PHYSICAL BEARS COME UP SHORT

BY RICH ZIEMBA READING EAGLE

BOYERTOWN PA 10/11/1985

Boyertown failed in its fifth attempt at a Ches Mont League victory Friday night, but succeeded in furthering its nasty reputation. 

If they gave out points for hard hits, the Bears would never lose a game.

The Bears did lose again, but they made believers out of another opponent.  This time, it was the visiting West Chester Henderson walking away with a 21-16 vicotry and its share of hurts. 

“Boyertown dominated the line of scrimmage,” said Henderson coach Mike Hancock, breaking the game down into the basic struggle.  “There’s no question they beat us in the trenches and beat us all night long.”

It seems we’ve heard similar lines of praise for the Bears before. 

“This is what makes it seem so frustrating,” said Boyertown coach Don Grim.  “The boys go out every week and give us their maximum effort.  We can’t ask for anything more, and we can’t fault them.”

Henderson (4-1, 5-1) managed to stay in the race for the league title by using its passing game to score 21 points in the first half.  Then the Warriors just hung on. 

And Boyertown (0-5, 1-5), down 21-10 at the half, kept hammering back.  But the Bears couldn’t nail down their first league win.

“We were pleased that we came from behind and moved into a position to win,” Grim said.  “In some of our other games, we did not move into a position to win late in the game.”

The crucial play was a roughing the punter call against Boyertown late in the third period on a punt the Bears claimed was partially blocked.

The Bears had pulled to within 21-16 on a 1 yard Eric Irey touchdown run with 2:34 to play in the third quarter. 

And when Boyertown linebacker Joe Dobry sacked quarterback Dave DeHass on third down, the Warriors were forced to punt from their 38.

Punter Terry Young, who dropped a snap on Henderson’s first punt, then either shanked one o r had the punt eventually blocked, and it traveled just 20 yards to the Boyertown 42. 

Young was knocked down by a Boyertown player, and an official called the Bears for roughing. 

The Boyertown coaches vehemently argued to no avail.  Nose guard Denny Archambault said he got a hand on the punt. 

“We called a timeout to talk to the referee,” Grim said, “but he wouldn’t come over and talk.  I think that’s ignorant.”

Henderson after taking over with a first down at the Boyertown 47, ran off six plays before stalling. 

Boyertown never moved farther than it’s 36. 

“I didn’t see what happened on the punt,” Hancock said.  “I was looking downfield.  I guess they thought the punt was blocked and there wasn’t any roughing.  But I don’t know for sure.”

Boyertown held a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter after a 32 yard field goal by Dobry.  Boyertown had tied it 7-7 on a 16 yard run by Danny Hamm who had 92 yards on 12 carries. 

Irey led all rushers with 99 yards on 16 carries. 

Henderson recaptured the lead with 8:06 left in the half on a tough 8 yard touchdown by Toye Majors, who broke two tackles in the backfield, turned the corner, and tight roped down the sideline.

The Warriors went up 21-10 five minutes later on a 2 yard touchdown pass from DeHass to Mark Eadle and the last of three placements by Steve Raihall.  Eadle had five catches for 66 yards. 

That score was set up by Fran Downs recovery of a fumble by quarterback Keith Grim at the Boyertown 19. 

Said Hancock: “I’m just glad it’s over.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEST CHESTER HENDERSON                                       7              14           0              0              --             21

BOYERTOWN                                                                     7              3              6              0              --             16

 

SCORING             WCH      LUND 1 RUN YARD RUN (RAIHALL KICK)

                                BOY        HAMM 16 YARD RUN (DOBRY KICK)

                                BOY        DOBRY 32 YARD FIELD GOAL

                                WCH      MAJORS 3 YARD RUN (RAIHALL KICK)

                                WCH      EADLE 2 YARD PASS FROM DEHASS (RAIHALL KICK)

                                BOY        IREY 1 YARD RUN (PASS FAILED)

 

RUSHING: HENDERSON: LUND 16-49, DEHASS 10-(-24), MAJORS 12-32, SPRIGGS 4-13, SANDERSON 2-2

                   BOYERTOWN: IREY 16-99, MUSSELMAN 3-16, HAMM 12-92, GRIM 4-(-25)

 

RECEIVING: HENDERSON: EADLE 5-56, CLEMONS 1-13, WAQRRINGTON 2-52, SPRIGGS 2-15

                      BOYERTOWN: WEIGNER 2-23, IREY 2-(-8), MUSSELMAN 1-20

 

PASSING: HENDERSON: DEHASS 10-16-146 YARDS

                  BOYERTOWN: GRIM 5-10-35 YARDS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STATISTICS                                                          WCH                                      BOY

FIRST DOWNS                                                    12                                           12          

RUSHING YARDAGE                                        44-72                                     35-182

PASSING YARDAGE                                         146                                         35

TOTAL YARDAGE                                              218                                         217

PASSES                                                                 10-16-0                                 5-10-0

FUMBLES LOST                                                  0-0                                          2-2         

PUNTS                                                                  4-28.2                                    2-45.5

PENALTIES                                                          2-10                                       5-45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEARS BEAT POTTSGROVE ON LATE TD

BY RICH ZIEMBA READING EAGLE

POTTSTOWN PA 10/19/1985

Pottsgrove bombed, bombed, bombed, and then got bombed Saturday. 

Boyertown which allowed more than 240 passing yards to Pottsgrove, came back to win 20-16 on a 60 yard touchdown pass with 1:16 left from Keith Grim to wingback Brian Musselman. 

It was a stunning ending to a well-played game that featured the passing of Pottsgrove’s Chris Lucci and the running of Boyertown’s Eric Irey.

Lucci was 15 for 28 for 243 yards and an interception that came on the game’s final play.  Irey  rushed for 129 yards on 18 carries, including a 2 yard touchdown. 

Lucci threw touchdown passes of 53 yards to Eric Brown and 33 yards to Mark Christman to give the Falcons a 16-7 lead with five minutes left in the third quarter. 

Lucci had a 16 yard touchdown pass to Christman called back in the first quarter on an illeagle motion call.  The Falcons also missed field goal attempts of 36 and 42 yards by Jeff Fanok.  Both were long enough, but wide right. 

But in the end, it was the Grim-Musselman hookup that most will remember.  On a third and 10, with 1:25 to go.  The Bears called for a triple fly pattern play.  With the split end and wide receiver streaking down either sideline, Musselman ran down the middle.  Grim hit him in stride with a 30 yard pass, and Musselman took it the rest of the way. 

Musselman finished with four catches for 118 yards. 

“(Assistant coach) Mike Lunn called that one.” Said Bears head coach Don Grim.  “We’ve been hoping all year that we could get Brian into a position where he can use his speed.  He’s been kind of frustrated. 

“I just talked to him in the locker room.  He said when he caught that ball, he just ran as hard as he could.  He wasn’t going to let anyone catch him.”

He wasn’t going to let anyone catch him because he was carrying the Bears first Ches Mont League win.

It was strange to see the Bears (1-5 league, 2-5 overall) win on a long pass, since it was Lucci – the league’s top passer – who had been picking apart defenses. 

But it was not strange to see the Boyertown defense set up the winning touchdown by stopping a Pottsgrove drive.  Defense has been the one thing the Bears have been able to depend on this year. 

 

Pottsgrove (1-5, 2-5) took over on downs on its 45 with about six minutes left.  The Falcons got one first down, but then Jeff Hussar stuffed running back Mike Mills with a chilling hit for a yard loss.  After a third down pass by Lucci was overthrown, the Falcons tried a fake punt, but Dave Sostak was dropped for a loss, giving the Bears the ball at their 40. 

Two plays later, Grim hit Musselman with the winning touchdown. 

The last Pottsgrove threat ended when mark Minzola intercepted Lucci at the Boyertown 9. 

“Pottsgrove is one of the top passing teams,” Grim said.  “We figured with our line and linebackers, we could probably control the run.  But we were concerned with their passing attack.”

Lucci made that apparent on the games second play when he hit brown (four catches for 129 yards) with a 43 yarder Pottsgrove had to settle for a 36 yard field goal attempt, but Fanok’s kick was ruled to have gone directly over the right upright. 

Boyertown scored on its first possession, sparked by an Irey run of 51 yards to the 24.  Grim (8 for 13, 151 yards, no interceptions) then hit Musselman for a 22 yard pass to the 2, setting up Irey’s dive. 

Pottsgrove had its touchdown called back on the next possession, but the Falcons finally scored the third time around.  And it didn’t take long.  On the second play of the second quarter, Lucci hit Brown for the 53 yarder. 

The Falcons went up 16-7 on Christman’s 33 yard catch in the third quarter.  Christman had seven catches for 71 yards. 

After that touchdown, Lucci threw to Drew Piacine for a two point conversion.  Piacine just barely got the ball over the goal line, and the Bears defenders argued the call. 

“That call really got the guys upset,” Grim said.  “When they came off the field, we told them to go do something about it on the field, instead of just complaining.”

The Bears did that.  They put together their longest drive – 76 yards in 12 plays – and pulled to within 16-13 with 11:16 left on Grim’s 8 yard pass to Ray Bunn, who made a gutty catch at the goal line between two defenders. 

So, it was two bears passes that in the end shot down the Falcons. 

Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Pottsgrove coach Ken Harclerode said.  “And we couldn’t move the ball at the end when we had to.”

 

 

 

BOYERTOWN                                     7              0              0              13           --             20

POTTSGROVE                                    0              8              8              0              --             16

 

SCORING             BOY        IREY 2 YARD RUN (DOBRY KICK)

                                PGR       BROWN 53 YARD PASS FROM LUCCI (MILLS RUN)

                                PGR       CHRISTMAN 33 YARD PASS FROM LUCCI (PIACINE PASS FROM LUCCI)

                                BOY        BUNN 8 YARD PASS FROM GRIM (KICK FAILED)

                                BOY        MUSSELMAN 60 YARD PASS FROM GRIM (DOBRY KICK)

 

RUSHING: BOYERTOWN: MUSSELMAN 2-6, IREY 18-129, HAMM 2-13, MINZOLA 5-18, LAWS 1-4,

                                             GRIM 1-1

                   POTTSGROVE: MILLS 10-35, SGARIATA 13-43, BRINKLEY 1-6, LUCCI 3-5, WILLIAMS 1-2

                                             SOSTAK 1-2

 

RECEIVING: BOYERTOWN: MUSSELMAN 4-118, MINZOLA 1-6, IREY 2-17, LAWS 1-10

                      POTTSGROVE: BROWN 4-129, CHRISTMAN 7-71, PIACINE 3-30, SGARLATA 1-13

 

PASSING: BOYERTOWN: GRIM 8-3-151 YARDS

                  POTTSGROVE: LUCCI 15-28-239 YARDS- 1 INTERCEPTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

STATISTICS                                                          BOY                                        PGRV

FIRST DOWNS                                                    13                                           15

RUSHING YARDAGE                                        31-171                                   29-93

PASSING YARDAGE                                         151                                         243

TOTAL YARDAGE                                              322                                         336

PASSES                                                                 8-13-0                                   15-28-1

FUMBLES LOST                                                  1-1                                          1-1

PUNTS                                                                  3-27.0                                    2-27.5

PENALTIES                                                          5-33                                       2-10