Fleetwood suffers another tough loss to Upper Perk
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
By Matt Hagy — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
PENNSBURG — It was an all too familiar feeling for Fleetwood at a familiar venue. For a second straight season, the Tigers were dealt a heartbreaking loss at Upper Perkiomen’s Bill Keeny Stadium.
Behind a late fourth-quarter touchdown and red zone stop, the Indians won a thrilling 28-21 non-league contest over the Tigers on Friday night.
“We fought and fought, and I am so proud of my guys despite the result,” Fleetwood head coach Steve Pangburn said. “It is a shame the game had to end on a holding call at the 5-yard line.”
The play Pangburn was referring to was a 5-yard touchdown run by Trey Killian nullified by a holding call on Fleetwood’s final drive of the game that would have given the Tigers a chance to possibly tie or win the game.
Upper Perkiomen’s win over Fleetwood (1-1) comes one year after rallying from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to defeat the Tigers 28-24.
“Fleetwood is always a strong team,” Upper Perkiomen head coach Dan Heinrichs said. “Steve always has his boys ready to play when they come down here. We knew they were going to give us a fight coming in and they sure did not let us down.”
Upper Perkiomen (2-0) of the Pioneer Athletic Conference (PAC) missed a 39-yard field goal after a strange bounce allowed the Indians to recover the opening kickoff. Following a scoreless first quarter, a high snap on a Fleetwood punt in the opening minute of the second quarter set Upper Perkiomen up in Tigers territory. The Indians got on the board when Zach Schwartz scored an 11-yard rushing touchdown on third-and-4.
Fleetwood countered with a 1-yard touchdown run from Tristin McFarland to make it 7-6 following a blocked extra point. The Tigers primarily used Chase Domenech at quarterback in the first quarter before a change to McFarland got the Fleetwood offense moving.
“He is a special player,” Pangburn said. “Tristin ran out of gas at some points during the game but you can see he did some great things with his legs and his arm tonight.”
McFarland scored three touchdowns on the ground and totaled 203 yards of total offense behind 118 rushing yards on 24 carries while throwing for another 85.
Fleetwood struggled to contain the Indians rushing attack by allowing a combined 212 yards 39 carries that averaged out to 5.4 yards per rush. The Indians went straight back to the ground after McFarland’s first touchdown and took the lead back when Brody Weiss scampered for a 24-yard touchdown to make it 14-6 with just 2:57 left in the first half.
Weiss caused issues to the Tigers on both sides of the ball by rushing for 76 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown and registering 15 total tackles on defense.
McFarland ran the two-minute offense to perfection and scored his second touchdown on the ground from 2 yards out before finding Landon Hare to tie the game at 14-14 on a two-point conversion.
McFarland’s resilience helped guide the Tigers to another game-tying score with a 20-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter.
Fleetwood went back to Chase Domenech to start the fourth quarter and he was intercepted by the Indians’ Benjamin Sands which set Upper Perkiomen up to take the lead at 28-21 following a 4-yard touchdown run from O’Donnell with just over nine minutes remaining.
The Tigers gained new life after turning the ball over on downs when Brady Nowotarski intercepted O’Donnell with just over four minutes left in regulation and returned it to the Indians 18-yard line.
However, Fleetwood ultimately could not overcome the holding penalty as a sack followed by an incompletion well short of the goal line sealed the win for the Indians.
“We have to learn from tonight quick,” Pangburn said. “We went 11 ½ rounds tonight and we just have to finish that last half round. Penalty or not we have to punch it in there at the end.”
Fleetwood will host Schuylkill Valley next week in a Lancaster-Lebanon League crossover game.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Fleetwood | 0 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| Upper Perkiomen | 0 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
Scoring summary
| 2 | Upper Perkiomen | Schwartz, 11 run (Lash kick) | 8:28 |
| 2 | Fleetwood | McFarland,1 run (kick blocked) | 4:22 |
| 2 | Upper Perkiomen | Weiss, 24 run (Lash kick) | 2:57 |
| 2 | Fleetwood | McFarland, 2 run (Mcfarland pass) | 0:22 |
| 3 | Upper Perkiomen | Delzingaro, 18 pass from O’Donnell (Lash kick) | 7:18 |
| 3 | Fleetwood | McFarland, 20 run (Cappellano kick) | 4:05 |
| 4 | Upper Perkiomen | O’Donnell, 4 run (Lash kick) | 9:31 |
| FLEETWOOD | UPPER PERKIOMEN | |
| First downs | 16 | 15 |
| Rushes-yards | 47-147 | 39-212 |
| Passing yards | 85 | 59 |
| Total yards | 232 | 271 |
| Passes | 5-12-1 | 3-9-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 1-41.0 | 1-31.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 4-24 | 6-48 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Fleetwood: McFarland 24-118, Petio 8-26, Hare 3-12, Killian 2-8, C. Domenech 7-3, Moore 3-(-20).
Upper Perkiomen: Weiss 10-76, Schwartz 14-63, Adam 9-53, O’Donnell 2-11, Krier 2-10, TEAM 2-(-1).
PASSING
Fleetwood: McFarland 5-8-0–85, C. Domenech 0-4-1–0.
Upper Perkiomen: O’Donnell 3-9-1– 59.
RECEIVING
Fleetwood: Moore 3-62, Hare 1-15, Killian 1-8.
Upper Perkiomen: Schwartz 1-25, Delzingaro 1-18, Void 1-16.
INTERCEPTIONS
Fleetwood: Nowotarski.
Upper Perkiomen: Sands.
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Upper Perkiomen: Lash 39.
