This one was long time in the making…19 years in the making to be exact.

            That's how long it has been – since the 2006 season – that Upper Perkiomen's

Joseph Schmittinger and Liam Weiss tackle a Pottsgrove ball carrier during Upper Perkiomen's win.

football team has beaten Pottsgrove. All that changed last Friday night on the road as the Indians handed and handled the Falcons in a 31-0 rout, giving third-year head coach Dan Heinrichs arguably the biggest win of his tenure.

            "[It] was a huge win for our program and our school," Heinrichs said. "Nineteen years is a long time and for our guys to come out and execute at every level was fun to watch. We came off our loss last week hungrier, knowing we are better than we played."

            The Tribe (3-2) controlled all facets of the game against the Falcons (1-4) in both teams' Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division opener.

            Defensively, the team held their opponents to less than 100 yards and came up with two interceptions, the balanced offense piled up nearly 300 yards (145 on the ground and 139 in the air), and the special teams helped out with a successful onside kick to go along with a 37-yard field goal.

            Zach Adam (15 carries, 57 yards) broke open the scoring as he pulled in a 57-yard pass out of the backfield from junior quarterback Grayson Sabo on third-and-16. Sabo completed 10 of his 17 pass attempts for 139 yards and two scores as he distributed the ball to six different receivers.

            The Indians' 7-0 lead after Adam's score held up until halftime, after which Upper Perk really opened things up.

            It started on the Indians' first offensive possession of the second half, as the Falcons were assessed 30 yards on two penalties that moved the ball to the Pottsgrove 34. Adam took two subsequent handoffs that spanned 10 and eight yards. Kane Krier (three receptions, 41 yards, TD) then pulled in a nine-yard pass, and Adam did the rest from there as he went off left tackle for a six-yard score.

            Logan O'Donnell picked off a pass on Pottsgrove's next drive, which helped set the table for Matthew Wood's 37-yard field goal to make it 17-0 halfway through the third quarter. The Indians followed it up with a surprise onside kick from Wood, who also made the recovery. The offense took over at Pottsgrove's 46, using the ground game to open up a 27-yard bootleg touchdown pass to Krier six plays later.

            Upper Perk forced Pottsgrove to punt on its next drive, and Upper Perk made the rout official as freshman Corbin Engle caught an 18-yard pass out of the backfield on fourth-and-11, and then accounted for the final 11 yards as he scored on a counter off the right side with 11 minutes left to play.

            Before last Friday night, Pottsgrove had beaten the Indians 17 consecutive times. They still maintain a 28-10 advantage in the head-to-head series.

            "There was no doubt it was a team win," Heinrichs said. "We rotated a lot of guys in the first half, and nobody backed down and the expectation did not change from any position. We saw players doing things to their potential and having fun doing it."

            Defensively, senior linebacker Brody Weiss led the team with six solo tackles and a sack. Benjamin Sands picked off a pass in the fourth quarter, and senior Ethan Scharneck had three solo tackles, two tackles for a loss and a quarterback hurry from his spot at defensive end. Fellow defensive end Nate Schramm notched a strip sack early in the fourth quarter.

            Upper Perk will face its biggest test of the season tomorrow night as it will travel to Royersford to tangle with defending league champion Pope John Paul II. The Golden Panthers are 5-0, and opened up their Frontier Division schedule in dominant fashion last Friday with a 40-0 win in Phoenixville.

            "PJP is a good football team and program," Heinrichs said. "They have a lot of talent, but moving forward we are going to get better and not worry about who we line up against but how we mentally approach a big week."