SAINT CLAIR — Nativity’s offense was MIA as the Green Wave absorbed a 34-0 loss at the hands of The Perkiomen School on Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Nativity managed only six net yards on the ground.
Much of that was because sophomore quarterback Ryan McDonald was under heavy pressure all night. He was sacked at least six times and ran for his life at other times, finishing with minus-37 yards.
When he did get time to pass, McDonald completed 5-of-16 passes for 33 yards.
The Green Wave’s leading rusher was Marcus Renninger with 34 yards on eight carries as Nativity managed only four first downs in the game.
“We were playing in spurts and just couldn’t sustain a drive,” Green Wave coach Tony Klazas said “Defensively I thought we hung in there, but we can’t be on the field all the time. We got to be able to get first downs and move the chains.”
Nativity’s troubles began with the opening kickoff when Perkiomen’s Steve Ratigan ran it back 85 yards for a score before 15 seconds were off the clock.
The Green Wave hung tough, however, and appeared to have a golden opportunity to even things up when Justin Steffan recovered a Perkiomen fumble at the Panthers’ 24-yard line in the second quarter.
After two running plays gained nothing, Nativity followed with a false start and two incomplete passes to give the ball right back.
It looked like Nativity was going to go in at half trailing only 6-0 after the Green Wave defense stopped Perkiomen cold at the Nativity 3 in a gritty goal-line stand with only 52 seconds left in the half.
On third and 11, however, while trying to run out the clock, McDonald fumbled at the 2-yard line with 28 seconds left in the half and Perkiomen recovered.
Two plays later, David Juechter scored to make it 12-0 at halftime and turn the momentum in Perkiomen’s direction.
Perkiomen put the game away with 16 third-quarter points on a 50-yard Josh Cruz run and a 21-yard touchdown pass from Brett Ciocari to Marlon Lindsey.
Nativity got into Perkiomen’s territory only once in the second half, advancing no closer than the 24-yard line.
Ratigan closed out the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter.
Coach Klazas’ summary was brief and to the point.
“We’ve just got to get better and keep working. Just get ready to come to work.”
Game Summary
Perkiomen (3-1) 6 6 16 6 — 34
Nativity (0-5) 0 0 0 0 — 0
P — Ratigan 85 kickoff return (run failed)
P — Juechter 2 run (pass failed)
P — Cruz 50 run (Lindsey pass from Ciocari)
P — Lindsey 21 pass from Ciocari (Cruz run)
P — Ratigan 3 run (pass failed)
Perk Nat
First Downs 12 4
Rushes-Yards 37-272 24-6
Passes 5-9-0 5-16-0
Passing Yards 75 33
Total Yards 347 39
Fumbles-Lost 5-2 3-2
Penalties 7-55 5-25
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Perkiomen School — Juechter 10-112, Cruz 9-83, Ratigan 9-40, Ruff-Pringle 3-27, Hampton 1-11, Heffernan 2-10, Smith 1-(-3), Ciocari 2-(-8). Nativity — Renninger 8-34, Elberfeld 1-19, Burke 1-(-10), McDonald 14-(-37).
PASSING: Perkiomen School — Ciocari 5-9-0, 75. Nativity — McDonald 5-16-0, 33.
RECEIVING: Perkiomen School — Lindsey 2-33, Cruz 2-21, Hampton 1-21. Nativity — Burke 3-14, Hunyara 1-10, Steffan 1-9.
INTERCEPTIONS: None.