Upper Perk. Game

By Bud Kern
Courtesy of The Free Press

Upper Perkiomen High School's Indians utilized a sure-handed ball-control offense, while taking advantage of 11 Quakertown penalties to hand the Panthers a stinging 23-6 defeat in the non-league football opener for both schools last Friday evening at Alumni Field. Tribe senior quarterback Devin Feighan's 1-yard plunge lifted Upper Perk to a 7-0 lead at the 3:40 mark of the first quarter after Jared Clugston's placement kick. Later in the second period, Clugston booted a 20-yard field goal to give the
Indians a 10-0 halftime lead. Quakertown, coming off a 9-4 season last year, managed to penetrate inside the Indians' 30-yard stripe three times, but could not muster any points, until late in the fourth quarter when senior speedster Nate Cox exploded
with a 96-yard kickoff return. "We were disappointed," said Quakertown coach John Donnelly. "We came out of the pre-season with a good mindset, but we did too much talking after plays and not enough playing when it happened. It was very frustrating and
we better correct it (miscues) fast." A big-time play by senior Indian linebacker Jimmy McVeigh in the third quarter keyed the Perk victory. Quakertown drove the football to the Indians' 13 yard line. However, on a 3rd-and-six, Panther Q-back Jon Ruch attempted to loft a pass into the flat, but the ball was tipped by the agile McVeigh. While gathering the ball in, McVeigh quick-footed it straight to the endzone, behind a key down field block by mate Shea Wisler. "I saw them run that play to the other side earlier," said McVeigh. "I just jumped up, hit it and went." Senior tailback Luke Scherer (24-94-TD) juiced the Tribe ground game with some nifty ball-toting. "After we scored first, everything stopped and we were flying around," said Scherer, who is looking to play Ivy League football after graduation. Quakertown faces another non-league foe this Friday evening, Sept. 10, in Ambler, meeting the Wissahickon Trojans at 7 p.m.

Game Notes
Panther Q-back Jon Ruch on the game: "We just blew it. They (Upper Perk) just flat out outplayed us. We don't want this feeling again."

Upper Perk head honcho Keith Leamer's comments on McVeigh¹s interception play "It was huge, that just really turned the tide for us, because they (Quakertown) did a good job of shutting us down in the second half."

Defensive back and wide out Sean Viers opened some eyes with a brilliant burst of speed to nearly catch the Indians McVeigh on his journey to the endzone. "It was my first game as a starter said Viers. I had some jitters. I felt bad about not making a pass catch after Nate Cox¹s 42-yard run early in the game, but I tried to make it up on defense."

Panther tailback Zach Schoch rushed for 50 yards on 13 attempts and grabbed two passes for 13 yards.

Bud Kern is a freelance sports writer for The Free Press.