Perk Valley debuts new turf with shutout
GRATERFORD » The Perkiomen Valley football program is relying on a lot of new faces this season.
While unproven, that doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of talent on the Vikings’ roster as displayed by a 34-0 victory over Upper Perkiomen on Friday night at Thomas J. Keenan Stadium to prevent its first 0-2 start since 2004.
Junior quarterback Ethan Kohler, the veteran of the squad, completed 19-of-22 passes for 212 yards and four touchdowns and sophomore running back Rasheem Grayson tallied 154 total yards and a score, while the Vikings’ defense pitched its fourth shutout in five years.
“I think the first game against Spring-Ford it really showed our inexperience, but after that I feel like we’re playing football,” said senior defensive back Aidan Owens, who picked off a pass in Friday’s win. “We’re playing football. It’s football. Kids are going to get into their role. Kids are going to have to do what they have to do and that’s what we did tonight.”
Friday was the Vikings’ first game on their recently installed turf field.
“It was so awesome,” PV head coach Rob Heist. “I’m happy for our community and our district and our program. I feel like PV and the people who come and support us every Friday night deserve a facility like this. It’s beautiful and hopefully we’re going to get to play on it for a very long, long time.
While Perk Valley’s offense moved the ball early, the Vikings couldn’t put the ball in the end zone until Kohler found Dawson Debebe for an 18-yard score with 8:23 to go in the first half.
After nearly muffing a punt and giving the Indians a chance to tie or take the lead, the Vikings went up 13-0 with 11 seconds left in the first half when Kohler connected with senior wideout Kevin Beattie for a 20yard touchdown pass.
The momentum shift continued at the start of the second half when PV marched 71 yards in nine plays on the opening possession, capping the drive with a six-yard touchdown run by Grayson.
An interception by Owens helped set up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Kohler to Jason Posner on the next PV possession. Kohler found Mason Thompson for a five-yard touchdown pass on the next drive late in the third quarter to finish off the game’s scoring.
“The momentum from the second quarter completely carried over,” he added “We got over the hump that last drive of the first half, so then as soon as that happened we just carried that all the way through the second half and played great.”
After winning the yardage battle 67-50 in the first quarter, Upper Perk finished the game outgained 455-180 by the Vikings. The Indians best shot at points came on a second-quarter field goal attempt set up by a 47-yard completion from senior Hunter Flack to junior Logan Simmon.
Flack completed 8- of-17 passes for 96 yards. Simmon caught five passes for 57 yards and added another 22 yards rushing, and Malachi Duka chipped in a team-high 48 yards on the ground.