ROYERSFORD - Spring-Ford put together the type of drive that football teams dream about to knock off Boyertown Saturday afternoon in a Pioneer Athletic Conference contest at Coach McNelly Stadium.

 

The Rams marched 69 yards in 19 plays while running over nine minutes off the clock and took their first lead of the afternoon on an 11-yard pass from James Hoff to Andrew Scanlan with 44 seconds to go. Then Matt Glowacki picked off a Bear pass at the Spring-Ford 10-yard line with 11 seconds remaining to wrap up a 17-14 Homecoming game win.

 

Hoff passed for 129 yards on 7-for-10 accuracy and ran for 50 more and Scanlan picked up 37 yards on two receptions and 73 on five rushing attempts. Ryan Schwager rushed for 111 yards for Boyertown.

 

"I think we finally got together offensively," said Hoff, whose team had been blanked by St. Pius X last week and came into the game averaging just eight points per outing. "It's a big step for us offensively. It just worked out today."

 

The Rams (2-4 PAC-10, 2-6 overall) stopped the Bears (3-3, 4-4) two yards short of a first down on a 4th-and-7 play and took over at their own 31 yard line with 10:02 left in the contest.

 

Spring-Ford needed to convert a pair of fourth down plays on the crucial drive and did so on a two-yard run by Hoff on a 4th-and-1 at the Boyertown 40 and a 21-yard pass from Hoff to Stephen Joyce on a 4th-and-7 play that put the ball on the 14.

 

Then the Rams faced another key play with a 3rd-and-7 at the 11 and Hoff found Scanlan in the right corner of the end-zone for the game-winning points.

 

"Our offensive coordinator did a great job and the kids did a great job executing," said Rams coach Gary Rhodenbaugh.

 

"They executed better than we did offensively," said Bears coach Mark Scisly. "We didn't play well defensively."

Even after the last minute touchdown, there were still some tense moments for the hosts as the Bears quickly moved the ball down the field after returning the ensuing kickoff to the Boyertown 43.

 

Dylan Pasik hit Brook David on a 15-yard pass play. Two plays later, Schwager grabbed a deflected pass and wound up with a 28-yard gain to the Ram 18 with 16 seconds to go before the game-clinching interception by Glowacki.

 

The first half of the contest was a completely different story in terms of time of possession as the Bears controlled the ball right from the start. Four different players carried the ball on the first four plays of the day, good for a total of 26 yards and Boyertown wound up with a nine-play, 80-yard drive.

 

Schwager had the biggest gain during that march, a 34-yard run to the 15, and then carried the ball into the end zone from there two plays later, just 3:09 into the contest.

 

Spring-Ford tied the score on one play, a 59-yard yard burst by Scanlan with 7:52 left in the half. But the Bears went back on top after recovering a punt that bounced off a Spring-Ford player at the Ram 18. The score did not come easily after the Bears were stopped twice at the one, but Pasik finally pushed his way into the end zone behind a good surge by the offensive line on fourth down with 33 seconds left.

 

That gave the visitors a 14-7 advantage after running 39 plays in the half to just 15 for the hosts.

 

"We came out and we knew we had to play better on offense (in the second half)," said Hoff. "On defense we were playing well. They just had the ball for so long."

 

"The big thing is we try to balance the time of possession and control the ball," said Rhodenbaugh. "We felt that we had some big plays (in the first half). We also had some success with our running plays. (Boyertown) did a nice job. They have a nice team, very balanced. We had a good game plan defensively. We had some breakdowns. The kids just kind of solidified things and it worked out defensively."

 

Spring-Ford put together a 12-play, 60-yard drive late in the third quarter, ending with a 22-yard field goal by Matt McGrory that closed the gap to 14-10. The Rams finished with 32 plays in the second half, good for 159 yards.

"We knew we had to pick something up," said Hoff. "We knew we had to change something. Our offensive line stepped up enormously in the passing game, as did our receivers."

 

On the other hand, Boyertown ran just 13 plays after the intermission and gained only 64 yards.

 

"We're just not executing," said Scisly. "But we've got to stop them defensively. We're getting pushed off the ball. Give credit to Spring-Ford. They came to play today.

 

"We've got to work hard in practice and we've got to have some guys who want to step up for the injured guys."