WORCESTER — A brief setback against Perkiomen Valley three weeks ago is all but a distant memory as Owen J. Roberts football barrels toward the postseason.
Quarterback Corey Schock threw for four touchdown passes, Mekhi Graham rushed for 118 yards and a score and the Wildcat defense held an opponent to single-digit points for the third straight game in a 42-7 demolition of Methacton on Thursday night.
But the real star of the show? That would be Justin Daubert. The senior OJR wideout/defensive back, whose younger brother Jeremy also makes a big impact for the Wildcats on both sides of the ball, transformed multiple facets of the game at a supreme level.
First, he hauled in a 44-yard touchdown pass from Schock on the team’s first possession, an instant response to Methacton’s game-opening drive that resulted in a six-yard Roman Brown TD run. Then in the second quarter, he intercepted an errant pass from Warriors QB Kolby Howarth in the end zone to thwart a Methacton drive. On the opening drive of the third quarter, Graham briefly exited with an injury, and the Wildcats turned to Daubert, who had three consecutive rushes of 27, 13 and 14 yards that took OJR from their own 41 to the Warriors 2.
For his encore, Daubert scored his team’s final TD of the night, a 3-yard run that was a fitting capstone to the game of his high school career. He finished with four catches for 86 yards and a score, rushed seven times for 76 yards plus another TD and corralled the interception on defense.
“Just got to build off the emotion of the team,” Daubert said. “Everybody does their jobs, so I feel like I’ve got to do mine. It definitely boosts my confidence.”
After a 28-13 home setback to Perk Valley on Sept. 20 in which all of the Vikings’ points came in a brutal third quarter, OJR has responded with three wins by a combined score of 127-7. And while that inopportune loss will likely prevent the Wildcats (7-1 overall, 3-1 PAC Liberty) from winning a division title and playing for a PAC championship in two weeks, the team is still the No. 7 ranked team in District 1-6A.
The offense has a multitude of big-play weapons. Graham, who twice exited with injuries and had a bag of ice taped around his lower left leg after the game, is one of the most explosive players in the league. Ditto for fellow sophomore Matt Gregory, who had two long catches of 37 and 63 yards that both ended in the end zone. Do-it-all Daubert adds another dimension to an already potent offense, which also saw senior receiver Dylan Drumheller catch a 16-yard touchdown pass from Schock.
And that’s just the offense. While possibly overshadowed by the offense’s ability to put up crooked numbers, the Wildcat defense has been equally as superb. In the team’s seven wins, the defense has allowed a total of 48 points (less than seven per game) and has recorded three shutouts. In addition to Daubert’s pick, the OJR defense recovered two Methacton fumbles and got sacks from Angus Smith and Lorenzo Satiro.
“We have some guys who play defense just as well as the guys who play offense,” OJR head coach Rich Kolka said. “It’s complementary football – we play good defense and the offense takes advantage of those situations. When you do that, you’re a good football team.”
Getting back to Schock, a first-year starter who had to win the top job in August camp: the senior has made incredible strides this season. From his first start in which he completed all nine of his passes, Schock’s gotten consistently better each week. Of the seven passes he completed on Thursday (in 12 attempts), four were touchdowns. The first two to Daubert and Drumheller (Schock took a ferocious hit on this one yet still completed the difficult pass) quickly stripped the lead from Methacton, and the next two to Gregory were beautifully-thrown bombs down the middle of the field that made the score 21-7 and 35-7, respectively.
“It’s really easy when you’ve got dudes like this,” Schock said of his offensive weapons. “I trust all of my guys to make a play. I think I’ve made the most strides in getting more comfortable. My first game, I was so nervous; now, I don’t feel like I’m afraid to make a mistake. I wasn’t the guaranteed starter going into the season, so I’ve tried to make the most out of it.
“I’m just doing what I can to lift a great team up even more. All I have to do is keep this great team going, and it’s easy from there.”
“Corey has complete command of the offense,” Kolka added. “He’s gotten much better since his first game.”
For Methacton (3-5, 2-2 Liberty), not much went right after its opening drive. Howarth threw an interception and emerged from the halftime locker room in street clothes, the result of a big first-half hit that head coach Eric Ranieri said made the trainers decide to hold Howarth out for further evaluation on Friday. Brown gained 42 yards on 17 carries and lost a fumble, as did fellow running back Nick Fazio.
“Owen J responded and things started to go south a little bit,” Ranieri said. “We had some inopportune penalties and a couple turnovers that were drive killers. Then we started letting big plays hit, and those are complete momentum shifts. A lot of times (this season), I believe we’ve shot ourselves in the foot.”
It gets no easier for Methacton from here. Already potentially down their starting QB — who also plays defensive back and punts — the Warriors will welcome division leader and likely Liberty champion Perk Valley to campus next Friday.
“We know who we’re playing,” Ranieri said. “They’re a good football team that’s well-coached. So, first and foremost, let’s not get beat by the uniform. Let’s just play more consistent football, bust our butts and give everything we have.”
The Wildcats will be at Spring-Ford next Saturday afternoon, and a win would deliver the program the opportunity to host its first postseason game in school history. Coming off a game in which they gained 238 yards on the ground for an average of seven yards per rush, got another strong performance from Schock, an equally impressive one from the defense and a star-turning emergence from Daubert, it’s safe to say this team is fully firing on all cylinders.
“We love playing with each other,” Daubert said. “Always smiling, always having fun. We all just love playing football and building off each other. We all do our jobs and respect each other.”
Owen J. Roberts 42, Methacton 7
OJR 7 14 21 0 – 42
M 7 0 0 0 – 7
Scoring Plays
M: Brown 6 run (Drozd kick)
OJR: Ju. Daubert 44 pass from Schock (Touhey kick)
OJR: Drumheller 16 pass from Schock (Touhey kick)
OJR: Gregory 37 pass from Schock (Touhey kick)
OJR: Graham 2 run (Touhey kick)
OJR: Gregory 63 pass from Schock (Touhey kick)
OJR: Ju. Daubert 3 run (Touhey kick)
OJR M
First Downs 17 9
Rushing Yards 238 144
Passing Yards 202 15
Total Yards 440 159
Passes C-A-I 7-13-1 2-4-1
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards 9-55 1-10
Punts-Avg. 1-55.0 2-40.0
Individual Stats
Rushing
OJR: Graham 15-118, TD; Ju. Daubert 7-74, TD; Schock 2-16; Dowdell 7-29; Palaia 1-2; Locklear 2-(-1)
M: Brown 17-42, TD; Howarth 4-35; Carter 5-34; Troutman 4-15; Fazio 8-13; Lecky 2-5
Passing
OJR: Schock 7-12-202, 4TD-1INT; Flynn 0-1
M: Howarth 2-3-15, INT; Lecky 0-1
Receiving
OJR: Gregory 2-100, 2TD; Ju. Daubert 4-86, TD; Drumheller 1-16, TD
M: S. Smith 1-17; Fazio 1-(-2)
Sacks: OJR- A. Smith, Satiro
Interceptions: OJR- Ju. Daubert; M- Singleton
