Wiggins’ return keys Pottstown
Trojans top Norristown to lock up playoff spot
POTTSTOWN >> Having to watch from the sidelines for the last game and a half, Josiah Wiggins’ stint on the injured list felt like an eternity.
And with a return to the starting lineup on Friday night with a District 1 Class 4A playoff spot and possible home game on the line, Wiggins wasn’t about to waste an opportunity with his return to the starting lineup.
Pottstown’s speedy junior quarterback showed no signs of lingering effects from an ankle injury and rushed for a game-high 85 yards and a pair of scores to lead the Trojans to a come-from-behind 19-14 win over visiting Norristown in a Pioneer Athletic Conference crossover game.
“I’m happy I am back. I didn’t like [sitting out] at all,” Wiggins said. “We lost three games, and we had to come back and get the win to get into the playoffs. We wanted to be the No. 2 seed and get a home playoff game. My line and the team just kept working hard all night.”
Pottstown coach Mark Fischer was just as thrilled to get his star quarterback back into the lineup.
“As I have said all year, he is 90 percent of our offense,” Fischer said of Wiggins. “We said going into halftime that we had to get the ball into his hands. He’s our guy and he’s been there all year so our goal was to get the ‘W’ and we should be in.”
Pottstown (5-5 overall) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard after taking the opening kickoff 61 yards before junior running back Daniel Darden capped the drive with a 12-yard scoring run that gave the Trojans a 7-0 lead.
After a Norristown defensive player went down with what appeared to be a head or neck injury that required an ambulance to come onto the field, holding up play for nearly 20 minutes, Pottstown failed to keep the spark that helped it jump out to the early lead, while the Eagles (3-7) started to catch fire of their own.
Norristown’s defense answered later in the opening stanza when Christian Thomas picked off Wiggins’ pass attempt on the screen and raced 40 yards for the score to make it 7-7. For a while it looked like the Eagles would take their first lead of the game with a pair of second-quarter drives into Pottstown territory, but three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties killed each drive and the teams entered the locker room at halftime deadlock at 7-7.
Pottstown again caught fire in the third quarter, stalling a Norristown eight-play, 43-yard drive at the Trojan 22 when Pottstown recovered Eagle quarterback Daniel Watson’s fumble, setting up their second scoring drive of the night.
Wiggins carried the ball three straight times for 18 yards and Darden added three carries of his own to set up third-and-5 from the Pottstown 49, but a pair of Norristown unsportsmanlike conduct fouls, including one that resulted in the ejection of Eagles linebacker Marvens Ravix, gave the Trojans great field position with a first-and-10 from the Norristown 20.
Wiggins then took the ensuing snap 20 yards for the score, and Pottstown led 13-7.
The Eagles answered right back on their next drive as Watson capped an eight-play, 59-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown score that gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, 14-13, with 8:45 to play in regulation.
But Wiggins again put his team on his back and carried the ball seven times for 56 yards, and completed a pair of passes for 12 yards, highlighted by a one-yard touchdown run up the gut on the keeper as the Trojans regained the lead 19-14 with just 1:28 to play.
The Eagles answered in a hurry with Watson completing a pair of passes to put Norristown in a second-and-four situation from the Pottstown 41, but a Jacob Wise batted pass and two incomplete passes, ended the threat and cut the rally short as Pottstown took over on their own 35 with 37 seconds to play and ran out the clock to seal the victory.
Fischer felt that the field position picked up by Norristown’s personal foul woes — the Eagles finished the night with six personal fouls, a holding penalty and an encroachment call — was also key in the game.
“To be honest, we’ve been on the other side of that all year, and a couple of times in big games,” Fischer said. “We’ve been preaching for weeks now that you have to keep your mouth shut and do your talking on the field. To me, I am proud of these guys. They got the message, and we kept our mouths shut, and we got the result tonight. The penalties definitely helped us.” NOTES >> Darden finished the night with 13 carries for 54 yards and a score, while brother Dereck Darden carried the ball three times for 43 yards of his own, and Nehemiah Figueroa added 12 yards on one carry on the ground to go with one catch for 13 yards to lead Pottstown. … Watson finished the night with 10 completions on 20 attempts for 95 yards and carried the ball nine times for 62 yards a score, while Xzavier Gorski carried the ball 11 times for 65 yards and Zahir Haynes added two carries for 15 yards on the night for the Eagles in the losing effort.