COVID cancellation delays start of season
Pottsgrove’s cancellation caps unpredictable opening weekend
The Pottsgrove football team isn’t a stranger to what took place Monday. But that doesn’t make it any less unwelcome.
The Falcons’ season opener against West Catholic was suspended by lightning Friday night with the locals trailing 7-0.
Scheduled to resume Monday at 5 p.m., the game was cancelled Monday morning due to COVID-19 issues within the West Catholic program.
Pottsgrove endured two COVID-19 cancellations last fall when the team managed only four games (2-2).
The game will be treated as a no contest, per District 1 representatives. All COVID-related cancellations will be considered no contests this fall and will not influence the power rankings.
Pottsgrove’s cancellation was an unfortunately fitting conclusion to an opening weekend that had its share of hitches.
Boyertown and Methacton needed two days apiece to earn opening wins after also experiencing weather suspensions Friday night.
The Bears built a 21-point halftime lead on neighbor Upper Perkiomen and then finished it off Saturday morning for a 35-12 win. It’s already happier times for Boyertown, which started last season 0-5. Junior quarterback Anthony
Panarello had three TDs (two passing, one rushing) while senior running back Leo Egbe ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
Methacton earned new coach Brian Kennedy his first win with a 38-8 win over Harriton, a game that completed Saturday evening. Tyler WeilKasper fueled a rushing attack with a 163-yard, twotouchdown performance while Giancarlo DeFilippis grabbed two interceptions.
It was much quicker work for a pair of Pioneer Athletic Conference front-runners in Spring-Ford and Pope John Paul II.
The Rams got a monstrous 20-for-25, 303-yard, three-touchdown night from senior quarterback Ryan Freed in a 44-0 rout of West Chester East. Zach Zollers (110 yards, 2 TDs) and Kolten Kqira (75 yards, 1 TD) both caught six passes from Freed.
Senior running back Josh Little came up big for the Golden Panthers in a 43-14 clobbering of Archbishop Carroll at ‘A’ Field in Conshohocken. Little carried just seven times but burst for 202 yards and three touchdowns, an absurd 28.9 yards per carry average.
Not to be overshadowed was Perkiomen Valley’s 3715 road victory at Springfield-Delco. Junior running back Ryan Klimek did it all as he combined for 135 total yards — 84 rushing, 51 receiving — on 15 touches and two touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving) while also kicking a field goal and four extra points.
The rest of the PAC started off with setbacks.
Senior running back Kaden Cruz racked up 289 rushing yards and a touchdown but it wasn’t enough for Norristown in a 28-20 overtime loss to Bensalem.
Owen J. Roberts fell at Conestoga 17-14 as the Pioneers rallied in the final 6:14 for a score and Jonah Stein kicked a 30-yard field goal for the win. Running back Avrey Grimm, the PAC’s second-leading rusher in 2020, got his season off to a fine start by rushing for 238 yards on 21 carries.
Gabe Hicks was 7-for-17 for 121 yards and two touchdowns but Pottstown was handled by Lower Merion, 48-25, Friday afternoon; Upper Merion couldn’t keep pace with Conwell-Egan in a 25-13 loss Saturday.
In Berks, it was a painful start in dual ways for Daniel Boone. The Blazers fell to 2020 PIAA Class 3A runner-up Wyomissing, 41-14, and lost quarterback Carter Speyerer to injury in the first quarter. Backup Dean Rotter performed solidly in his absence (10-for17, 73 yards, 1 TD)