Undefeated Perkiomen Valley scores rivalry win over Spring-Ford, 4-2

ROYERSFORD >> Nate Brown and Cody Basilio each needed a goal, but the Perkiomen Valley seniors were guided by vastly different reasons.

Brown, a senior striker in his first year with the Vikings, had a season-long goal-scoring streak to maintain when Perk Valley went into Spring-Ford Wednesday night for its biggest test so far. Basilio, on the other hand, had hopes of putting his name on the scoresheet for the first time playing varsity.

Both got their wish.

Basilio earned himself a bonus by scoring his first and second career goals and the dynamic Brown scored on a penalty kick for the game-sealing goal as Perkiomen Valley ascended in the second half to knock off Spring-Ford, 4-2, and remain undefeated in a Pioneer Athletic Conference battle of the Liberty Division’s top two squads.

Perk Valley improved to 9-0 (5-0 Liberty, 7-0 PAC) and put down a marker against the PAC’s other early-season frontrunner in Spring-Ford (4-1 Liberty, 5-1 PAC, 6-2 overall).

“Honestly, I feel like we were underrated coming into this so this was really the game to set our stone as a major team in the PAC,” Brown said. “I think it’s gonna be big for us moving forward.”

“People didn’t think of us as all that good because our schedule wasn’t as hard but now that we’ve beat another big team everyone is going to be aware of us,” Basilio said.

Spring-Ford had its best spell early and was rewarded quickly when Pat Clemens played a short through ball from the right wing to get Cole Preschutti behind the defense and the senior forward poked the ball home for a 1-0 Rams lead just six minutes in.

Basilio opened his tally 11 minutes until half when a failed clearance from a corner kick fell to him and he knocked it home to level it 1-1.

“It’s something that had to happen to us eventually because we hadn’t been down first all year. Good teams have to know how to play from behind,” Brown said.

Out of the break, PV was on top and took the lead at the 25:05 mark again on a corner kick. This time Christian Campbell’s corner kick went long but was headed back in by Owen Baker. Matteo LoRegio took a swinging attempt that caromed off a Spring-Ford defender and fell to a wide-open Basilio.

“It’s my first goals of my varsity career so it’s a big day,” Basilio said.

Cody Basilio again! 25:05 2H, Perk Valley leads 2-1. Another corner not defended well enough pic.twitter.com/KZycCROg3T

— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) September 21, 2023

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The lead was short-lived when a counterpressing Max Exeter capitalized on a miscommunication at the back and hit an empty net to level it 2-2.

But Perk Valley had the better of play in the second half with a high work rate and constant threat from Brown up top.

Another set piece supplied the eventual game-winner when LoRegio’s glancing header from a Campbell free kick put PV up 3-2 with 6:04 to play.

“The result wasn’t what I wanted, but it played out like I thought it would,” Spring-Ford coach Jeremy Sharpe said. “It’s the two best teams in the PAC in my opinion and we dominated some time, they dominated some time and I thought it was going to come down to the end of the game and it really did.”

Brown, playing his first year with PV after spending his previous high school seasons in the MLS Next system with FC Delco, wasn’t to be left out, earning a penalty kick and converting with 1:40 left.

“It wasn’t going to feel good to end my goal streak – I’ve scored in every game so far, so that would have ended it,” Brown said. “It felt good.”

Nate Brown seals it! pK to PV and it’s 4-2 with 1:40 remaining pic.twitter.com/PVilEkAfl9

— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) September 21, 2023

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Perk Valley has already surpassed its win total from a year ago (5-12-1) and Basilio gives a lot of credit to Brown for aiding that cause.

“It’s been awesome. Nate’s been our missing piece,” Basilio said. “Last year we couldn’t get goals – we only scored one through six games – so having Nate is really beneficial.”

Spring-Ford, which sits in second in the Liberty, and has been successful under new coach Sharpe, the Rams’ third coach in three years.

“They’re in their third system in three years and I know when I came into the picture and started talking about how we were going to play and putting the systems in place, there was a lot of confused looks,” Sharpe said. “But every game I see it building into something that’s going to be great.”

It’s not all doom and gloom for the Rams, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a painful loss.

“To see their faces, it kind of destroyed me a little bit,” Sharpe said. “I’m the type of person who always feels like I could have done more.

“We just have to keep getting better. If we get a little better everyday, that’s all we can do. Two great teams played and someone had to lose. That’s life.”

As for Perk Valley, the Vikings proved something, to themselves and very possibly the rest of the PAC.

“(PV head coach Zach Allen) has always told us, you really haven’t proven anything until you do it against a really good team,” Brown said. “They hadn’t lost a PAC game all year, and it’s Spring-Ford, it’s our big rivalry, so we wanted to go out and prove ourselves.

“Now we know we can really beat anyone.”