It didn't take Upper Merion long to take control of last Friday night's Frontier Division Pioneer Athletic Conference contest at Upper Perk.

Eric Romanowski catches a pass during the first half of Upper Perkiomen's loss to Upper Merion.

           Two plays, which spanned 29 seconds, to be exact.

            That's how long it took the Vikings to find the end zone on a two-play, 74-yard march to open the first quarter. They would score a total of six times in the first half, on each one of their possessions, en route to a 49-14 victory at Keeny Stadium.

            Along the way, Upper Merion (1-1, 3-3) racked up 437 yards of total offense, compared to Upper Perk's 183, 140 of which came in the second half.

            Down 42-0 at halftime, that aforementioned second half featured wholesale substitutions as both teams substituted freely. That helped Upper Perk (0-2, 1-5) find the end zone late in the third quarter. After the Vikings made it 49-0 with 8:25 left and the mercy clock running, Upper Perk took its next drive 73 yards for the score.

            Quarterback Mike Boyle scampered for rushes of 12 and 10 yards in the march, which culminated with a 34-yard score from sophomore running back Zach Schwartz down the visitors' sideline on a toss. Schwartz led the Indians on the ground with 13 carries for 58 yards and a score and paced the defense with six solo tackles.

            Upper Perk halted the Vikings' next drive on fourth down thanks to a James Rogers tackle for a loss on fourth-and-one at the Vikings' 45. On the ensuing drive, Schwartz ripped off a 14-yard run to the 17, and Chidike Eruba did the rest from there as he took a slant pass from Boyle for the score.

            Defensively, standouts included Connor O'Donnell (three tackles), Kane Krier (three tackles), Rogers (two tackles, tackle for loss), and Tyler Hoffer (two tackles, tackle for a loss).

            On paper, Upper Perk's upcoming game at Pottstown looks to be evenly matched. The Trojans are 1-5, on a three-game skid, and have been outscored 180-53.

Upper Perk has the same record, with a 222-62 disparity between points against and points for.

            Pottstown's lone win came back in week three when it held on for a 20-14 victory over Harriton. More recently, they have fallen to Norristown (21-12), Pottsgrove (27-7), and Phoenixville (35-7) this past Friday.

            Last week, Pottstown (184) and Upper Perk (183) put up almost identical total offense. The majority of those offensive yards from the Trojans came from junior running back Nazhier Booker (10 carries, 91 yards) and quarterback Dillon Mayes (56 rushing yards, TD).