Perkiomen Valley, Spring-Ford meet again for Liberty title

​by Rob Senior

October 17, 2019

It’s nothing new at this point, but it’s no less special.

Basketball, lacrosse, softball – name a sport, and it’s likely seen at least one memorable Spring-Ford vs. Perkiomen Valley tilt with PAC supremacy on the line over the past few years.

But even though it’s only for a divisional title, the past few Octobers have brought the annual highlight of the two schools’ sporting calendar – a Friday night football matchup in front of thousands of spectators.

This year’s meeting takes place at Perkiomen Valley’s Thomas J. Keenan Stadium, home of the three-time defending PAC champions and not so coincidentally, winners of three straight in this rivalry.

For Perkiomen Valley’s seniors, who’ll play in their final Homecoming game, maintaining the recent string of victories is the emphasis.

“The success that we’ve had has lent itself to kids waiting their turn, and when their turn comes, they don’t want to disappoint the players from the past who played their position,” said Perkiomen Valley head coach Rob Heist. “It’s one of the stronger elements of our team right now.”

But for their soon-to-graduate Spring-Ford counterparts, the prospect of going 0-for against the Vikings in their high school careers is too much to stomach.

“The loss to PV hurt my sophomore year. Last year was even worse,” said Ryan Engro, Spring-Ford’s quarterback and the PAC’s leading passer. “To finally break through as seniors, on their turf… that would be a big step to completing my high school career.”

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When Spring-Ford has the ball: Approaching 2,000 passing yards for the second consecutive season, the story of the Rams’ offense starts with Engro and his favorite target, PAC-leading receiver Dante Bonanni (42 catches at an average of 15 yards per reception, four TDs.) The pair linked up for a couple of second-half scores in Spring-Ford’s come-from-behind win over Owen J. Roberts, 35-21, last Saturday, and will need to be equally prolific Friday against the Vikings.

“We’re not just going to go there, show up and win,” said Bonanni. “We have to play our most complete game – their crowd will be rocking, just like they were two years ago. We’ve got to start out focused and lock in all game.”

Putting together that full, 48-minute effort has been a sticking point for the Rams and coach Chad Brubaker this season. Many would describe the Rams as a second-half team, but the flip side is that label also indicates some slow starts. At the very least, in the past two games the Rams have looked vastly superior after halftime than they did in the first 24 minutes.

Part of the reason for that is a rejuvenated running game, led by the top Liberty Division rusher, senior Armante Haynes (105 carries at 7.2 yards a pop, nine TDs). Haynes punished OJR last week to the tune of 123 yards on just 14 carries, while sophomore Harry Adieyefeh gives the Rams a bit of a change-of-pace look. Adieyefeh has come on in the past two weeks, averaging over 100 yards per contest.

“We’ve seen this ability in Armante for three years,” summarized Brubaker, “and now, he’s putting it all together.”

Engro’s increased role in the running game has paid dividends as well, forcing defenses to commit a man to him, opening lanes for Haynes and Adieyefeh.

“As the games get bigger, Ryan’s role in the running game increases,” Brubaker explained. “We held back at times on having him run the ball because without him our offense just isn’t the same.”

Which bring us to the missing pieces of the Rams’ offense. WR Blaize Scarcelle and TE/LB James Albert will miss Friday’s contest with injuries, and the Rams will also be without the services of WR/S Nick Teets, serving a one-game suspension for last week’s ejection vs. OJR that’s been discussed at length this week. Initially disqualified for ‘helmet-to-helmet’ contact, the ejection report was modified to read that Teets was flagged for “flagrant contact that placed opponent in danger.”

Video of the play in question would seem to indicate otherwise, but that’s not a consideration in the PIAA appeals process.

Engro identified Zach High as a player he expects to step up in a big way in the absence of Scarcelle and Teets, while BJ Beard (29 catches, 291 yards, 6 TDs) will likely enjoy an increased role as well.

They’ll be trying to make it happen against a Perkiomen Valley defense that’s recovered admirably from losing eight starters from last year’s unit. The Vikings have done so by building around one stalwart senior at each level of the defense – tackle Jake Sterling, outside linebacker Matt Brock, and corner Randy Washington.

“Everyone knows what we run at this point,” said Heist. “We have that stacked core, pretty much the same coverages.”

A self-admitted offensive-minded head coach, Heist says the work of defensive coordinator Matt Young has been a key to the program’s emergence not only in the PAC, but as one of District One’s perennial contenders come playoff time.

“The strength of our staff is that they are teachers first,” said Heist. “Regardless of who the individual players are, they do a great job of teaching our kids, putting them in position to be successful in our scheme. An example is we graduated Austin Rowley, one of the best safeties we’ve had, and in comes Mike Dougherty, who’s never played the position, and does a terrific job.”

When PV has the ball: Before the season, Perkiomen Valley’s senior-laden offensive line was touted as the PAC’s strongest position group. They’ve done nothing to lose that title, but the final exams will come this week against Spring-Ford and, should they prevail, next week in the PAC championship game against the stingy Pope John Paul II defense.

Gavin Euker, Taylor Hartner, Will Marotta, Kyle Rittenhouse, Matt Wilhelm and Eli Johnston pave the way for a multi-faceted offense with no real weaknesses. Jacob Sturm (595 yards rushing at 7.7 yards per carry, 5 TDs) and Jon Moccia (437 yards rushing at 6.0 per carry, 5 TDs) provide the consistency that allows room for the big-play capabilities of sophomore QB Ethan Kohler (second only to Engro in the Liberty with 1,505 yards passing, 15 TDs, 5 INT) and Washington, whose all-league play at corner is perhaps equaled by the threat he provides on offense (25 catches at a gaudy 24.6 yards per reception, 7 TDs.)

“Randy was voted team captain overwhelmingly – he just does everything right on either side of the ball,” said Heist.

“Our strengths play off one another,” said Moccia. “He’s a powerful runner, I have more of a speed and agility style. It’s hard to set up one defense that will stop both of us.”

Mike Dougherty and Logan Holloway are reliable chain-moving targets for Kohler, while both Sturm and Moccia are into double digits for receptions on the season. There’s truly no one weapon for Spring-Ford to isolate, though limiting Washington’s big-play ability will likely be a focus for a Rams secondary led by Mason Brill and his four interceptions but needing to replace juniors Teets and Andrew Yoon.

Kohler provides a different skill set than last year’s Perkiomen Valley QB Cole Peterlin, but a 60+ percent completion percentage for a sophomore underscores his poise and knack for the big moment. It was Kohler, after all, who led PV’s comeback from a 17-point second-half deficit to pull off an improbable 27-20 victory at Spring-Ford last season en route to that third consecutive PAC title.

“Ethan’s maturity is something we (seniors) all recognize,” said Dougherty, “and the work he put in during the offseason helped us build chemistry and trust.”

“He’s done everything the coaches have asked,” added Washington. “It allows the rest of the offense to just play our games.”

“As an offensive coach, a quarterback coach, Ethan is everything you could ask for,” said Heist. “Since January, he’s been here at 6 a.m. to work out or study film. We’ve looked at every play of every game last year, going through reads and identifying coverages.”

The defensive side of the ball is where the injuries have really mounted for the Rams, as they stand to be down several starters from the beginning of the season. Sophomore Johnny Pergine has started every game this season, while Jseth Owens will see an increased role in the absence of All-Area performer James Albert at linebacker. Blake Terrizzi has submitted a season-long performance on the line that has him in contention for major postseason awards, and Ryan Kolander is another constant force along the front.

The question becomes how quickly can Brubaker and his staff prepare the first-year starters for the multiplicity of PV’s offense? Can the excitement of this one game overcome inexperience?

“Emotion can only take you so far,” admitted Brubaker. “We play different fronts, different coverages, and during the week in practice we’ll see how much these kids can digest. Their ability to focus in practice will go a long way to determining how extensive our game plan will be on defense Friday night.”

Special Teams: Spring-Ford’s Grant Sillyman, new to the school this year after moving from out of state, is the PAC’s most prolific kicker with 47 points on the year and a long field goal of 42 yards. Brayden Basile has equaled Sillyman with four successful field goals.

Joe Brogan handles return duties for the Rams, with Rasheem Grayson and Washington on the task for Perkiomen Valley.

Details and Prediction: Perkiomen Valley has homefield advantage, recent history, and health on its side. So what does that leave for Spring-Ford? Resolve forged by a senior class that wants desperately to avoid another loss to their archrivals. The suspension of Teets may leave the Rams short on the field but has furthered the unification of the players into an ‘us-against-the-world’-type mentality going into Friday.

“Nobody,” stressed Brubaker, “is going to feel sorry for us.”

He’s right, but nobody is going to take them lightly either. It’ll be a long time before Rob Heist coaches a team that looks past any opponent, least of all their archrivals on Homecoming.

“We prepare as if they will be at full strength,” Heist confirmed. “I don’t worry who is or is not on the field.

“I think it’s unfortunate what happened with [Nick Teets],” the PV coach added. “You never want to see that happen with any kid. We work so hard, all of us, all year long, for only 10 guaranteed football games. To miss even one game? I feel badly for him personally and as a player.”

In the end, there are too many playmakers on both sides to predict a defensive-oriented contest, and Brubaker and Heist both have offensive-oriented backgrounds. It’s safe to say defensive coordinators and coaches have their hands full in this rivalry – since 2013, the winning side has put up at least 20 points in each head-to-head contest. 

The call here is that both sides will do so on Friday. The emergence of Haynes and Adieyefeh allows Spring-Ford to grind it out if they must, and Kohler’s accuracy and valuable experience from last year provides Perkiomen Valley the ability to keep up in the passing game. Perkiomen Valley has the advantage in intangibles, as covered above. But on the field, the gap between the two squads is so small that one mistake, one bounce, or one critical call can provide the necessary margin.

But to predict a difference? Let’s go with the experience of the PV offensive line winning out, over 48 minutes, against a bruised Spring-Ford defense.

Perkiomen Valley 26, Spring-Ford 21.