Royersford, Pa., The Spring-Ford Rams relied on a stout defense and Matt Gibson ran around and through the Perkiomen Valley defense to the tune of a 28-14 win and the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship last night at Coach McNelly stadium.
On an unseasonably warm night and both teams averaging over 40 points a game, the expected shootout did not start that way, at least in the first half. It was apparent that Perk Valley coach Scott Reed’s scheme for this game was through the air as quarterback Steve Sturm threw the ball the first three times on their first drive. By the end of the first quarter he already threw for close to 100 yards and his 18 yard TD to Justin Jaworski put the Vikings up early.
From that point on coach Chad Brubaker’s Rams put the clamps on anything the Vikings tried to do. Up 7-6 to start the second half Stone Scarcelle ran around end for an 80 yard touchdown on the first play which began to deflate the Perk Valley defense. For their part, the Ram defensive back seven kept all of the Vikings high flying receivers at bay with a mixture of zone and man schemes causing Sturm to scramble in the pocket more than he’s accustomed to. The pass coverage and the defensive front pressure took a toll on the game plan Perk Valley tried to employ.
Even though the Vikings ran roughly twice the plays as the Rams, Brubaker’s running attack took total control of the game. Gibson’s final totals were 16 rushes for 185 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Sturm, for his part was not on the same page with his receivers with many of his balls overthrown. However he has a very live arm and this Viking team will be a very dangerous one to contend with in the playoffs if the offense can run on all cylinders.
The win caps off a perfect regular season for the Rams (10-0) and should give them a top 3 seed in next week’s District 1, AAAA playoffs. Perkiomen suffered their first loss (9-1) but will qualify for the playoffs as well.
Tidbits: The Vikings 3 Amigos (Sturm, Jaworski and David Williams) are all juniors. Jaworski literally never came off the field playing RB, WR, DB, kick returner and punt. Spring-Ford’s TD makers (Gibson, Scarcelle and Selwyn Simpson) are juniors as well. Expect the same fireworks from both offenses next year. Both schools are within a few miles of one another and many players knew one another. There was an estimated 9,000 people in attendance. Sturm threw the ball a staggering 50 times (30-50-305) as opposed to PV’s 30 running plays. Simpson complimented Gibson by running for 100 yards and one TD. The Ram offensive line wore down the smaller Viking line and senior center Sean Tatum especially was moving piles for both Gibson and Simpson to run through. Perk Valley has had four extra points blocked in their last two games.
Scoring by Quarter
1st Quarter
PV- Jaworski- 18 pass from Sturm- (PAT-blocked)- 4:40
SF- Gibson-46 run- (PAT-Gulati)- 2:21
2nd Quarter
no scoring
3rd Quarter
SF- Scarcelle- 80 run- (Venuto-run)- 11:45
SF- Gibson- 29 run- (PAT- Gulati)- 3:28
4th Quarter
SF- Simpson-35 run -(PAT- Gulati)- 1:55
PV- Sturm- 23 run- (Williams- pass from Sturm)- :30
One Response
Great game and atmosphere in RoFo last night! Great win for the Rams. Good luck to both PV and SF in the D1 Playoffs. Represent the PAC-10. Where is Rollie Ciffo?