OJR hangs on to beat Norristown
BUCKTOWN » Owen J. Roberts’ Dawson Stuart made it through the first month of the season without throwing a single interception — the only starting quarterback in the Pioneer Athletic Conference to accomplish that feat.
Of course, as luck would have it, Norristown picked him off twice in the first half Saturday night.
But the senior QB stayed composed, leading both the offensive and defensive units in OJR’s 15-0 victory over Norristown (1-5, 0-2 PAC.)
The Wildcats (5-1, 1-1 PAC) defense was particularly dominant, limiting Norristown to 72 total yards on offense. Brendan Krumenacker led the way with a pair of sacks, Ted Bradford added a late interception, and Stuart and others contributed several tackles in stopping the Eagles.
“We put our best athletes out there and give them chances to make plays,” summarized OJR coach Rich Kolka. “And I’m
glad we did, because we may not come away with the win without our defense tonight.”
Stuart picked up the only touchdown of the first half with a 1-yard QB sneak just three minutes into the game. From there, however, neither offense mustered much before halftime. OJR dominated time of possession thanks to a pair of untimely Norristown fumbles.
However, Boubacar Diawara and Zhaffir Satterwaite each intercepted passes for the Eagles deep in Norristown territory to thwart OJR’s subsequent scoring opportunities.
“They (Norristown) switched some things up, showed us some looks we didn’t see before,” admitted Kolka.
“That was by design,” said Jason Powel, Norristown’s head coach. “We’ve
been injured, a little banged up... It worked out for us. We’re young, we tried to be aggressive on offense by throwing the ball. We want to get these guys excited to play every week, and I’m seeing some progress.”
Looking to take the lead into the break, Norristown showed some of that aggression by going for a 4th down in their own territory late in the second quarter. But Bradford broke up Izaiah Webb’s pass, giving the ball back to Stuart and the offense. This time, the quarterback did damage with his legs, moving the ‘Cats deep into Norristown territory again before Hugo Mateos’ 22-yard field goal made the halftime margin 9-0.
The second half was more of the same, as Norristown couldn’t break into OJR territory until the fourth quarter. When they did,
they were again stymied by Krumenacker, Bradford and friends. Bradford’s late interception paved the way for Sean Praweckyj’s 10-yard TD run to cap the scoring.
“We had our best week of practice, in my opinion,” said Kolka. “It didn’t really translate on offense — except for our first drive, which was excellent — but we really played well on defense. I’m thrilled with that (side of the ball).”
“I’ve been playing defense ever since I can remember. All of us have as a team,” said Stuart. “So after those interceptions, it’s in my own hands — all of our hands — to get the ball back and go to work.
“When we struggle to throw, we can run. When we struggle on offense, we can play defense. So we can go head-to-head in practice, and it makes all of us better.”