LOWER POTTSGROVE >> In several instances Friday, Bryce Caffrey got the decided upper hand.

 

Pottsgrove’s senior tailback amassed more than 300 yards total offense, making him the Falcons’ leader in their game with Boyertown. His individual effort meshed with those of several teammates to help them come away with a hard-fought 38-35 victory in this neighborhood clash of non-divisional Pioneer Athletic Conference rivals.

 

At the same time, Caffrey claimed a distinction over his older brother, Shane Caffrey, himself a marquee runner for the program. The win ended a multiple-year win streak by Boyertown, which deprived the elder Caffrey of a winning outcome during his scholastic time.

 

“We haven’t beaten them since I was in eighth grade,” Bryce noted, citing a 33-0 loss in the teams’ 2022 pairing. “Not having beaten them for so many years, we wanted to come out with the ‘W’.”

 

The slide-breaker was even more memorable in terms of the effort necessary to accomplish it. Boyertown (1-3 overall) rebounded from an early two-touchdown deficit to go up 29-26 near the end of the third quarter, padding its advantage to 35-26 with the second of Cole Yesavage’s back-to-back TDs at the 10:29 mark of the fourth.

 

It took double-dip scoring by Falcon quarterback Gabe Rinda, over the game’s final 5:38, to end the Bears’ recent domination of the series … that, and a stout defensive effort that prevented the visitors from getting out of their half of Pennypacker Field as the final 34.5 seconds expired.

 

“We wanted to move the ball, be patient and relaxed,” Rinda, who collected 227 yards on 11-for-18 passing and another 51 on nine carries, said. “They were playing back, so we took what they gave us.”

 

Its second straight game of 30-plus point scoring – on the heels of last weekend’s 32-12 roll over Norristown – showed Pottsgrove (2-2) to have its offense on track after a combined 30-point output in season-opening games with Methacton and Owen J. Roberts.

 

“The first two games, we were trying to find out identity,” Falcon head coach Bill Hawthorne said. “Now, we found it.

 

“We have a nice rushing attack, and we got the ball into our playmakers’ hands. We have a young coaching staff, and they grew up some more.”

 

The loss came even while Yesavage was giving Boyertown a solid showing. The senior running back blended power and speed on the way to a game-high 174 yards and TD runs of two and 54 yards.

 

Yesavage bulled his way to the end zone 57 seconds before the end of the third quarter. His encore was a sprint from the Bear 46 with 10:29 left in the game.

 

“Having him in the backfield is big,” Boyertown head coach Justin Konnick noted. “We gave him holes, and he got us the yardage we needed.”

 

Complementing Yesavage’s running were Jason Oakes and Anthony Famularo, whose ground TDs – Oakes from three yards, Famularo 21 – enabled the Bears to pull even with Pottsgrove after the hosts scored on an eight-yard run by Mikhi Dargan four minutes into the game, and Rinda’s two-yard pass to Cameron Waller in the second.

 

Giovanni Daddario added a 30-yard scoring catch from Ryder Gehris to start the second half, giving the Bears their first lead of the game, 21-20.

 

“We played hard,” Konnick said, “but at the end of the game they had us passing. We did everything we had to do, but the stars didn’t align for us.”

 

Along with his touchdowns of six and three runs, Rinda had scoring tosses to Deymein Doctor (26 yards) 15 seconds before the end of the first half, and a 59-yarder to Caffrey at the 2:37 mark of the third quarter.

 

He was especially appreciative of the response on the Pottsgrove sideline after throwing an interception to Boyertown’s Cade Sennott inside the game’s three-minute mark.

 

“I’m thankful to my teammates,” Rinda said. “Everyone came up to me and said it was all good. That inspired the team to get the touchdowns.”

 

Additional inspiration came from Caffrey, who was on the receiving end of six Rinda tosses for 164 yards, attempted a halfback pass along the way and handled the team’s kicking chores.

 

“We’re fortunate to have people like Bryce Caffrey,” Hawthorne said. “With all he does, he’ll be the first to say it’s a true team effort. And Rinda became a true Pottsgrove quarterback tonight. He led the team back, and became the leader we need him to be.”

 

NOTES

 

Pottsgrove tried a 27-yard field goal late in the second quarter, but it was blocked. Famularo recovered the ball and proceeded to return it to the Boyertown 49, setting the stage for his rushing TD four plays later. … Tyler Birch and Brandon McGinley recorded sacks of Gehris in the game.