Williams, Romance lead explosive Phoenixville offense to 48-13 rout of West Chester Henderson

by ed morrone

PHOENIXVILLE — Following a rare Week 2 bye, it was fair to wonder whether Phoenixville would come out of the gate with some rust after 14 days had elapsed since the team’s last game.

Deacon Williams and the rest of the Phantoms’ high-powered offense immediately put that notion to rest.

Williams rushed 13 times for 140 yards and three ground scores while adding a 57-yard touchdown catch, and quarterback Talon Romance turned in a flawless 9-for-9, 208-yard, three-touchdown performance of his own as Phoenixville throttled visiting West Chester Henderson 48-13 on Friday night in the team’s home opener.

The Phantoms’ Week 2 contest at Bishop Shanahan last week was canceled, so they hadn’t been on the field for game action since a 41-16 season-opening win at Reading on Aug. 23.

It was hardly evident.

“Starting fast is always important, but especially this game since we had a week off,” Williams said. “There were people who picked us to lose this game thinking we’d have rust, which we didn’t. We came out firing.”

Williams in particular came out blazing hot, scoring on a 38-yard TD scamper on the sixth play from scrimmage to put Phoenixville up 7-0 less than three minutes into the contest. After forcing a punt on their first defensive possession, the Phantoms took over on their own 29 and seven plays later Romance hit Williams with a screen pass across the middle that the senior back broke for a 57-yard catch-and-run score with 3:34 to go in the opening period.

Phoenixville led by two touchdowns after one, but Henderson cut the lead in half on the second play of the second quarter, a 27-yard strike from QB Jackson Lewis to wideout Gage Wilding.

The teams traded punts on the next two possessions before Romance started cooking up a feast. Armed with stellar field position to begin a drive at the Henderson 35, Romance followed an 8-yard Williams run with a 27-yard heave to Kevin Kingsbury in the end zone for the first of his three TD passes.

Henderson turned the ball over on downs on the next drive, and taking over at the Warriors’ 40, Romance needed just one play to find wideout Trey Lear (5 catches, 104 yards, TD) for another long score to send Phoenixville into halftime up 28-7.

“We had two weeks to prepare every day at practice to keep getting better and pushing forward,” said Romance, who inherited the starting QB job from his older brother, Ty. “I have high expectations for this offense. I think we can do a lot of running and passing the ball. They go hand in hand, and as you saw today, it worked perfectly. Everything opened up.”

The second half was more or less a formality. Phoenixville’s first two offensive drives after the break lasted three plays each and both ended in Williams TD scampers of 59 and 11 yards, respectively. Things were going so well for the Phantoms that backup running back Cameron Howard scored on a 95-yard touchdown run on his only carry of the game in the fourth quarter.

It was that kind of night for the Phantoms, who are riding high after outscoring their first two opponents 89-29. Williams has already compiled 380 rushing yards on 43 carries (almost nine yards per rush) with five scores, and both of his receptions on the season have resulted in long touchdowns. Romance, who hadn’t started a game since the 2022 season, is 14-for-18 for 337 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions through his team’s first two games.

“I’ve been playing with Talon for many years, and I have a lot of trust in him as my QB1,” Lear said. “He’s been very impressive stepping into his brother’s shoes and had a perfect game tonight.”

The Phoenixville defense also came to play, even if the unit was overshadowed by the offense’s explosive effort. Lewis passed for 246 yards and a score, but many of his stats were accumulated in garbage time down multiple scores. Collins managed 19 rushes for 92 yards and a score while also catching seven balls for another 92, but even that felt like a win after the Henderson (1-2) back rushed for 217 yards and six TDs a week earlier. Defensive captain TJ Howard came up with two sacks for the Phantoms.

The Warriors were only in the game briefly, having given up too many big plays throughout the game to hang in there for very long.

Of course, while the good times are certainly rolling for Phoenixville, the team has learned its lesson when it comes to taking success in stride and keeping things in perspective. Last season, the team won seven of its first eight games before dropping three of its final four. Not only that, but the Phantoms had a two-touchdown lead on division rival Pope John Paul II before the Golden Panthers rallied to win the game and eventually PAC and district titles.

It’s what Phoenixville envisions for itself, and the Phantoms (2-0) will travel to Royersford to square off with PJP on Sept. 21. But first, the team will hit the road to face Kennett next Friday night, the first of four consecutive road games.

“What keeps us hungry is pushing for that PAC championship,” Romance said. “We have a big heart, and that’s what matters.”

“We’re very confident with what we have here,” Williams added. “But we have to stay focused. The goal is to play for a PAC title, which we haven’t done in 19 years. We can’t get satisfied before then. We have to make sure to stay humble and hungry and just keep working.”

The team is another year older, wiser and more mature. Williams said they all remember the sour taste in their mouths after blowing the game to PJP, so the best thing for this group to do is focus only on the opponent in front of them.

That starts with Kennett next week.

“Going through that stumble last year, we just had to learn from it,” Lear said. “Learn from our mistakes and try to do the best we can going forward.”

Phoenixville 48, West Chester Henderson 13

Henderson — 0 7 6 0 — 13

Phoenixville — 14 14 13 7 — 48

SCORING PLAYS

P — Deacon Williams 38 run (Ryan Jacobson kick)
P — Williams 57 pass from Talon Romance (Jacobson kick)
H — Gage Wilding 27 pass from Jackson Lewis (Gensy Cifuentes kick)
P — Kevin Kingsbury 27 pass from Romance (Jacobson kick)
P — Trey Lear 40 pass from Romance (Jacobson kick)
P — Williams 59 run (kick failed)
H — Brady Collins 3 run (kick failed)
P — Williams 11 run (Jacobson kick)
P — Cameron Howard 95 run (Jacobson kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

WCH; PHX

First Downs 12; 6

Rushing Yards 102; 240

Passing Yards 246; 208

Total Yards 348; 448

Passes C-A-T-I 22-31-1-0; 9-9-3-0

Fumbles-Lost 3-0; 0-0

Penalties-Yards 4-45; 5-24

Punts-Avg. 3-36.3; 1-37.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing