Friday, September 14, 2012

POTTSTOWN-BOYERTOWN PREVIEW

Trojans hope to catch Bears on the run


By Don Seeley
dseeley@pottsmerc.com

BOYERTOWN – When Mark Scisly bid his farewells to Jared Von Dohren, Max Marcus and Jon Neiman last year, he reached into his desk for a calculator to add up all the yards the three ran up out of the Boyertown backfield. Then he wondered where he could get his hands on a crystal ball to see exactly who would be replacing them this year.
Scisly never did find that crystal ball, but he did discover Matt Moccia, Cody Richmond and Eric Heller.
Moccia, Richmond and Heller have combined for a workmanlike 95 carries and eye-opening 603 yards in the Bears’ first two games, good enough to help Scisly’s team to a split … and more important 1-0 start in the Pioneer Athletic Conference.
And the new threesome, along with veterans Nick McMenamin (center) and Austin Jacobs (tackle) – and the rest of the unsung gang of blockers in front of them – will be counted on heavily in tonight’s game against visiting Pottstown.
“All three of those backs run so hard,” said Trojans head coach Brett Myers. “All three are outstanding. I think if you took any one of them and put him on another team he’d likely lead that team in rushing. All three of them really stand out.
“(Boyertown) keeps you honest. They line up as pretty much the same team you’ve seen before, but now they have three running backs who can go to the left side, the right side and up the middle on you. They obviously make you cover the whole field.”
Moccia led the way in a season-opening loss to C.B. East with 150 yards and two touchdowns. Richmond grabbed the honors in last week’s win over Upper Perkiomen with 160 yards and two touchdowns. And Heller has contributed another 172 yards and a score.
In the 47-15 rout of the Indians, the three accounted for most of the 443 yards on the ground and 531 overall – the best offensive showing by any Boyertown team in a PAC-10 game.
“They run all over the field, so we have to improve on our tackling if we want to have any success,” Myers said.
The run game also eases up the pressure on quarterback Griffin Pasik, who has responded with his own offense by throwing for an additional 233 yards and three touchdowns.
“We saw a big improvement in our overall performance from Week One,” Scisly said. “The C.B. East game was a learning experience because we’re so young (only six seniors on the roster). But we definitely made huge strides from that week and we feel we’ll get better as our guys get some experience.”
Getting better is what Myers and his staff has seen through the first two weeks, too.
The Trojans didn’t play quite as badly as the lopsided score indicated against Schuylkill Valley indicated. They played as well as that lopsided score indicated in the pummeling of Penn Wood.
“Our blocking and tackling was much better the second week,” Myers said. “We’re hoping to make that same growth this week.”
Exactly where the Trojans will need it is on the defensive side of the ball.
“The kids are learning a new defense, a defense that I’ve never been part of in my life as a coach,” Myers explained of defensive coordinator Tim Hughes’ 50-scheme. “But the kids trust him. From our first scrimmage to our second scrimmage, from our first game to our second game, we’ve seen the improvement. And that’s our goal … to get better every week.”
That, of course, is precisely what Scisly wants.
“We just want to keep seeing improvement throughout the season,” he said.
What Scisly isn’t happy about thus far, though, are the mounting mistakes – as in five turnovers last week (seven overall) and 11 penalties for 100 yards last week (18 for 160 yards overall).
“I’ll take a win anytime, but all (those mistakes) are unacceptable,” he said.
*
Last week’s Boyertown-Upper Perkiomen affair was the third straight in which officials nearly wore out their whistles as the two teams combined for 15 penalties for 140 yards. But last year, Upper Perkiomen got hit with a PAC-10 record 17 for 184 yards. And in 2010, Boyertown was hit with 15 for 130 yards – the second most penalties and yards in the league’s history. …
*
Congratulations to Perkiomen Valley’s Scott Reed, who picked up his 40th league win last week at Methacton. The Vikings need two more this season to become the seventh team to reach 100 wins since the PAC kicked off back in 1986. … Pottsgrove’s Mark Dukes went over the 1,000-yard mark in PAC-10 career rushing last week, joining teammate Tory Hudgins and Spring-Ford’s Jarred Jones as the only other active players to reach that mark in league play.
* * *
Don Seeley is the sports editor of The Mercury. His high school football column appears Tuesdays and Fridays through Thanksgiving. He can be reached at dseeley@pottsmerc.com




No comments:

Post a Comment