A workhorse running back, good blocking and a strong defense can go a long way, as Owen J. Roberts showed Friday night in a 29-0 win over Boyertown at Wildcat Stadium's Henry J. Bernat Field.

 

Hunter Scherfel carried the ball 26 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns for the Wildcats (2-1, 4-3) in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division win. The defense held the Bears (1-2, 2-5) to just 52 total yards.

 

"I don't know if anything was different schematically," said OJR coach Rich Kolka. "We played with a little bit of attitude. We kept the momentum and we kept it the whole game."

 

The Wildcats were forced to punt on their first possession and Jerry Kapp intercepted a pass to end their second try with the ball. But next time, they drove 48 yards for a score with Scherfel running in from 13 yards out with 10:29 remaining in the half.

 

A blocked punt gave OJR the ball back at the Bears 18 and Scherfel ran 13 yards for a touchdown two plays later. Then the Bears took over at the 20 and moved backwards on a holding penalty and three straight losses, the last a 4-yard loss on which Jake Puderbach and Nick Duliakas tackled quarterback Kapp in the end zone for a safety.

"A safety that's momentum off the charts," said Kolka.

 

"I think the major thing was the defense did good," said Scherfel. "That was momentum for our offense."

 

Despite those mishaps, the Bears had a chance to get right back into the game when Marcus Thomas caught a screen pass, escaped from a couple of defenders in the backfield and rumbled 43 yards before being caught from behind at the OJR 24. But again, Boyertown could not move the ball and turned it over on downs at the 22.

 

"One big play and they didn't score on the play," said Kolka. "That was huge to keep the game at 16-0. That was a hustle play."

 

The Wildcats put the game away with 44- and 9-yard runs by Sean Prawecky. The defense dropped the Bears for losses on 13 plays, including two sacks by Duliakas, and stopped them for 0 yards four other times.

 

"Fantastic," Kolka said concerning the defense. "Nick (Duliakas) is every play 100 percent. You want all your players to see that and play like that."

 

"Their defense did a great job against us," said Bears coach George Parkinson.

 

The Wildcats passed only seven times, but wound up with 216 rushing yards on 43 carries.

 

"We had to make some small corrections," Kolka said regarding his team's preparation for the game. "(Scherfel) is there every day working hard."

 

"We expected them to pass a whole lot more," said Parkinson. "I thought they had a good game plan. I think they did a better job than us on the line of scrimmage."

 

Parkinson was unhappy that the Bears once again hurt themselves.

 

"Blocked punt, unsportsmanlike penalty I keep preaching discipline, discipline, discipline," he added. "It's a disappointing loss. On offense, we keep shooting ourselves in the foot."