FOOTBALL: Dominant defensive effort, Hinkle’s 112 yards and 3 TD’s delivers Spring-Ford second straight win over Methacton

WORCESTER — The first month of the season was admittedly rocky by Spring-Ford football’s typical lofty standards.

Already coming off a disappointing 4-7 season in 2024, the Rams dropped all four of their non-league games to begin the new campaign. Aside from a 21-17 loss to Downingtown East in the third week, SF was outscored 97-10 in defeats to Souderton, Easton and Downingtown West. Two weeks ago it may have seemed like a safe bet that the program — now under the leadership of first-year head coach Michael Palmer — was headed for back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 2008-09.

Now? Not so fast.

The Rams bulldozed Norristown by 35 last week to deliver former assistant coach Palmer his first win as the man in charge. They then followed that up with a 35-7 shellacking of Methacton on Friday night in which the SF defense allowed just 160 yards of total offense, 72 of which came on one garbage time play that resulted in the Warriors’ only touchdown.

The team never panicked or splintered in the wake of four straight losses. Now, the Rams find themselves tied for first place in the PAC Liberty Division along with upstart underdog Boyertown, which shocked defending division champ Perk Valley on Friday night. Spring-Ford knows the finish matters much more than the start, and even after handily beating the division’s two weakest opponents, the Rams feel as if they discovered something right at the perfect time.

“We’re all very motivational in the locker room – we never talk down (to each other) and we’re always trying to do better,” said running back Braden Hinkle, who rushed 20 times for 112 yards and three touchdowns. “We started losing some games. We lost a lot of players, so we had to come into our own. I definitely think we did.”

Friday night was a sloppy start for both teams, with the first quarter beginning with four straight three-and-outs before Methacton picked up the game’s first first down. The Rams (2-4, 2-0 PAC Liberty) marched down to the Warrior 5-yard line on their third possession but had to settle for a 22-yard field goal from kicker Ryan Reavy (more on him in a bit).

The Spring-Ford defense, which has played nearly flawless football the past two weeks, helped the offense immensely on Methacton’s next drive when RB/LB Cole Broderick (six carries, 41 yards, TD) picked off Warriors QB Jackson Lecky at the Methacton 14 and returned it down to the 3-yard line. One play later, Hinkle scored the first of his three TD runs with 14 seconds remaining in the opening quarter and the Rams were off to the races.

“I’m just going through my read-step, looking at the receiver, who comes on a slant,” recounted Broderick. “That’s my zone. I just had to get under it and make a read at the quarterback to make a play. We all know we have a job to do (on defense); once we do our own jobs, we feel unstoppable and have trust in each other.”

Methacton’s next drive resulted in one of the team’s eight punts, allowing Spring-Ford to take the ball back and convert another Reavy 22-yarder to go up 13-0 midway through the second. And while the defense was superb, Reavy deserves his own special shoutout. The senior kicker/punter, who is being recruited by Division-I programs like Lehigh, Delaware and Buffalo, is a top-30 kicker in the class of 2026. His booming right leg resulted in nine touchbacks on kickoffs and he three of his four punts pinned the Warriors (2-4, 0-2) inside their own 10-yard line. The only time Methacton crossed midfield was on the fourth-quarter TD bomb from Lecky to Alex Nijinsky while the Rams constantly had strong field position, with Reavy deserving as much credit for that as the defense.

In fact, Spring-Ford thinks so highly of the power and accuracy of Reavy’s leg that they let him attempt a 64-yard field goal going into halftime. It didn’t even reach the end zone, but the coaches giving him the opportunity only bolstered the team’s growing confidence in one another.

“He’s amazing,” Hinkle said of Reavy. “He’s definitely reliable in situations like that.”

Hinkle scored his second touchdown from 14 yards out with 2:05 left in the first half for a 20-0 lead at the break. His third came from a yard out midway through the third quarter, and Broderick, who was kept out of the end zone on an earlier goal-line possession, rumbled 19 yards to the house with 2:59 left in quarter three.

Lecky’s TD pass to Nijinsky came with 7:40 remaining in the game. By that point, Spring-Ford was already starting to call off the dogs, with reserves taking the team home from there. Lecky finished with 104 yards passing but completed just 7 of 19 passes, almost all of them checkdowns or screens that the Rams sniffed out immediately. The Warriors managed only 56 yards on 28 carries compared to 154 on 32 attempts for the victors.

“It feels great, and we know we’re a lot better than how we played the first four games,” Broderick said. “We had trust in each other and we’ve just come out (the last two weeks) and shown it.”

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Hinkle added.

Next up is Perk Valley, who the Rams will host next week in their first home game in a month. This game always carries a ton of juice, but with Spring-Ford now somewhat surprisingly ahead of the Vikings in the standings, it becomes a tremendous opportunity for the Rams. A Spring-Ford win paired with a Boyertown loss against OJR would put the Rams in the driver’s seat to win the division, which seemed improbable as recently as two weeks ago.

Even so, nobody around these parts is celebrating too much, the same way the team didn’t continue to plummet following the four consecutive losses.

“The first few games, we just had to find our groove,” Hinkle said. “We needed to get into a rhythm.”

“We’re not really worried about who (PV) beats, who we beat,” added Broderick. “We’re just worried about next week.”

Spring-Ford 35, Methacton 7

Spring-Ford 10 10 7 0  –  35

Methacton 0 0 0 7  –   7

SF: Reavy 22 FG

SF: Hinkle 3 run (Reavy kick)

SF: Reavy 22 FG

SF: Hinkle 15 run (Reavy kick)

SF: Hinkle 1 run (McDowell pass from Pickersgill)

SF: Broderick 19 run (Reavy kick)

MET: Nijinsky 72 pass from Lecky (Drozd kick)

Team Stats

SF MET

First Downs 13 8

Yards Rushing 154 56

Yards Passing 67 104

Total Yards 221 160

Passes C-A-I         8-14-0 7-19-1

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yds        1-10 4-29

Punts-Avg         4-36.5 8-28.3

Individual Stats

Rushing: SF- Hinkle 20-112, 3TD; Broderick 6-41, TD; Cornelison 1-0; Grant 1-4; Rivera 1-2; Martino 3(-5); Totals 32-154, 4TD; MET- Moran 17-34; Atkins 6-19; Bogle 2-16; Villanueva 1-4; Lecky 2(-17); Totals 26-73.

Passing: SF- Pickersgill 8-14-67; MET- Lecky 7-19-104, TD, INT

Receiving: SF- Kerchner 3-33; Turner 2-17; Wickersham 2-12; Broderick 1-5; MET- Nijinsky 1-72, TD; Villanueva 1-14; Moran 2-10; Andrews 1-7; Smith 2-1

Interceptions: SF- Broderick

Sacks: SF- Stead, McDowell