PHOENIXVILLE — For Phoenixville, its performance in Friday night’s regular season football finale could not have been a better way to head into next week’s district playoffs. For Owen J. Roberts, it could not have been worse.
The Phantoms scored all of their points in the second quarter and their defense came up with big plays time after time in a 24-0 win in the Pioneer Athletic Conference crossover game between the two second-place finishers in their respective divisions at Washington Field.
Kevin Kingsbury caught a 55-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring and picked up two of his team’s four interceptions on the night as Phoenixville (8-1) held the Wildcats (8-2) to 167 total yards.
“Everybody was really together tonight,” said Kingsbury. “We trust everybody. Nobody’s better than anybody else. We have so many threats on our team.”
“I don’t know what we’re doing, but we’re doing something,” said Phantoms head coach Anthony Ciarlello. “I’m in awe of this team. This group of young men, they love each other and they play for each other. They don’t want to fail each other.”
Phoenixville opened the scoring on the first play of the second quarter when quarterback Talon Romance (6 for 10 for 155 yards) threw a long ball down the right sideline and the closely-covered Kingsbury went up to make the grab and sped into the end zone to complete a 55-yard play and 87-yard drive.
“I just went up and got it,” said Kingsbury. “My quarterback gave me a beautiful ball and a chance to do what I do.”
“He finds a way to make catches,” said Ciarlello. “That’s what practices look like. Kevin’s just the best athlete on the field at any time. They all step up. They all show up.”
Phoenixville got the ball back less than two minutes later on an interception and drove 45 yards, with Andrew Kirk plowing his way across the goal line from three yards out. Another interception two plays later set the Phantoms up at their own 46-yard line and that drive ended with a 32-yard field goal by Ryan Jacobson.
Then the hosts wrapped up the scoring when Romance hit Patrick Carey with a 44-yard TD pass with just nine seconds to go until the half.
The Wildcats were able to move the ball at times as quarterback Corey Schock completed 11 passes for 115 yards. But a 16-yard loss on a sack, a costly 15-yard penalty and interceptions by Christopher Mull and Kirk ended any momentum by the visitors.
“I thought we could move the ball,” said OJR head coach Rich Kolka. “Then we got a 15-yard penalty, dropped a touchdown and couldn’t get off the field on defense early. I couldn’t think of a worse way to go into the playoffs. We were physically manhandled on both sides of the ball.”
The Wildcats’ best chance to score came early in the fourth quarter when they had a 3rd-and-1 play on the Phoenixville nine. But the Phantom defense stopped them cold on two straight plays up the middle to end the threat.
“That’s been the story of our season,” said Ciarlello. “We tend to bend a whole lot, but we keep it going.”
“This week we saw a lot of film,” said Kingsbury. “That’s a tough team over there. Our coaches got us prepared. We saw the ball and did the job. Great defense all around.”
Phoenixville gained 375 total yards and the defensive shutout effort was aided by junior kicker Jacobson, who kept the Wildcats from starting out with good field position by booting all but one of his kickoffs into the end zone. That one was kicked out of bounds intentionally after the Phantoms scored in the final seconds of the first half.
“Jacobson, he’s our 12th man on defense,” said Ciarlello. “Last year other teams would start on the 35 or 40-yard line. Now they start on the 20. That’s a 15 or 20-yard difference.”
The Phantoms unofficially moved up to third place in the District 1-5A rankings with the win and will open the postseason at home on Friday.
“That’s awesome. I can’t wait,” said Kingsbury.
On the other hand, OJR seemed to be in danger of dropping out of the top eight spots needed to host a first-round game, but remained in seventh place according to the District 1-6A rankings after the completion of Friday’s games.
The contest was the first between the two teams since 2021, when the Phantoms won by a 6-2 score in pouring rain at Wildcat Stadium. The all-time series is now tied at 32-32-1.
Phoenixville 24, Owen J. Roberts 0
OJR 0 0 0 0 – 0
PHX 0 24 0 0 – 24
PHX-Kingsbury 55 pass from Romance (Jacobson kick)
PHX-Kirk 3 run (Jacobson kick)
PHX-Jacobson 32 field goal
PHX-Carey 44 pass from Romance (Jacobson kick)
OJR PHX
First Downs 14 14
Yards Rushing 52 220
Yards Passing 115 155
Total Yards 167 375
Passes C-A-I 11-23-4 6-10-0
Fumbles 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yds 4-40 11-115
Punts-Avg 3-32.3 3-33.7
Individual Stats
Rushing
OJR: Graham 10-26; Daubert 5-23; Schock 10-3; Totals 25-52.
PHX: Williams 23-104; Romance 7-29; Wheeler 1-24; Howard 3-23; Kingsbury 3-20; Lear 3-17; Kirk 1-3, 1 TD; Totals 41-220, 1 TD.
Passing
OJR: Schock 11-23-115, 4 Int’s.
PHX: Romance 5-9-147, 2 TD’s; Kingsbury 1-1-8; Totals 6-10-155, 2 TD’s.
Receiving
OJR: Gregory 4-42; Graham 3-26; Drumheller 2-33; Daubert 1-10; Stahl 1-4; Totals 11-115.
PHX: Lear 2-18; Kingsbury 1-55, 1 TD; Carey 1-44, 1 TD; Mull 1-38; Williams 1-0; Totals 6-155, 2 TD’s.
Interceptions: PHX-Kingsbury 2, Mull, Kirk.
