Trojans prep for Thursday’s home opener
Pottstown gets short week of practice, plays Bangor Thursday
Some teams may not relish the idea of having a game played a day earlier than usual.
But Jeff Delaney isn’t bemoaning that situation his Pottstown grid squad faces this week. He sees it as less of an impediment and more of a challenge.
While other area teams will be hitting the fields Friday or Saturday, Delaney will lead the Trojans out on the Grigg Memorial Field turf for their home opener 7 p.m. Thursday. It’s one of two early outings on the regional scene, joining the “Battle of the Bridge” between fellow Pioneer Athletic Conference teams Norristown and Upper Merion.
In his mind, one less day of preparation for its next opponent isn’t an insurmountable situation. Beating inclement weather last weekend, thanks to another unique piece of scheduling, has Pottstown in good shape.
“Early in the season, it could,” Delaney said about the shorter prep week. “It can be a little struggle to lose a prep day.”
But the Trojans benefited from another different bit of scheduling in Week 1. Their Friday game with Lower Merion was scheduled to start at 4 p.m.; though it actually didn’t start until a halfhour later, the change enabled the game to get completed before evening showers forced the suspension of other 7 p.m. contests and their resumption one or more days later.
“At least we didn’t have to go through that,” Delaney said.
Getting Bangor, a Class 4A school that’s a member of the Colonial-Schuylkill League (Gold Division) in District 11, on his team’s schedule suited Delaney just fine on several counts.
“We like to have matchups with 4A or 5A schools,” he said. “It’s good for us, and for them.”
The Slaters opened last weekend by shutting out Palisades, 35-0. Delaney described them as being “a good, well-coached team on both offense and defense.”
“They have a good quarterback (junior Eric Striba),” Delaney said. “He’s both a runner and passer, so we’ll have to keep an eye on him all the time.”
Bangor has a pair of seniors returning as starters on both sides of the ball: Kael Godshalk and Gabe Woolverton. Godshalk plays both running back and strong safety, Wooverson fullback and linebacker.
Another senior, Luke Chidsey, is a returning starter at linebacker.
Though it lost its opener to Lower Merion 48-25, Delaney found satisfaction in seeing Pottstown’s second-half response to a 4219 halftime deficit.
“The heat got to us, and we were struggling,” he said. “We came out to recoup, and stayed together in the second half.”
Gabe Hicks tossed a 72yard touchdown pass to Dillon Mayes for the Trojans’ biggest play of the game. Hicks added another short touchdown run, set up by a 40-yard run by Mayes on a trick play.
Hicks totaled three touchdowns in the game, also tossing a 12-yard touchdown to Nyles BunnMcNeil on fourth down, which Bunn-McNeil hauled in with one hand over a defender. Freshman Chris Thomas rounded out the Trojans’ scoring with a 40yard touchdown run in the second half.
“We’re looking for consistency on offense,” Delaney said. “We have young players we weren’t sure how they’d fare on offense.”
Norristown at Upper Merion, 7 p.m. Thursday
Last Meeting: Upper Merion won their 2019 meeting, 39-14.
Preview: The latest installment of the Battle of the Bridge rivalry between the former Suburban One League schools pairs teams that went through close opening-night losses. The Eagles were extended to overtime by the Owls en route to a 28-20 verdict, and the Vikings were overtaken by Conwell-Egan 27-13.
Norristown held a 13-7 lead through the third quarter, only to see Bensalem outscore it in the fourth, 137, to make it a 20-20 game. In the OT frame, Matthew Saunders scored on a oneyard run and Josiah Leonard added a two-point conversion run for Bensalem.
Kaden Cruz was the offensive star for the Eagles, scoring on an 89-yard run and throwing a 30-yard TD pass to John DiNolfi. He finished the game with 289 ground stripes. Nate Robinson stood out on defense for Norristown with an interception.
In its opener, Upper Merion’s scoring was handled primarily by Nolan Clayton. The Vikes’ 6-foot-5 quarterback connected with Qwynne Seals on a 28-yard TD toss after CE fumbled the ball away in its own end of the field, and he made a six-yard scamper around his left end in the third.