Great Escape
Perk Valley nearly surrenders 4 TD lead to Downingtown West, hangs on for 42-41 win
DOWNINGTOWN >> Perkiomen Valley’s Brendan Schimpf had seemingly put the cap on a dominating Viking performance.
As the running back plunged into the end zone on a one-yard dive play, the Vikings had built a sizeable 28-point cushion. A little more than eight minutes remained before firstyear head coach Rob Heist would receive his first-ever coaching victory.
Game, set, match. Right? Wrong. What transpired over the course of the final 8:29 was complete mayhem.
An interception, a flea flicker, an onside kick recovery and a fumble proved to be just the medicine Downingtown West needed as the Whippets nearly overcame the seemingly insurmountable deficit, a failed two-point conversion denying them the comeback in a 42-41 loss to the Vikings at Kottmeyer Stadium on Saturday night.
“First and foremost, I’m proud of my kids,” Heist said. “When it came down to it, when we needed to make
a play, we made a play. I’m proud of their resilience. We battled through some adversity there in the second half. I’m proud of the way they stepped up and did what they needed to do to get the win.
“I’m incredibly impressed by Mike Milano’s team. They kept taking a punch, kept getting right back up and came right at us. This game could have went either way. To come out on top, I’m really happy for our players, for our program. This was a big win for us.”
Senior quarterback Stephen Sturm finished the game with 237 passing yards and three touchdowns with top target Justin Jaworski hauling in six receptions for 132 yards and two scores as the Vikings held a firm grasp throughout the game, limiting the Whippets to just shy of 140 total yards of offense while forcing four turnovers, including two interceptions by Rasheed May.
“He ran a flag so I read his hips, committed, saw the quarterback commit and I took my chance,” May said of his second interception. “The scout team has really been helping us in practice this week so I knew what to look out for.”
Their dominance was at critical mass as Schimpf capped off the Vikings offensive spree, the team leading 42-14 with a win in sight.
But from there, it snowballed the entire other direction.
Cole Zapf started the Whippet comeback with a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 42-21. Following a Sturm interception, the Whippets produced another score. Zapf again came up big for Downingtown, hauling in a perfectly placed ball from QB Kyle Geiser (18-for-34 for 324 yards) before shirking off a wouldbe tackler and running 67 yards for the score to make it a two-score game.
A perfectly executed onside kick gave the Whippets possession where they capitalized yet again. Nine seconds went off the clock on the next Whippet possession as the team pulled out their back of tricks, a flea flicker caught the Vikings defense off guard and allowed Geiser to find a sprinting Williams down the seam for a 40-yard score to make it 42-35 with a little less than five minutes remaining.
The Whippets forced a three-and-out and had their hopes seemingly dashed after failing to convert on fourth down deep in PV territory. However, needing to run out the clock with under two minutes remaining, PV fumbled on its first play, giving the Whippets another chance to tie it with a 1:30 remaining.
Geiger connected with Costello on the first play to bring the ball to the PV 29. After an incomplete pass, Geiser rolled out and found Michael Riddick wide open on a wheel route for the 26yard score to make it 4241. Deciding to go for two, Geiser rolled to his right but his pass was intercepted in the end zone. A failed onside kick ended the Whippet comeback attempt.
“There was a million mistakes in this game,” Milano said. “What I’m proud of is their never-quit attitude. They battled, battled and battled and never gave up. We can take great pride in that and bring that with us going forward.
“Losing sucks and there isn’t that much solace in it. But we’re young, we’re inexperienced and we grew. That’s a very good football team, they have a ton of guys back with district aspirations and we do too. We can battle and we are able to play. We just need to be consistent and start better.”
NOTES >> Kenny Costello finished with 67 yards rushing on nine carries. Zapf finished with two receptions for 107 yards and a score. … David Williams finished with 75 yards rushing on 13 carries. Sean Owens finished with 49 yards receiving with five receptions.