TOWAMENCIN – The Knights overcame a halftime deficit to beat Rasaan Stewart and the Perkiomen Valley Vikings 40-19 in front of a packed Crawford Stadium crowd. The tempo of the first half and elusiveness of Stewart was demonstrated on the second play of the game when Stewart ran for an 82 yard touchdown. After a missed Viking extra point, the stunned Knights responded two plays later as Nyfease West broke for a 68 yard run to make the score 7-6.
After an exchange of possessions, the Knights were able to put together a solid drive behind the running of West. The Knights’ drive was stopped on the goal line by a fumble. The Vikings responded with a drive of their own which was also stopped on a fumble recovered by the Knights. Behind the hard running duo of West and Berry, the Knights were then able to move the ball and convert on a 36 yard field goal by Ammendola to make the score 10-6.
However at that point the Viking offense took control of the second quarter and behind the poor tackling of the Knights and the running and passing of Stewart and Ryan O’Donnell, the Knights found themselves down 19-10. The speed of Stewart and his ability to either pass or run and avoid tackles overwhelmed the North Penn defense. The Viking defense also took control of the game by stacking the box to stop the Knight running game. In the trenches, the undeterred Knights continued to pound the ball up the middle for small 3 and 4 yard gains. With time running out, North Penn was able to convert on a field goal to make the score 19-13 in favor of Perk Valley.
The second half started as the first half ended with North Penn running the ball up the middle into the gut of the Viking defense. Punishing runs by Berry softened up the Viking defense and the relentless North Penn offensive line decided that it was time to take control. With the ball in Berry’s hands, the Knights drove down the field and capped the drive with a 12 yard touchdown run by West. The missed extra point tied the game at 19 each.
The defensive adjustments made by Coach Beck at halftime helped to shut down the Viking offense. “We wanted to get another linebacker in the box…we switched up the coverage to put another guy in the box,” stated Beck.
On offense Berry continued to hammer the Viking defense with relentless running looking for contact.
“Luke is amazing. He was firing off the ball; I don’t even know how he was breaking 5 tackles and gaining ten yards – he’s amazing,” commented West.
Behind the dominating North Penn offensive line Berry sealed the drive with a 3 yard touchdown run to break the tie and make the score 26-19.
The Vikings came right back with a drive into North Penn territory. Stopped with a 4th down and 4 to go, the Vikings tried a reverse pass trick play which was broken up by the finger tips of Kris Akins. With the ball back in the hands of North Penn and seconds remaining in the third quarter, Austin Shearer went deep to Nick Wright. In a defining moment of the game which also shed light on the character of this team, Wright caught the ball and broke 2 tackles to sprint into the endzone for a North Penn touchdown and a 33-19 lead.
“Nick Wright looked like superman – throwing two guys off him going into the endzone,” added Beck.
The Knights were able to keep the Vikings off of the board the entire second half and sealed the victory with a 1 yard touchdown run by Berry to make the final score 40-19.
“This team is just amazing. We are showing people what we are made of, some teams would’ve given up going into the second half…we picked ourselves up and continued our dominance throughout the game,” added Wright after the game on the Knight’s determination to win. “All this year we all stood by [each other] and never panicked and we came out with a big win tonight,” continued Berry.
Follow the Knights as they head to Souderton High School to face Neshaminy in the District One Finals.
