RED HILL — The offensive line has been a key to the success of the Pope John Paul II football team so far this season. Not only for opening up holes for the backs on a variety of running and shovel pass plays, but also as inspirational leaders.
And that was evident once again on Friday night as the Golden Panthers ran up 370 yards of total offense in a 36-0 Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division win at Upper Perkiomen.
Dylan Skarbek ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns for PJP (5-1 overall, 2-0 Frontier), which will travel to Pottsgrove on Friday in a battle for the division lead. The Indians (3-3, 0-2) trailed just 7-0 after a quarter and 21-0 at the half, but Skarbek burst 87 yards for a TD on the first play of the second half to break the game open.
Upper Perkiomen still leads the all-time series, 7-6, but PJP has won the last six meetings.
“They’ve been the one group that has probably been the most consistent,” Pope John Paul head coach Scott Reed said of the offensive line. “There’s four seniors up there. They like to lead the team.”
“We were rusty in week one,” said PJP right guard Anthony Borzillo. “We’ve worked well together the last couple weeks. We’ve just gotta keep practicing and get ready for Pottsgrove next week.”
Upper Perkiomen moved the ball early on the game-opening possession, gaining first downs on a 13-yard pass from Logan O’Donnell to Benjamin Sands and a 6-yard run by Brody Weiss before being forced to punt.
Then PJP put together a 5-play, 60-yard scoring drive in just under three minutes with Skarbek running into the end zone from 10 yards out and the score remained 7-0 heading into the second quarter.
“We’ve gotten better at starting fast, controlling the ball, controlling the clock,” Upper Perk head coach Dan Heinrichs said.
“In the first quarter, it was a one-score game,” said Reed. “They run the ball. They know their identity. They get first downs. They do a really nice job on offense. They block. They run hard. They do some tricky stuff. They’re well-coached, tough kids.”
The Golden Panthers scored early in the second quarter on an 18-yard run by Braden Reed, stopped the Indians on three plays and then scored again on the next play on a 35-yard pass from Luke Terlesky to Brandon DeAngelo.
Skarbek’s 87-yard run came just 24 seconds into the second half and the Panthers started up the running clock when Terlesky passed to Jacob Lucci for an 18-yard TD with 7:07 remaining in the third quarter.
“I think we were better on defense at times than last week (in a 46-14 loss to Pottsgrove),” said Heinrichs. “In the first half, we shut them down at times. But they got some big plays. It came down to assignment defense.”
The PJP defense held the Indians to just 139 total yards, with almost half of them coming when quarterback O’Donnell scrambled and found Aiden Void way downfield for a 62-yard gain late in the contest.
Upper Perk gained only 64 yards on 29 running plays, 28 on 10 attempts by Brody Weiss and 20 on 12 carries by Zach Schwartz.
“We were just trying to box (Schwartz) in,” said senior Borzillo, who also plays defensive end. “We didn’t want him to bounce outside.”
“They’re a good team,” said Heinrichs. “They’re coached well. You have to play your best ball against them.”
The Indians will travel to Upper Merion on Friday.
“We’ve just got to flush it and move on,” said Heinrichs.”Our message this week was every Friday night is an opportunity.”
Meanwhile, the Golden Panthers will prepare for a game that could ultimately decide the division title.
“There’s always something to work on,” said Reed. “It’s going to be a battle for the top of the Frontier.”
“We have to have a great week of practice,” said Borzillo. “We just have to be locked in the whole week, watch film and prepare very well.”
Pope John Paul II 36, Upper Perkiomen 0
Pope John Paul II 7 15 14 0 – 36
Upper Perkiomen 0 0 0 0 – 0
Scoring Plays
PJP-Skarbek 10 run (Simonic kick)
PJP-Reed 18 run (Simonic kick)
PJP-DeAngelo 35 pass from Terlesky (Reed pass to Bass)
PJP-Skarbek 87 run (Simonic kick)
PJP-Terlesky 18 pass to Lucci (Simonic kick)
Team Stats
PJP UP
First Downs 13 7
Yards Rushing 256 64
Yards Passing 114 75
Total Yards 370 139
Passes C-A-I 8-15-0 2-11-0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yds 7-52 5-51
Punts-Avg 2-32.5 8-30.1
Individual Stats
Rushing
PJP: Skarbek 5-114, 2 TD’s; Reed 4-51, 1 TD; Scruggs 8-36; Reedinger 2-20; Lucci 2-17; Terlesky 2-11; Witter 4-3; DeAngelo 1-3; Vernachio 1-1; Totals 29-256, 3 TD.
Upper Perk: Weiss 10-28; Schwartz 12-20; Maiden 1-10; Krier 3-3; L O’Donnell 3-3; Totals 29-64.
Passing
PJP: Terlesky 8-14-114, 2 TD; Witter 0-1; Totals 8-15-114, 2 TD.
Upper Perk: L O’Donnell 2-11-75.
Receiving
PJP: Lucci 3-45, 1 TD; Owens 2-37; DeAngelo 1-35, 1 TD; Baldino 1-0; Reed 1-(-3); Totals 8-114, 2 TD’s.
Upper Perk: Void 1-62; Sands 1-13; Totals 2-75.
