:48 left in the third quarter, but Booker responded with a 75-yard kick return touchdown to make it a one score game again.

Booker an 22 times in the game for 140 yards to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Mayes ran for 39 yards and Lyons added 30. Junior offensive tackle MIkell Williams was one of the ones leading the way for the big night on the ground.

“(Booker)’s the type of person, he ain’t happy right now,” Hughes said. “He’s not with a happy 1,000. Him, Dimark, that thunder and lighting, and with Dillon Mayes controlling the helm, that’s a dangerous combination. Those guys, they’re going to be missed.”

A Methacton fumble gave Pottstown good field position after the Booker kick return touchdown. Conover made sure it didn’t hurt the Warriors, coming up with an interception at his team’s own three-yard line on another ball that was tipped multiple times.

“It kind of all went in slow motion,” Conover said. “I hit it up and then it just came down into my hands.”

Neither team walked off the field Friday night thinking they played their best football. They were both happy that they should have at least one more game each to rectify that.

The Trojans entered Friday as the No. 3 team in the District 1-4A power rankings and needed a win to affirm their spot in the four-team postseason field. That didn’t happen but a loss by No. 5 Interboro should be enough to make sure Pottstown plays in its first district playoff game since 2018.

“It’s a standard we want to set,” Hughes said. “We don’t want to set the standard from four, five years ago. We want to set that standard to go forward, so we can be up there with PJP, so we can be up there with Phoenixville. That type of standard. That’s where we want to be, that’s where we’re aiming at and this is the step.”

Methacton was in much firmer position heading into Friday night as the No. 11 seed in the District 1-5A power rankings — as 16 teams get into the playoffs.

After a 7-3 loss to Kennett in the first round last season, the Warriors’ seniors want to keep their careers going at least one game further this season with a district win.

“We have a great opportunity ahead of us and I think we can achieve something great,” Borkowski said.

“That game last year was definitely winnable, but I think our senior leadership this year is a lot different, so I think it will help a lot more.”

Methacton 22, Pottstown 14

Pottstown — 0 8 6 0 — 14

Methacton — 0 15 7 0 — 22

SCORING PLAYS

M – Howarth 1 run (Aiden Drozd kick)

Pt – Lyons 10 run (Mayes run)

M – Perillo 1 run (Perillo run)

M – Howarth 1 run (Drozd kick)

Pt – Booker 75 kick return (run fail)

TEAM STATISTICS