Pennsbury defeated Perkiomen Valley 41-28 in Saturday night’s District One Quad-A quarterfinal game to make it an All-SOL district semifinal next wek.
PIAA Quad-A District One Quarterfinal Game
# 1-15 PENNSBURY 41, # 1-10 PERKIOMEN VALLEY 28
Pennsbury is the # 15 seed in the PIAA Quad-A District One playoffs – but the Falcons (SOL National Conference) are also the defending District One champions.
And Pennsbury (9-3) played more like the defending district champion – especially in the second half – as the Falcons advanced to the semifinals with the convincing 41-28 victory over the 10th-seeded Vikings. Perkiomen Valley (10-2) finished the regular season in second place to unbeaten Spring-Ford in the Pioneer Athletic Conference.
The Black and Orange will complete an all Suburban One League final four along with # 3 Upper Dublin (SOL American Conference), # 9 North Penn (SOL National Conference), and # 13 Neshaminy (SOL National Conference) with the victory. Pennsbury will play at Upper Dublin (12-0) on Friday in one semifinal, while Neshaminy (9-3) will play at North Penn (10-2) in the other Friday night semifinal.
Last year the Falcons and the Cardinals also played in the PIAA Quad-A District One semifinals as Pennsbury soared to a 25-14 home victory. In this year’s rematch – Upper Dublin will have that home field advantage.
But before that could happen, the Falcons needed to take care of business against a high-powered Perkiomen Valley offense. And after a back-and-forth first half – Pennsbury was tied 21-21 with the Vikings.
The Falcons took a 7-0 lead on their first possession as they marched 75 yards on 14 plays. Senior quarterback Mike Alley completed his only pass of the drive when he fired a 23-yard scoring aerial to senior Luke Snyder. Sophomore Chris Knop added the point after touchdown for Pennsbury.
Perkiomen Valley answered back with a 32-yard touchdown pass from one of the most prolific passers in the area – Stephen Sturm – to the PAC-10’s leading receiver – Justin Jaworski. The PAT was blocked – and the Falcons held a 7-6 lead.
The lead expanded to 14-6 in the blink of an eye as Junior Nate Bost cradled the ensuing kickoff on his own three-yard line and jetted 97-yards to the Viking end zone. Knop was perfect on the placement. Perkiomen Valley – again – answered quickly. Sturm culminated a long Viking touchdown drive with a one-yard burst – and Sturm hit Jaworski with a two-point conversion to knot the score at 14-14.
Pennsbury led 21-14 after Alley scored a second period touchdown on a nifty nine-yard run. Knop was once again perfect on the extra point. Perkiomen Valley – still again – answered quickly. Ronnie Arch capped a Viking scoring drive with a one-yard touchdown burst, and Garrett Patla added the PAT to knot the score at 21-21.
The Vikings had few answers in the second half as the Falcons scored the next 20 points, outscoring their hosts 20-7 in the final 24 minutes.
The first Pennsbury scoring march of the second half culminated with a Rob Daly 10-yard bolt; Alley capped a third quarter scoring march with a two-yard run; and Alley concluded the Falcon scoring with a nine-yard scoring jaunt in the fourth period to give Pennsbury a commanding 41-21 lead. Sturm concluded the scoring in the game for PV with a meaningless four-yard touchdown run late in the game.
The offensive load was carried by the crafty/powerful Alley with the three touchdown runs and the touchdown pass. He finished the night with 82 yards on the ground and 86 more in the air. Daly and Chris Rupprecht each ran for 70 yards. Sturm threw for 282 yards to lead the Vikings.
But the game turned around for the Falcons in the second half with a magnificent defensive effort that generated three PV turnovers. Earning ‘gold stars’ in that second half were Daly, Snyder, Tyrone Hodges, Joe Mauer, and Jeremiah Wells.
Pennsbury Falcons 14 7 13 7 * 41
Perkiomen Valley Vikings 14 7 0 7 * 28
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