Five turnovers cost Schuylkill Valley, again (updated)

PENNSBURG – Schuylkill Valley coach Bruce Harbach preached to his players this past week that they

cannot win football games with multiple turnovers and fundamental errors.

Seven days after the Panthers turned the ball over five times in a loss to Twin Valley they matched that total in a 31-14 non-league loss to Upper Perkiomen Friday night at Bill Keeny Stadium.

“These kids simply have to understand the game of football,” Harbach said. “They have to become students of the game and right now they are not. Jobs are on the line everywhere.”

Upper Perkiomen avenged last season’s 42-14 rout at the hands of the Panthers in Leesport while bouncing back from a tough season opening 61-0 loss to Boyertown last week.

“After last week’s crushing loss to Boyertown, it was nice to reverse the trend and our guys really came to play tonight,” Indians coach Tom Hontz said. “Last year we went to their place and they really put a hurting on us, but tonight we fed off the energy from our crowd and showed we are a lot better than we were last week.”

The Panthers came out strong on defense by forcing a pair of punts on the first two Indians drives.

Upper Perkiomen kept Schuylkill Valley backed up despite the slow start on offense by trapping the Panthers inside their 20 on both punts. The field position battle loomed large when Panthers quarterback Michael Goad was picked off for the second time off a deflection at the 20 by Aiden Void.

The Indians needed just three plays to take their first lead at 7-0 with 1:23 left in the first quarter as quarterback Michael Boyle found Samuel Carino from 5 yards out.

Schuylkill Valley seemed poised to respond as it drove all the way to the Indians 37-yard line before Goad lofted a pass that was intercepted by Zach Schwartz inside the 10. One play later, Boyle found Chidike Eruba streaking wide open down the right side for a 93-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0.

Goad bounced back on the first play of the ensuing drive as he raced 52 yards down the right sideline to cut the Indians lead down to 14-7.

Goad finished with 117 yards on the ground despite a tough night in the air.

Upper Perkiomen countered his touchdown with an eight-play 65-yard drive to go up 21-7, a lead that they would hold into halftime.

The Panthers made an early statement in the third quarter by driving 52 yards in six plays following a surprise onside kick from the Indians to make it 21-14.

Schuylkill Valley staved off the Indians on a pair of field goal attempts and seemed to finally put some doubt in the result as they began marching into Indians territory to potentially tie the game.

However, the turnover trouble plagued Schuylkill Valley again when Goad had the ball stripped from him on a draw play late in the third quarter. The fumble ultimately proved to be the backbreaker as the Panthers got no closer to the Indians end zone for the rest of the game.

Indians kicker Logan Watkins redeemed himself after his two misses by nailing a 35-yard field goal with just over 10 minutes left in regulation.

Upper Perkiomen’s defense stood tall in the final quarter by forcing a punt and stopping the Panthers on downs just shy of midfield. Schwartz put the finishing touches on the Indians win with a 42-yard scamper at the 2:15 mark of the fourth to make it 31-14.

Schwartz did a little of everything for the Indians by rushing for 129 yards on 18 carries while collecting two interceptions.

Goad finished with 117 yards with his two scores on the ground despite a tough night in the air. He went just 6-of-16 in the air for 59 yards along with his three interceptions.

Dominic Giuffe got most of the backfield carries for the Panthers and finished the night with 92 yards on 12 carries. The Panthers racked up 342 total yards on offense with 283 of them coming on the ground.

“I have been coaching a long time and these kids just do not know how to win right now,” Harbach said. “It is a combination of things right now that are going on right now and we have to figure it out quick.”

	1	2	3	4	Final
Schuylkill Valley	0	7	7	0	14
Upper Perkiomen	7	14	0	10	31

Scoring summary

1	Upper Perkiomen	Carino, 5 pass from Boyle (Watkins Kick)	1:23
2	Upper Perkiomen	Eruba, 93 pass from  Boyle	8:06
2	Schuylkill Valley	Goad, 52 run(Crills kick)	7:44
2	Upper Perkiomen	Schwartz, 11 run (Watkins kick)	3:44
3	Schuylkill Valley	Goad, 19 run (Crills kick)	9:18
4	Upper Perkiomen	Watkins, 35 FG	6:33
4	Upper Perkiomen	Schwartz, 42 run(Watkins Kick)	2:15

Team statistics

	Schuylkill Valley	Upper Perkiomen
First downs	17	12
Rushes-yards	43-283	27-163
Passing yards	59	203
Total yards	342	366
Passes	6-16-3	9-13-0
Fumbles-lost	2-2	0-0
Punts-average	1-21.0	2-42.5
Penalties-yards	9-74	5-29

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Schuylkill Valley:Michael Goad, 13-117, 2 TDs; Dominic Giuffe, 12-92; Brayden Woods, 11-50; Cooper Hohenadel, 6-14; Colby Crillis 1-10.

Upper Perkiomen: Zach Schwartz, 18-127, 2TDs; Kan Krier, 6-38; Jayden White, 1-1; Michael Boyle, 2(-3).

PASSING

Schuylkill Valley: Michael Goad, 6-16-3, 59 yds. 

Upper Perkiomen: Michael Boyle, 9-13, 203 yds., 2 TDs. 

RECEIVING

Schuylkill Valley: Luke Spotts, 2-10; Dominic Giuffe, 1-16; Kowen Gerner, 1-15; Dillon Lackner, 1-13; Cooper Hohenadel, 1-5

Upper Perkiomen: Chidike Eruba, 3-162, TD; Aiden Void, 2-16; Manny Northern, 2 (-1); Zach Schwartz 1-21; Samuel Carino 1-5, TD.

INTERCEPTIONS

Upper Perkiomen: Zach Schwartz, 2; Aiden Void

MISSED FIELD GOALS

Upper Perkiomen: Logan Watkins, 32, 47