Perkiomen Valley Offensive Line Depth Paves Way to District Semis Berth

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

Willie McGonigle | November 11, 2022

Collegeville:Having depth is something that all football coaches but having that depth on the offensive line is things most coaches can only dream of. Persistent Valley Head Coach Rob Heist doesn’t need to dream about it because he has it. With the ability to rotate between Cole Euker, Kyle Gallagher, Richie Strano, Grant Euker, JC Dugery, Yannick Tsitoukis and Timmy Ledger. Those boys did their job paving the way for the 2nd seed Vikings to gain 196 rushing yards in their 27-14 victory over 7th seed Souderton Indians in a game that was played Thursday night in effort to beat the wet conditions Hurricane Nicole is expected to bring to the Philadelphia region on Friday.

“Our offensive line played outstandingly, we got some kids back, we are healthy.“ Heist said adding “when we needed to run the ball tonight we were able, Souderton is an outstanding football team well coached. Coach Gallagher does great job toughen his kids. I’m just proud of the way our kids played.
When asked about the ability to rotate his offensive line Heist said “We got some kids back from injury so now we have 7 kids that we think is capable of being varsity offensive linemen, so it’s nice that when we need to rotate someone out we can.

The biggest benefactors of the line opening holes up on Thursday night were Sr RB Ryan Kilmek and So. QB Patrick MacDonald. Kilmek rushed for 100 yards on 15 carries and one touchdown while MacDonald rushed for 77 yards on only 5 carries and 2 touchdowns.

After the game both Kilmer and MacDonald praised their O- line. “Our offensive did an outstanding job today, I couldn’t have done it without them that’s what helped me break those long runs” Kilmek said. MacDonald echoed those remarks saying “O-line was incredible today there was holes everywhere.”
After forcing the Indians to a three and out to start the Vikings started driving down the field getting to Souderton 16 yard line where the drive stalled and forced them to call upon Kilmek to attempt a 33-yard field goal but Shaun Purvy came off the edge and blocked the kick.

Shaun Purvy with the block fg for @SoudyFB still scoreless @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/6tWWnBm56G

— Willie McGonigle (@WilliePAFN) November 11, 2022

The Vikings did get on the board in the 1st quarter on their second drive when Jake Stewart powered his way in from a yard out. The extra point failed and the Vikings led 6-0.

The Indians would take to air and strike back following a 37 yard connection between Jared Zimmerman and Danny Dyches that put the ball on the Viking 18, very next play the duo connected again for the remaining 18 yards. Ty Quinton added the extra point and the Indians led 7-6.
On the ensuing drive the Vikings would take the lead for good when MacDonald made the correct read on a option kept it himself and took it 46 yards to end zone making 13-7 Vikings.

On the very first play of the Indians ensuing possession Zimmerman was intercepted by Sam Koehler and on the next Vikings play Kilmek found the end zone from 15 yards out giving the Vikings the 20-7 halftime lead.

MacDonald, who looked like he’s been running the Viking offense for a lot longer than the 9 games he’s been the starter for extended the lead to 27-7 with his 32 yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

The Indians wouldn’t go down without a fight and it was the Zimmerman-Dyches connection that cut the Viking lead down to 27-13 with a 61 yard strike. Then Aidan Scott intercepted MacDonald and the Indians drove down to the Viking 26 before their drive stalled but the Indians forced a three and out and drove down to the Viking 13 before Carson Pascoe ended any hope for an Indians come back when he intercepted Zimmerman in the end zone with 2:25 left in the game from there the Vikings ran out the clock. Zimmerman finisher the game with 210 passing yards.

“We knew all game our run defense was pretty good, they opened up the second half with a deep touchdown, that last drive they were trying to hit plays deep and it was my job to not let that happen and I knew I had to make a big play for this team they had momentum.” Pascoe said adding “It felt awesome I was waiting for that the whole game I had an opportunity earlier I tipped it but once the opportunity came up I took care of it and it feels great.”
The Vikings now await the winner of the CB West-North Penn to see who they will host next Friday night at 7.

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