FAIRVIEW VILLAGE - The Boyertown football team had dropped two games in a row coming into Saturday afternoon's contest at Methacton and fell below the .500 mark for the season, officially ending any chance for a Pioneer Athletic Conference title and a postseason berth.

 

But the Bears figured they could still finish with a winning mark for the year and equal their PAC-10 record of a season ago if they could win out the rest of the way.

 

They took a first step toward that new goal with a 42-7 win over the host Warriors.

 

Ryan Schwager led Boyertown (4-4, 5-5 overall) with 117 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries and moved closer to a personal goal of a 1,000-yard rushing season, and Aaron Sassaman booted six straight extra-point tries to extend his streak to 26 in a row. Drew Nicholson gained 80 yards on the ground and scored the lone touchdown for the Warriors (1-7, 1-9).

 

The Bears were coming off a couple of disheartening setbacks, one in the waning minutes at Spring-Ford and then a 20-point loss to playoff-bound Owen J. Roberts.

 

"Two weeks in a row, Spring-Ford we lost a tough one," said Bear coach Mark Scisly. "We had a lot of guys banged up. We had some guys back today and they played well today. I was very happy with the way we played."

The Bears ran for 284 yards, 202 in the first half, and averaged nearly eight yards on their 36 rushing attempts for the day.

 

"It was mostly our counter plays," said Schwager. "There were some things we saw on the films and we knew we were faster than (Methacton)."

 

"They're good backs, and they've got a gigantic offensive line, too," said Warrior coach Bob McNally. "They can move people."

 

Boyertown returned the opening kickoff to the 40 and marched 60 yards on 10 plays, all on the ground Schwager's 19-yard run into the end zone finished the drive with 7:46 remaining in the opening quarter.

 

Bear quarterback Dylan Pasik scored on a 31-yard run later in the quarter, Schwager added a 7-yard TD run early in the second, and Pasik threw 29 yards toLogan Herb for a score to make it 28-0 with nine minutes still remaining until the half.

 

Then Bear defensive lineman Wilmer Barndt intercepted a screen pass late in the quarter and returned it to the Warrior 27. Barndt made an appearance in the offensive backfield a couple of plays later and carried the ball in for a score from seven yards out to make it 34-0 with 1:23 to go until the break.

 

Sassaman booted the extra-point kick for a 35-0 score and the running clock started right at the beginning of the second half.

 

Schwager said the Bears had no intention of underestimating Methacton, despite the Warriors' won-loss record coming into the day.

 

"We didn't want to take them too lightly," he said. "I think we took Spring-Ford lightly and we saw what happened. We just came out and gave it everything we had."

 

Schwager scored on a 15-yard run late in the third quarter. Then the Warriors got on the board in the fourth as Pat McMichael caught a 33-yard pass from Andrew Gannon down to the Bears' two-yard line and Nicholson ran it in from there.

 

McNally thinks his injury-ravaged team is continuing to play hard despite the adversity.

 

"(Friday) was the first time all year that the wheels started to come off," he said. "Today they stuck together. These guys are close. They want to win.

 

"I was glad to see Patrick catch that pass and Drew got some long runs. Andrew Gannon is getting some more experience running the option."

 

Now Boyertown can finish up at 7-5 with a non-league win at Great Valley on Friday and a victory over visiting Upper Perkiomen on Thanksgiving morning.

 

"We're right on track to where we were last year," said Scisly. "We're trying to win the last two games. That's our goal."

 

"Our goal is to win the rest of our games the rest of the year," added Schwager. "We should have some momentum going into the next game."