Missed Pottstown take less than four minutes to basically turn one of the Pioneer Athletic Conference's first showdowns into a good old-fashioned Friday night hoedown, returning the opening kickoff and using a pair of Terrence Shawell touchdown passes in a span of just over 3-1/2 minutes to dance by Boyertown, 42-0, at Grigg Memorial Field.

 

"It started with the kickoff and (Pottstown) didn't let up," said Boyertown head coach Ron Zeiber. "They hit us with a barrage."

 

That they did.

 

Chris Gorham took the opening kickoff back 84 yards to start the evening. Just 58 seconds later, they recovered a fumble on Boyertown's 30 and a snap later, Shawell drilled a 28-yard touchdown to Christian Allen. Then, three Boyertown plays and a punt later, Allen ran 28 yards to set up Shawell's 16-yard flip to Justin Gibbs in the corner of the end zone.

 

With 8:18 still left to play in the opening quarter, it was 21-0.

 

And it ballooned to 28-0 less than four minutes later when Allen picked off an Eric Reish toss and returned it 25 yards to the end zone.

 

When James Etheridge pulled in Shawell's third touchdown pass - a 14-yarder early in the second quarter - it meant Boyertown had to score or face a running clock in the second half due to the 35-point spread.

Pottstown never let it happen.

 

"But we have to fight every week," said Shawell, who was 8 of 13 for 135 yards and the two touchdowns - all in the first half. "We haven't won anything yet, so we're just taking it game by game."

 

Shawell, starting his first home game in nearly three seasons because of the knee injury that cost him nearly his entire junior year, looked to be his old self. And so did Allen, who in addition to his interception and four tackles on defense, carried three times for 53 yards and caught four passes for 44 yards - all of that in the first half, too.

 

"We're getting there," said head coach Jody Cwik, whose Trojans are a spotless 2-0 in the PAC-10 and 3-0 overall. "But we still have a lot to work on, and that's my responsibility. But these kids know they have to come out here (Monday) and get better, get to work on a few things that we know we can improve on."

 

It didn't look as though the Trojans needed to refine much of anything, with the exception of holding onto the fumble (two fumbles) a little better and staying away from penalties (four for 35 yards).

 

Not only did the offense seem to be in sync, the defense pitched its third straight shutout - limiting the Bears (1-1, 1-2) to 97 yards, 41 of which came on a Reish-to-Adam Tsakonas pass in the second quarter - and the special teams, from Kerry Sanford's punts, Scott Lafferty's kickoffs and returns by Gorham, Justin Gibbs and Etheridge, were flawless.

 

"We thought we'd come out and widen them up in hopes of slowing them down," Zeiber said. "But we didn't do it. Nothing slowed them down."

 

Nothing sure slowed the Pottstown defense down, which has yet to be scored on this season.

 

"This is really fun," Shawell said. "A lot of fun with the defense shutting people out like this."

 

That defense, getting continued punch from Jerel Garner, Darius Waller, Brandon Nixon, Anthony Smith and Floyd Wilkins, just to name a few, not only blanked the Bears but contained the highly respected Marc Panepinto - who went into the game with an area-high 409 yards but managed just 50 on 20 carries Friday night.

 

NOTES

 

Etheridge led all ballcarriers with eight carries for 76 yards for Pottstown, which ran 26 times for 200 yards. ..Garner capped the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 12-yard run. ..Reish was hurt on the 41-yard pass to Tsakonas and missed the final 6-1/2 minutes of the first half, but returned in the second half. He was replaced by Jayson Repko. The two were 2-for-7 for 48 yards. ..The Bears also were hit hard by injuries, with James Crognale, Nick Deysher and Adam Stinley all taking seats on the bench.

 

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