Mercury High School Sports Roundup (Sept. 27): Spring-Ford, Perk Valley football pick up wins heading into Friday showdown

Football

Spring-Ford 28, Methacton 7

Spring-Ford isn’t letting the loss of all-state quarterback Matt Zollers derail its season as the Rams won their second straight PAC Liberty contest over Methacton to improve to 3-3 overall and 2-0 in division play. Spring-Ford jumped out to a 14-0 first half lead and pulled away with a pair of second-half touchdowns. The victory set up a titanic showdown next weekend at Perkiomen Valley that will give the victor a leg up on a division title. Methacton dropped to 2-4 and 1-1 with the loss.

Perkiomen Valley 42, Boyertown 7

Carter McCabe stayed red-hot on Friday, making three trips to the end zone one week after scoring twice as Perk Valley won its third straight game heading into the main event against Spring-Ford next week. Colin Sturges also scored for the second consecutive game, and Patrick MacDonald connected with Jon Boyd and Will Stein for touchdowns through the air. Boyertown remained winless in the Jami Sands era and will be at Owen J. Roberts on Friday night.

Owen J. Roberts 43, Norristown 0

The Wildcats got back on track after last week’s disappointing 28-13 home loss to Perk Valley with a dominant shutout over Norristown. OJR improved to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in PAC Liberty play, and the team’s defense returned to dominant form in posting its second shutout of the season. In the five Wildcat wins, the defense is allowing an average of just 8.2 points per game. OJR will host winless Boyertown on Friday while Norristown, which dropped its third straight game, will welcome Methacton to campus for homecoming.

Field Hockey

Hill School 5, Wyoming Valley West 0

Hill School stayed unbeaten on Friday with a shutout victory over Wyoming Valley West of the Wilkes-Barre area. The No. 1 field hockey team in the country had five different goal scorers — Aubrey Turner, Riley Savage, Mae Dixon, Haley Elliot and Ella Kaplan — highlighted by a four-goal second period to put the game away. Tane King and Addy Collingwood combined for the shutout in goal.

Pottsgrove 1, Upper Merion 0

Freshman Lailah Piraino scored the game’s lone goal and sophomore goalie Gabby Yerger recorded a shutout in net as the Falcons picked up an exciting PAC victory over Upper Merion on Friday.

Norristown 1, Upper Darby 0

Girls Volleyball

Pottsgrove 3, Norristown 0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-18)

Pottsgrove picked up a hard-fought, straight-set win over Norristown on Friday, with Rita Whitlock leading the charge with four service points and 11 assists. Other Falcons who stepped up to contribute to the win included Maggie Tecce (eight service points, four assists), Ella Hawthorne (eight kills), Rylie Eisenhard (seven kills) and Sophia Reinhart (10 service points, seven assists).

Methacton 3, Bensalem 0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-8)

Methacton stayed hot in a non-league match against Bensalem on Friday, getting 10 kills and two blocks from Makayla Batten and nine kills and two blocks from Caroline Welsh.

Great Valley 3, Phoenixville 2 (22-25, 20-25, 25-18, 25-21, 12-15)

Phoenixville rallied from down two sets to tie the match before ultimately succumbing to Great Valley in a thrilling non-league Friday match. Kristen Brown had a phenomenal performance for the Phantoms with 16 kills, 21 digs, a block and an ace, while Karley Turner posted six kills and aces apiece. Other contributors included Ryleigh Galbreath (seven kills, seven digs, four aces), Annabelle Collins (12 blocks, four digs, two kills) and Gianna Buce (28 digs, three aces).

Cross Country

Hill School 26, Peddie School 29 (boys); Peddie School 24, Hill School 31 (girls)

Hill’s boys XC squad picked up a tight win over Peddie on Friday, while the girls were narrowly edged out in their race. On the boys side, Hill placed five runners in the top 10: Liam Mpofu (third, 18:08), Henry Zidek (fourth, 18:11), Shane Duo (fifth, 18:15), Richard Liu (sixth, 18:18) and Ambrose Cole (eighth, 19:05). For the girls, Peddie placed the top three finishers to seal the close victory, with Hill runners nabbing fourth through seventh and ninth place, respectively.

Girls Soccer

Pope John Paul II 3, Upper Merion 0