Perk Valley defense dominates Boyertown

by Martin Cooper

Posted on October 10, 2009

GRATERFORD — Scott Reed says he never knows what to expect from his Perkiomen Valley football team. "This is a goofy group," said Reed. "It's the loosest group I've ever been around. It drives us nuts at practice. But so far, when the lights come on at 7 o'clock Friday night, they're ready to play football."

When Boyertown showed up at 7 o'clock Friday night, Reed's Vikings were more than ready to rumble.

Perkiomen Valley put up nine first-quarter points without benefit of an offensive play, and the defense dominated from start to finish as the Vikings rolled to a 29-7 Pioneer Athletic Conference victory over Boyertown.

"We knew our defense was going to do well," said Joe Scenna, a senior linebacker and right guard. "I thought it would be a defensive battle. I was surprised at how well we ran the ball. We heard how big they were. We're not exactly the biggest guys."

The Vikings (3-1, 4-2) may not be the biggest team in the PAC-10, but they play hard all the time.

Perk Valley ended up with 182 yards rushing on 39 carries — Steve Morrow led the way with 17 carries for 127 yards — but it was a ferocious defense and opportunistic special teams that set the tone early and sparked the Vikings to an impressive victory.

Scenna, Chris Stewart and Bobby Strickland — who were voracious on defense all night — each sacked Boyertown quarterback Dylan Pasik (for minus 32 yards) in the opening quarter.

Scenna's sack on the first series of the game jarred the ball loose from Pasik. The ball was recovered by Stewart, quickly snapping Boyertown's streak of two consecutive games without a turnover.

On Boyertown's second series, Strickland sacked Pasik for minus 11 yards. Pasik was also called for intentional grounding, setting up fourth down from the 17-yard line.

On fourth down, the snap sailed over punter Zach Heffner's head. Heffner was forced to fall on the ball in the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 Perk Valley lead.

Following the safety, Boyertown (2-2, 3-3) was forced to kick off from the 20. Perk Valley's Matt Kline received the ball at the PV 43 and raced 57 yards through the right side for a touchdown and a 9-0 advantage.

"We weren't in sync tonight," said Boyertown coach Mark Scisly. "I really don't know why. We had a good week of practice. But we spotted them a 9-0 lead with our special teams errors. We didn't play well the first half. The kids played hard the second half. But the first half was a mess."

The Bears may have been out of sync, but the Perk Valley defense had a lot to do with that.

"Our defense really came out of the gate and played well," said Reed. "We forced them into a couple of mistakes. We were able to pounce and take advantage of those mistakes."

Building from those early sacks, Perkiomen Valley's defense kept attacking the Bears. Boyertown managed only 59 yards of offense in the first half and 90 through the first three quarters.

"Getting a sack in any game gets you pumped up for everything," said Scenna. "We have a different defense in this year. We have a lot more speed. Speed kills. We just run to the ball and get there as fast as we can."

While the defense was smothering Boyertown, the PV offense came alive in the second quarter.

After gaining just 15 yards on six plays in the first period, the Vikings racked up 147 yards in the second quarter.

Quarterback Pat Catagnus hooked up with Kline (five catches, 75 yards) on a 32-yard, fourth-down touchdown pass for a 16-0 lead. Then, after Morrow kept a drive alive with a 19-yard burst on fourth-and-one from the 44, Jon Schmidt bulled two yards into the end zone for a 23-0 halftime spread.

"We had to get used to their defense, what they were doing," said Reed. "We had to feel out the 'D.' It showed in the second quarter and the rest of the game."

The Vikings opened the third quarter with a13-play, 81-yard drive that consumed 6:47 off the clock and ended with Morrow's two-yard TD run for a 29-0 lead.

Working against Perk Valley substitutes in the final minutes of the fourth period, the Bears moved 88 yards in eight plays and got on the board on Ryan Schwager's two-yard touchdown run with 40 seconds remaining.

That ended PV's streak of almost eight full quarters without allowing a point.

"We would have liked to keep the shutout," said Scenna. "It would have been a lot nicer than the seven points up there."

But the Vikings really had nothing to complain about after 48 dominating minutes against Boyertown. The Vikings, who have already lost to Pottsgrove, haven't given up on their title dreams.

"With our defense and offense coming along, if Pottsgrove loses, yeah, we can do it," said Scenna.

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