Boyertown outlasts Upper Perk
Bears looking to keep officials quiet this year
The key for Boyertown head coach George Parkinson and Boyertown is simple: stay disciplined.
As cliché as it sounds, it couldn’t ring any truer for the Bears after a 2015 season saw them register 83 penalties, including a back-breaking 10 flags thrown in a loss to Pottstown (28-14) that dropped the team to 1-2 to start the year.
“It comes down to discipline,” Parkinson, entering his third season after posting back-to-back 5-5 seasons, said. “If you’re going to play teams like Pottsgrove, Norristown, Spring-Ford and PV (Perkiomen Valley), you just can’t have the penalties that we had last year. You just can’t do it. That is something we most definitely have to work on and understand that once we get up, we need to keep the foot on the gas pedal and not let up.”
“We can definitely make sure that we improve this year, limit the negativity that occurred in 2015 and make this a positive season,” returning senior wide receiver Chris Berry said. “We shot ourselves in the foot at the worst time. We just need to clean it up, and we’ll do that.”
Without the flags, Boyertown was a legitimate threat each week, compiling its best win in a 45-20 victory over Owen J. Roberts to close out their season on a two-game winning streak after falling to Pottsgrove, 28-27, in an overtime thriller Oct. 23.
Boyertown must find a replacement for dual-threat quarterback Lawrence Garnett, who graduated from the Bears program after tossing for 1,240 yards and rushing for 715 more in the team’s 5-5 season. His 16 passing touchdowns were third in the league behind Perkiomen Valley’s Stephen Sturm (31) and Spring-Ford’s Ricky Venuto (25) while his 11 rushing touchdowns matched Pottstown’s Brandon Tinson’s mark for most rushing TDs by a quarterback.
Senior Evan Giannetti is slated to get the snaps behind center after posting a positive offseason. Despite his limited varsity time last season (no passing attempts, two rushing attempts for six yards), leading receiver Jerry