Heinrichs and Upper Perkiomen football are ready for the next steps in Year 2

It’s more than just a coaching job for Upper Perk second-year man Dan Heinrichs.

A 2013 alum and a teacher at UP, Heinrichs has a connection to Upper Perkiomen that extends beyond the walls of the school, into the community and back to teams and players of the past.

It’s why he’s so intent on turning the Indians into a winner.

“We’re young, we’re excited and we’re a year older,” Heinrichs said. “I keep telling the guys the sky’s the limit. Our motto is ‘we over me’ and that’s really been a focus this year – putting our team before ourselves and putting our town before ourselves and realizing that this whole community will really rally.”

After a 1-9 campaign in his debut, Heinrichs had a full offseason with his group heading into 2024. He established a lifting plan early, got his team to do a speed camp in the summer and competed in 7-on-7 against some pretty good teams.

Helped by a large returning group, he’s seen his roster size go up and things run smoother this offseason.

“The relationship with the guys was established last year, but I feel like it definitely got stronger between the players and myself,” Heinrichs said.

Upper Perk was very young a season ago with just six seniors on the roster and only about two or three of them regular starters.

The Indians are still young with around five seniors currently slated into starting spots, but they also have a lot of experience returning at key spots on the field.

Heinrichs has his leading passer, two leading rushers and leading receiver all back in the mix.

Junior quarterback Logan O’Donnell (757 yards, 10 TDs), senior running back/safety Zach Schwartz (705 yards, 5 TDs), junior running back/linebacker Brody Weiss (510 yards, 5 TDs) and senior defensive back/wide receiver Mason Void (23 catches, 377 yards, 5 TDs) give offensive coordinator Matt Pirolli plenty to work with.

They have four returners — senior Jonathan Strohl, juniors Maddux Diaz and Tice Hallman, and sophomore Dylan Marshall — to protect them on the offensive line, all of whom are 6-foot and above with size.

“I think our offense is to a point now where we can adapt on the fly and the guys are comfortable with it,” Heinrichs said. “That’s when coaching’s fun, when you can call something in the huddle and it might be something you never ran before but they know exactly what’s going on. … We need to be better in the passing game for sure if we want to get to the next level.”

Defensively, Diaz, Hallman and Srohl are part of a big rotation up front that also includes sophomore defensive lineman Nate Schramm and sophomore fullback/defensive lineman Braeden O’Donnell.

Weiss, Void, junior safety Zane Saeger and sophomore safety Aaron Maiden are a few others to keep an eye on.

“Discipline and tackling,” Heinrichs said of the keys for the unit. “We’ve got to understand our keys and our jobs, and we’ve got to tackle better. Last year against Boyertown (in the season opener), I think the number one thing we struggled with was tackling.”

Heinrichs picked up his first win as a head coach last season in Week 3 against Fleetwood. He and his team did not get another chance to celebrate victory, losing seven in a row to close out the year.

Upper Perk started last season with a 33-26 loss to Boyertown and followed with a 22-19 loss to Schuylkill Valley. There was a 6-0 loss to Pottstown later in the season and a 35-31 defeat to Norristown to close the year that left the Indians craving more heading into this offseason.

“The big thing we’ve been mentioning this year is putting the nail in the coffin and trying to find a way to be a more mature football team that expects to win and not the underdog young team who’s coming in there and hoping to pull it off,” Heinrichs said. “That can’t be our identity moving forward. We’ve got to have the mentality that we are the better team, and we’re gonna finish games that we didn’t a year ago because of our maturity.”

Heinrichs has talent to work with and large junior and sophomore classes that should give him some continuity to build upon in 2024 and beyond. Now, he and his team just need something that sets them on that upward trajectory.

“Our whole offseason we’ve been talking about the spark that will ignite the fire at Upper Perk,” Heinrichs said. “We need to find that spark.”

2024 Upper Perkiomen Schedule (all games at 7 p.m.)

8/23 at Boyertown
8/30 vs. Fleetwood
9/6 vs. Sun Valley
9/13 at Unionville
9/20 vs. Pottsgrove
9/27 vs. Pope John Paul II
10/4 at Upper Merion
10/11 at Phoenixville
10/18 vs. Pottstown
10/25 vs. TBA (PAC crossover game)