Upper Perkiomen's football team took its share of turns in the red zone Thursday in its 13-0 Thanksgiving Day loss against Boyertown. Problem was, it was in its own red zone, not in the Bears'.
In the first half alone, the Indians started six drives. Their best field position? Their own 17-yard line.
Four of the drives started inside their own 10, and two of those were inside the five. Upper Perk only had 85 yards of offense in the game, thus, the goose egg on the scoreboard.
"Our inability to run the football affected our game the most," Tribe coach Kyle Mirth said. "Really, I was a little disappointed with the offensive execution of our football team."
Boyertown (7-5), on the other hand, started six of its first seven drives in Upper Perk territory. The Bears, however, could only muster seven points off those drives.
On a field goal attempt by quarterback Eric Reish, they fumbled the snap. And on a fourth-and-two from Upper Perk's 3, the Indians stuffed junior tailback Marc Panepinto.
"That was a little frustrating," Boyertown coach Fred Endy said. "We were just hoping, on that fourth-and-two … we just wanted to delay the game a bit and try to draw them offside. There were some crossed signals, though."
The mistakes allowed the Indians (6-6) to remain in the game, but nobody produced. The most noticeable void was left by tailback A.J. Willouer, who gained only 29 yards on 17 carries. Willouer, who averages nearly 100 yards per game, had been the Indians' main offensive threat throughout the season.
"I don't think it was a question of A.J. not being there," Mirth said. "We just weren't opening the holes up."
Willouer opened the game by bouncing outside for a 9-yard gain. But Boyertown soon closed off the outside, leaving the middle as his only option. At just 175 pounds, though, taking it between the tackles wasn't a choice.
"If you stop him, you really shut down a large percentage of their offense," said Endy, who resigned on Monday after four years. "We saw in earlier games that he was bouncing out and he was successful with that, so we had to keep him inside."
Upper Perk's defense silenced the run, too. Of the 32 yards it allowed on 35 Boyertown carries, 30 of them came from Panepinto, who played his last three games with a slight groin pull. Panepinto also caught three passes from Reish, the only steady force on either offense.
The sophomore quarterback finished 11-of-15 for 191 yards and two touchdowns, including a 19-yard rollout to Ryan Repko early in the second quarter.
Fifty-seven of those yards came late in the third quarter on Upper Perk's only defensive mistake of the game. Boyertown's coaches noticed that the Indians' secondary was fading in its deep coverage, so Endy called for an out.
The corners bit, Mirth said, leaving senior wideout Ron Mossie alone, with nary a defender within 10 yards. Reish lobbed it up, and Mossie jogged into the end zone untouched. Reish's extra-point attempt was blocked, however.
Earlier in that quarter, Indians quarterback Justin Herwig connected with Derek Miller down the sideline for an apparent 52-yard touchdown. At the time, it would have tied the game. But a motion penalty negated it, and the Tribe never came close again.
"That penalty really hurt them on that touchdown," Reish said. "It gave a lot of momentum back to us."
Boyertown defensive back Chad Mackey finished with two interceptions and 38 receiving yards.
UPB
First downs6 6
Rushes-yards28-28 35-32
Passing yards57 197
C-A-I6-18-2 12-16-0
Fumbles-lost1-1 2-1
Penalties-yds5-36 4-45
Punts-avg7-29.4 6-27.1
HOW THEY SCORED: Boyertown 13, Upper Perkiomen 0
SECOND QUARTER
Boyertown 6, Upper Perkiomen 0 (10:52 left)
The play: Ryan Repko 19 pass from Eric Reish (Reish kick)
The drive: Four plays, 40 yards, set up by a 15-yard pass to Chad Mackey.
THIRD QUARTER
Boyertown 13, Upper Perkiomen 0 (1:13 left)
The play: Ron Mossie 57 pass from Reish (kick failed)
The drive: Seven plays, 64 yards.