Pottstown knocks off Harriton
Booker scores all four touchdowns in 26-7 victory
It was going to take something special for Pottstown’s home opener to be remembered for anything but the weather.
Nahzir Booker was up to the task.
In a game that took almost 72 hours to complete, Booker ran for 169 yards and three touchdowns, then put the icing on the cake with a late pick-six as the Trojans opened their home schedule with a 26-7 win over visiting Harriton.
“Just taking it one game at a time,” said Booker.
“One of our goals as a team was to win more games than last year,” he added, “and we’ve achieved that.”
Coming off a 1-9 campaign in 2022, Pottstown’s players and coaches avoided grandiose predictions or statements this preseason.
“Win a few games,” said standout running back/defensive back Dimark Lyons in the preseason. “Do that, and who knows, maybe we can make the playoffs.”
Three weeks into the season, any postseason talk is premature. But the Trojans’ start has made it a topic worth following.
Exceeding a win total of one may be a modest goal, but it’s a meaningful accomplishment for a program that wants to restore a winning tradition, yet realizes Rome wasn’t built in a day.
“It’s been a while since Pottstown was even in any sort of conversation about the playoffs,” admitted defensive coordinator Jimai Springfield, whose group got contributions from several ninth graders due to the absence of some starters.
“But this game with Harriton was a crossroads for us. We’re coming up on conference play, and [Harriton] challenges us from a coverage and personnel standpoint.”
One of those freshmen, Tyson Robbins, had three tackles and recovered a blocked punt. He also rushed for 75 yards on offense.
The game resumed at the start of the third quarter, meaning the two teams essentially played a full half of football on Monday.
Pottstown built a 14-7 lead on Friday evening behind a pair of short touchdown runs from Booker, each set up by explosive plays by Robbins — one a punt block recovery, the other a 66-yard run to give the Trojans a first and goal in the second quarter.
The game’s resumption was a spotty affair plagued with penalties and other miscues — just as you might expect for a game broken into two halves over a full weekend and a day.
But Booker would soon render all the sloppiness a moot point.
After a couple of impressive first-down runs on Pottstown’s first drive — including one where he carried the Harriton secondary on his back for about 15 yards — Booker’s first carry of the fourth quarter saw the senior break free for a 51-yard score, capping a 169-yard performance with his third touchdown.
As Harriton attempted to mount a last-ditch comeback drive with under two minutes to play, Booker picked off a pass just over midfield.
This time, rather than running through tacklers the senior running back/ linebacker showed off his speed, pulling away from the pursuing Harriton players and into the end zone for the clinching score.
The game was the opener of a three-game home stand for the Trojans (2-1), who welcome Executive Education Charter Academy of District 11 next week before hosting archrivals Pottsgrove in their PAC Frontier opener.
Harriton (1-2), in the second year playing as an independent, will host Samuel Fels from District 12 next Friday.
Quarterback Spyros Esposito completed 13 passes for 175 yards in the losing effort. His 40-yard connection with Tyler Sholun accounted for Harriton’s lone score in Friday night’s second quarter.
“We played hard in a challenging situation,” said Harriton coach Justin Mellor, “and I’m proud of the battle we showed.”
The two teams evenly split 22 penalties in the game, accumulating a total of 197 yards in flags.
The Rams played without key pieces on their offensive and defensive lines, but Mellor emphasized the continued improvement and fight of his players.
“It would’ve been easy to hang our heads when things got tough,” he said.
“But we kept playing. That’s what we’re emphasizing, just keep playing, keep fighting.”