David Beck

The Vikings of Perkiomen Valley High School advanced to the District I semifinals Friday night after their 44 to 21 win over the Cougars of Downingtown East High School.  The Vikings started fast and finished the same, ending with 374 total yards of offense (due to a combined six yards rushing by Stephen Sturm, David Williams, Justin Jaworski, Brendan Schimpf, and Rasheed May), 368 courtesy of record-setting quarterback Stephen Sturm.  

Sturm most recently joined elite company in the Pennsylvania high school football record books.  With Sturm’s 347 passing yards Friday night, his now 8, 261 career yards moves him into first place all-time for career passing yards by a class 4A-6A player.  He moves past Downingtown East’s Pat Devlin (now a backup quarterback for the Cleveland Browns practice squad), who threw for 8,162 yards from 2002-2005.  Sturm, who has thrown for over 3, 150 yards and 40 touchdowns this season, also broke his own PAC record for most single-season passing yards.

In the freezing cold weather, PV’s star receivers were the key.  Seniors Justin Jaworski and Sean Owens combined for 303 yards of receiving and three touchdowns.  Juniors Brendan Schimpf and Remy Sell added on another 45 yards, while David Williams added on two yards off of one reception for one touchdown.

In the end, the Vikings defense was the difference maker.  The inside linebacking core of Noah Shine, Mario Scotese, and Nick Marren combined for a whopping 30.5 tackles, including 2.5 TFL’s (Tackles for Loss), and a blocked punt by Scotese.  The destructive defensive linemen of PV, consisting of Kevin Lovett, Kevin DelaCruz, Alec Jackson, Jon Rotonda, Vaughn Stolzer, and Chris Jimenez, collaborated for 22 tackles.  However, the arguable defensive play of the game came from senior captain Ryan McCourt, as he intercepted Bryce Lauletta at the Cougar 41-yard-line, and scattered his way all the way to end zone for a game-sealing pick-six.

With Garnet Valley’s staggering upset of No. 2 Neshaminy, 42-14,the Vikings will be home this week the 18th against the Jaguars.  Meanwhile, North Penn looks to stay undefeated as they battle Coatesville.

336 days before Friday night, the Spring-Ford Rams ran all over the Vikings of Perkiomen Valley en route to a 28-14 win for the Rams.  For 336 days, that game has been on the Vikings’ mind.  When PV rolled into Coach McNelly Stadium, revenge was ideal.  And revenge was served.  Perkiomen Valley went on to win 28-16 over Spring-Ford, due in large part to 304 total yards and three  total touchdowns from quarterback Stephen Sturm.  The surprise return of local star, Justin Jaworski, assisted the Vikings greatly on both sides of the ball.  After recovering quickly from a knee injury, Jaworski finished with 102 receiving yards and three passes defended, including an interception late in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Early on in the game, the matchup between the two enemies was nothing but a stalemate, trading punts for the majority of the first quarter.  With 1:27 left in the first, Sturm found Brendan Schimpf on a screen pass for a seven-yard touchdown pass to give the Vikings an early 7-0.  The lead would stay that way through halftime and into the third quarter.  With 8:54 left in the third, Sturm capped off a six-play, 76-yard drive with a four-yard rushing touchdown.  A blocked PAT gave Perk Valley a confident 13-0 lead.  However, on the Rams first play on the following drive, quarterback TJ Pergine found a hole in the Vikings defense and hit Dan Cassidy up the middle for an 80-yard touchdown and suddenly, it was 13-7.  Senior safety David Williams made up for the defense’s blunder later in the quarter with a 17-yard pick-six to give the momentum back to the Vikings.  A two-point conversion rush by Sturm gave the Vikings a 21-7 lead.  Later, a botched field goal by Spring-Ford was recovered by PV’s Max Nice and a blown opportunity for the Rams.  With just under 30 seconds left in the third quarter, safety Billy Frazier got to Sturm in the endzone for a safety to make the score 21-9, giving some energy to the Rams team.  That energy did not last.  Towards the start of the fourth quarter, Sturm threw a picture-perfect ball to Remy Sell streaking down the sideline for a 64-yard touchdown and all signs pointed towards the Rams failing at their attempt to repeat.  A six-yard touchdown rush by Spring-Ford’s Selwyn Simpson proved to be the Rams’ last effort, but it was far too late and the Vikings left Royersford with a 28-16 win.

Linebackers Nick Marron and Noah Shine finished with 15 tackles combined, including a sack by Shine.  The secondary for the Vikings of David Williams, Matt Ford-Bey, and Justin Jaworski ganged up for 14 tackles, five passes defended, and two interceptions, one for a touchdown.  The Vikings now come home to Thomas J. Keenan Stadium for their homecoming game against Norristown, while Spring-Ford travel to Boyertown to take on the Bears.

The Perkiomen Valley Vikings took their 5-0 record into Friday night against a 2-3 Boyertown Bears team who were looking to have the upset of the season against the Vikings.  The result was anything but an upset.  PV blanked the Bears 30-0 behind 361 yards of total offense, including 228 passing yards and three total touchdowns (two passing and one rushing) by senior quarterback Stephen Sturm.  Seniors Mario Scotese and Kyle Beaudoin led the PV defense on their way to the goose egg.

Playing in the mud, things were fairly messy from the beginning. PV’s first three drives all ended up in punts.  From that point on, it was all Perk Valley.  On the Vikings’ fourth drive, Sturm led the offense down the field on a 55-yard touchdown drive, capped off by a six-yard scoring rush by Sturm.  PV’s suffocating 3-5 defense limited the Bears to under 150 total yards of offense for the game.  Senior cornerback Matt Ford-Bey and junior linebacker Joe Zeminski each had an interception.  Also, junior linebacker Brian Fehr had the arguable defensive play of the game with a safety midway through the third quarter.  Linebackers Kyle Beaudoin, Noah Shine, Brendan Schimpf, Brian Fehr, Mario Scotese, and Joe Zeminski combined for a total of 15 tackles, comprising 5.5 TFL’s (Tackles for Loss) and a sack.  PV’s secondary consisting of all seniors – Matt Ford-Bey and Rasheed May at corners and David Williams at safety – entirely shut down the Bears’ pass game, limiting Boyertown quarterback Ayden Mathias to only 29 yards through the air.

David Williams finished with a PV-high 47 rushing yards and a TD.  Sean Owens led all Perk Valley receivers with 73 yards, incorporating a 53-yard touchdown set up by a perfect route from Owens and a perfect ball from Sturm.

Perk Valley now moves on to the highlight of Week 7 as the Vikings travel to Royersford and take on the Rams of Spring-Ford.  Spring-Ford beat PV last year 28-14, so one can only imagine that this week’s game will be strictly about payback for the Vikings.  The Bears meanwhile, travel to Owen J. Roberts High School to take on the Wildcats.

The Perkiomen Valley Vikings, fresh off a thrilling win last week against Haverford, picked up right where they left off against Owen J. Roberts winning 43 to 7.  All-time PAC-10 passing leader, Stephen Sturm threw for 164 yards and a whopping five touchdowns, three to senior wideout, Sean Owens.  The Vikings offense was on fire right from the get-go.  After the PV defense forced an OJR three-and-out, just three plays into their first drive, Sturm found Owens for a 35-yard touchdown, capitalized by an involuntary two-point-conversion from Remy Sell to Brendan Schimpf.  On the following drive, Sturm hit senior running back, David Williams, on a slip screen for a 15-yard touchdown. The offense was just too much to handle for the Wildcats, as they ended up with 297 yards of total offense.However, the story of the night was the Vikings smothering defense.

After giving up 24 points in Week 4 against the Haverford School, losing both cornerback/wide receiver, Justin Jaworski, and inside linebacker, Nick Marron, for a considerable amount of time due to injuries, the wall that is the Vikings defense stepped up on an uncomparable level.  Six TFL’s, including four sacks, an interception, and a fumble recovery were only a few of the bright spots just to name a few.  PV’s defensive line alone was responsible for 12 tackles, counting four TFL’s.  By keeping the Wildcats under 100 yards of total offense, the defense helped seal the game for the Vikings.

Next week, Perkiomen Valley comes back home for senior night against Boyertown, while Owen J. Roberts travels to Norristown for a Saturday afternoon game.

The Perkiomen Valley Vikings win over Pennridge Friday night, 38-20, was a massive statement for PV’s program.  Quarterback Stephen Sturm finished with 400 passing yards and five touchdowns.  His favorite target, Justin Jaworski, was responsible for 262 yards of those yards off of nine receptions, including three touchdowns.  The Vikings came into the game as obvious underdogs, due in large part to Pennridge’s success over the last few years.  However, at no point in the game did PV appear to be an underdog.

 The only score of the first quarter was a field goal by kicker Garrett Patla of PV, who recently committed to kick for the Big Red at Cornell.  The second quarter was absolutely dominated on all aspects by PV, though.  Sturm threw for three touchdowns in the second quarter alone, one to fullback Brendan Schimpf, and two to Jaworski.  It was an absolutely amazing performance by Brian Fehr, Nick Marren, Jon Rotonda, and the rest of the Vikings defense as they shut out the Pennridge offense in the first half and limited them to under 100 yards of total offense.  After walking into halftime with a 24-0 lead, the Vikings picked up right where they left off.

Just eight plays into the second half, Sturm found Jaworski on a post route for a 26-yard touchdown pass.  Patla’s extra point would give the Vikings a dominant 31-0 lead early in the third quarter.  Another ten plays after that, Sturm found Sean Owens for a 37-yard touchdown strike to give PV a very commanding 38-point lead.  Pennridge would score later in the quarter off of a 14-yard touchdown pass from Jagger Hartshorn to Ryan Cuthbert.  A missed PAT would keep the Vikings up 32 points.

In the fourth quarter, it appeared as though Pennridge had finally come to play, but it was far too late.  A fumble by David Williams, an interception by Sturm, and a recovered onside kick by the Rams helped Pennridge put up two touchdowns in the last quarter.  But, when Isaiah Domine of PV recovered a last attempt onside kick by Pennridge, the game was unofficially over.  As Sturm and the Vikings offense took a knee, fans and players in Thomas J. Keenan Stadium rejoiced as this was a monumental win for PV.  The Vikings look to take their 3-0 record into this Friday night as they take on the Haverford School.

As Brendan Schimpf plowed into the endzone with 8:29 left in the fourth quarter to give the Perkiomen Valley Vikings a 28-point lead, it appeared that the game was pretty much over and that the Whippets of Downingtown West had given up.  Everything after that was complete and utter chaos.  Just seven plays later, Cole Zapf strolled into the endzone for Downingtown, and all of a sudden the Vikings got a sickening feeling in the pit of their stomachs.  Seven plays after that, PV’s Steven Sturm threw an interception to Downingtown’s Brayden Williams.  Just after that, Kyle Geiser hit Zapf for a 67-yard touchdown as he broke tackles by both David Williams and Justin Jaworski of Perkiomen Valley.  All of a sudden, it was only a two-touchdown game with about five and a half minutes to go.

Following the extra point, a botched onside kick by the Vikings led to Downingtown West recovering the ball with all kinds of momentum.  The very next offensive play was a flea flicker leading to a hole in the Vikings defense and Geiser finding Williams for a 40-yard touchdown.  One could only think that this was going to be one of the greatest comebacks ever for the Whippets and one of the greatest meltdowns ever for the Vikings.  Now down just seven, Downingtown attempted another onside pop-up kick, this one fair-caught by PV’s Ben Smith. A three-and-out for the Vikings gave Geiser and company the ball at their own 27.  As Downingtown came to fourth down, every spectator and player in Kottmeyer stadium knew a fake punt was coming.  However, the Vikings still managed to allow Geiser to rush the ball out of the fake and pick up 13 yards and a first down.  

The Vikings defense did force a turnover on fourth down later on that drive, giving the offense the ball hoping to just run out the clock and end the madness.  But, the madness ensued.  PV’s Schimpf, who had ran through the Whippets defense for two touchdowns on the night, fumbled the football on the first play of the series, giving the ball back to the Whippets on the Vikings 29-yard line.  Just three plays later, Geiser found a flaw in the Vikings coverage and hit Michael Riddick for the touchdown making the score 42-41.  The Vikings had blown a lead most teams dream of.  However, not wanting to give Sturm and the Vikings offense a minute to try and score, Downingtown West head coach, Mike Milano, sent the offense back onto the field to go for two.  With the game on the line, the arguable play of the game was made as senior linebacker, Kyle Beaudoin, intercepted Geiser’s pass, to give the Vikings the one-point win in an absolute thriller of a game.

This win was Perkiomen Valley’s first ever  against Downingtown West and the first career win for new head coach, Rob Heist.  Sturm finished with 232 yards and 3 touchdowns,  131 of those yards and two of those touchdowns going to top target, Justin Jaworski.   The Vikings play this Friday night at home against Frankford, while Downingtown West plays home against Wayne Valley.