Revenge-minded Chester topples Perk Valley 19-14 in season opener

COLLEGEVILLE >> In the week leading up to Perkiomen Valley’s first football game of the season, Vikings head coach Rob Heist surmised that his team’s opponent likely had this date circled on the calendar for some time.

A year earlier, Perk Valley traveled to Chester and humbled the Clippers in a season-opening 31-0 victory. Chester responded by winning its next 12 games, not losing again until it fell in the District 1-5A title game.

On Friday night at Thomas J. Keenan Stadium, the grudge-holding Clippers got their revenge, as star junior quarterback Jalen Harris hit Damon Fitzgerald with the go-ahead 15-yard touchdown pass with 8:04 remaining in the fourth quarter. It was one of many big-time plays Harris made with both his arm and legs throughout Chester’s 19-14 upset victory before a stunned Perk Valley crowd.

“Oh my gosh, that kid’s a Division-I recruit for a reason – just a great athlete” PV head coach Rob Heist said. “We had him pinned down a couple of times in the backfield and he extended plays beautifully. He keeps his eyes downfield, and they have kids who can run. It’s tough to cover for that long when he’s buying time like he did. He made some great throws, some huge plays – he’s just a great football player.”

Harris finished the game 12-for-20 for 244 yards with two touchdowns and an interception while adding 46 rushing yards on eight carries.

For Perk Valley, things got off to an inauspicious start even before the ball was kicked off when star left tackle Cole Euker, a Princeton commit, attended the captains’ meeting at midfield wearing shorts, indicating he’d be sitting this one out with an injury. Heist said after the game that Euker will hopefully be back for the team’s next game on Friday against Governor Mifflin, but his absence was surely felt throughout this one.

The Vikings went three-and-out on their opening possession, followed by Chester marching nine plays and 67 yards on its first drive, culminating in a six-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Jah’si Crew (five catches, 139 yards) on fourth and goal.

Perk Valley punted on its first three possessions but got a big lift from its defense when Chester drove down to the Vikings 1-yard line leading 7-0 before turning the ball over on downs thanks to a brilliant goal-line stand. With the help of two Chester personal fouls that negated a third down sack and a lost fumble on the next PV offensive possession, Vikings QB Patrick MacDonald finally got into a rhythm, going 4-for-5 on the drive while also picking up three first downs with his legs. Nathan Reedy knotted the game on a three-yard TD rush with 3:51 to play in the half.

A long Joey Keough punt return after another strong defensive possession by PV put the ball on the Chester 10, and MacDonald scored on a QB scramble three plays later to give the Vikings a 14-7 lead and some positive momentum with 33 seconds to play in the half.

“Yeah, for sure,” MacDonald said when asked if it felt like the tide was turning heading into halftime. “Our defense battled and gave us great field position. Joey had an amazing punt return to put us in the red zone and we capitalized, but we need to be able to put our own drives together. We can’t just rely on field position and capitalizing on things like that. We have to create for ourselves.”

Unfortunately for the Vikings, MacDonald’s score would be the high point of the evening. He threw an interception at the Chester 45 on his first attempt of the second half, and the Clippers needed just two plays to take advantage — a 54-yard pass from Harris to Crew and a three-yard rush TD by Dayshon Johnson (21 carries, 119 yards) to pull the visitors within 14-13 with 5:47 to play in the third.

The teams traded punts on the next three drives before Chester broke through for good. Beginning at their own 13 early in the fourth, Jackson gained 17 yards on two straight carries before Harris again found Crew for another huge play, this time a 55-yarder. Harris hooked up with Fitzgerald on the next play for the decisive score.

Perk Valley scored zero points in the second half, and their five offensive possessions resulted in a turnover and four punts.

“We just need to be more sound on the offensive side of the ball,” said MacDonald, who was 1-for-7 with a pick after halftime. “I need to be better going through my reads and being more efficient. I thought our defense battled all game, and we have to reward them for getting us the ball.”

For the game, MacDonald finished 6-for-18 for 63 yards. The Vikings totaled 98 yards on the ground on 30 attempts, compared to 244 passing yards from Harris and 200 Chester rushing yards on 41 carries. Simply put, PV allowed too many big plays while amassing too few of their own.

“We need to keep moving the sticks little by little,” MacDonald said. “We can’t go run with no gain, incompletion and then it’s third-and-10. We have to stay ahead of the sticks and not rely on big plays. I need to be better and take what the defense gives me. Our guys up front battled all game, and I need to be better in the passing game. We have to be able to compensate as a unit, and part of that is on me.”

“That’s a great football team we just played,” Heist added. “They won 12 games last season and returned almost their entire team. We needed to score more points than that and we gave up a lot of explosive plays. We’ll watch the film tomorrow, learn from it and come back here Monday to focus on Governor Mifflin.”

The team hopes to have Euker back in the fold, though the Vikings could be without Keough, who left the game with an injury that required a trip to the hospital. Both squads had major cramping issues that extended the game to well over three hours, but the cramps seemed to hit PV harder, with multiple players exiting the field at crucial points in the second half.

“In 22 years of coaching football, I have never seen anything like it,” Heist said. “We preach hydrating and getting the right things in your body. It wasn’t that hot tonight, so the kids need to continue to play themselves into football shape.”

All told, it was a bad night for Perk Valley, but it’s a long season. If the team learns from its mistakes and rebounds, this result will long be forgotten. History is on the Vikings’ side that they will figure things out in short order.

“I am 100 percent confident in my guys,” MacDonald said. “I know the preparation they put in. Despite this being a loss and going 0-1, they’re not going to let this rattle them. Back to work tomorrow and focusing on going 1-0 against Governor Mifflin.”

BOX SCORE

Chester 19, Perkiomen Valley 14

Chester —     7   0   6   6   —   19
Perk Valley — 0   14   0   0   —  14

SCORING PLAYS
C- Crew 6 yard pass from Harris (D. Harris kick)
PV- Reedy 3 yard run (Corropolese kick)
PV- MacDonald 5 yard run (Corropolese kick)
C- Jackson 3 yard run (run failed)
C- Fitzgerald 15 yard pass from Harris (pass failed)

TEAM STATISTICS

Chester             PV
First Downs                 20                  10
Rushing Yards            200               98
Passing Yards            244              63
Total Yards                444               161
Passes C-A-I           12-20-1           6-18-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing
Chester – Jackson 21-119-TD; J. Harris 8-46; Palmer 5-22; McDaniel 4-15; D. Harris 3-(minus-2)
Perk Valley – MacDonald 14-59-TD; McCabe 9-33; Sturges 3-11; Corropolese 1-0; Reedy 3-(minus-5)-TD

Passing
Chester – Harris 12-20, 244 yards, 2TD, 1INT
Perk Valley – MacDonald 6-18, 63 yards, INT

Receiving
Chester – Crew 5-139-TD; D. Harris 2-61; Fitzgerald 1-15-TD; Williams 1-14; George 1-12; Bynum-Smokes 1-(minus-2)
Perk Valley – Boyd 2-34; Hollingsworth 1-14; Reedy 1-7; Nester 1-7

Interceptions
Chester – Fitzgerald
Perk Valley – Corropolese