RED HILL – The snow falling during much of Boyertown and Upper Perkiomen’s annual Thanksgiving Day football contest on Thursday morning didn’t really amount to much … but the snowball effect was definitely in play midway through the second quarter.
That’s when the Bears scored to double a seven-point lead, fell on an onside kick and found the end zone on the next play, then recovered yet another short kick and scored on just two plays. All of that amounted to three touchdowns in a span of 44 seconds, and the Bears would pile up 41 points in the second quarter and eventually earn a share of the Pioneer Athletic Conference title with a 55-27 win.
Quarterback Dylan Pasik ran for 101 yards and two touchdowns for the Bears (8-1, 10-2 overall) and Tom Froehlich rushed for 78 yards and returned a kickoff 80 yards for a TD. John Olson carried the ball 27 times for 178 yards and three touchdowns for the Indians (4-5, 5-7), eclipsing the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season, and Ron Gillespie caught three passes for 50 yards to top 1,000-yard receiving mark on the year.
But it wasn’t enough to beat Boyertown, which will share the PAC-10 championship with Owen J. Roberts, which defeated Pottstown, 49-17.
“Our special teams were key today … Aaron Sassaman with those onside kicks,” said Boyertown coach Mark Scisly. “We just got the ball back and things started going our way. I thought it (the first half) was the best half of football we’ve played all year.”
“Our kids came to play,” said Indians coach Keith Leamer. “We went up 7-0. As the snow fell, it started to snowball on us. They recovered those onside kicks and that was the ballgame.”
Upper Perk engineered a 13-play, 78-yard scoring drive on its first possession of the morning with Olson and quarterback Casey Perlstein (10 carries, 69 yards) doing all of the damage on the ground, and Perlstein scoring the touchdown on a seven-yard run with 3:41 remaining in the quarter.
But Boyertown countered with an identical 13-play, 78-yard march and Dylan Pasik scored on a one-yard sneak to tie the score on the first play of the second quarter.
Pasik thought answering the drive was important to the Bears.
“Definitely,” he said. “We don’t want to be down in the beginning of the game. It’s taken us awhile to get started the last couple of games, but we came back. We showed a lot of poise by the entire team.”
Boyertown took the lead the next time it had the ball as Pasik scooted 66 yards down the left sideline into the end zone, with Jared Von Dohren providing a key block on the last Upper Perk defender. Then Jon Neiman (7 carries, 62 yards) provided another touchdown for Boyertown on an eight-yard run to make it 21-7 with 5:57 remaining in the half.
That’s when the fun really began for the visiting Bears.
Sassaman’s onside kick was recovered by Tyler Mauger at the Indians 46-yard line. A procedure penalty – one of 15 infractions on the day for Boyertown totaling 130 yards – pushed the Bears back to their own 49, but Von Dohren burst 51 yards for a score on the next play.
Then Jake McKee recovered another onside kick by Sassaman just before it went out of bounds at the Upper Perk 39. Neiman sped 37 yards on the next play and Tyler Bogert scored on a two-yard run to make it make it 34-7 with 5:13 remaining until intermission.
“Right there … that was the game,” said Pasik, who gained his 101 rushing yards on just seven carries and also threw 15 yards for a touchdown to Tyler Shaw for a 41-7 margin with 1:36 to go until the half on his only attempt of the day. “Those were great kicks by Aaron Sassaman. You could tell it was just wearing them out.”
Jeff Ellwanger ran in from 18 yards out to give the Bears a 48-7 advantage and start the running clock with 7:50 left in the third quarter. Olson scored on a nine-yard run six seconds into the final quarter and on a four-yard burst midway through the period. But Froehlich ran back the ensuing kickoff into the end zone for a 55-20 lead and Olson’s two-yard scoring run finally closed out the scoring with two minutes to go.
“Congratulations to coach Scisly and his players for a PAC-10 championship,” said Leamer. “I told my kids to never forget it and use it as motivation going into next season.”
“It was a great feeling for the kids,” said Scisly. “The guys have worked for three years, from sophomores to seniors, to get to this point.”
Von Dohren wound up with 66 yards on four carries and Dalton Schaeffer – one of the Bear seniors who saw a lot of playing time – ran for 53 on four attempts as Boyertown amassed 391 yards on the ground on 43 carries.
“A great team effort today,” said Pasik. “All the seniors got to play. The line played great today. The hurry-up offense … we just wore them down today. A lot of their players go both ways.
“That was awesome. I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life. I can’t really say much. I’m so proud that we won.”