The Norristown Eagles football team fought hard against the Pottsgrove Falcons to earn their first win of the season last Friday.  Even before the game began last Friday evening, Norristown players and fans were ready for action. As always, the band and cheerleaders were in full attendance, hyping up the crowd and encouraging the players. This energy definitely had something to do with the Eagles’ win. 

Brett Murphy kicked it off to the Pottsgrove Falcons to start the game. The Eagles were the first to score in this game after they stopped the Falcons on the first drive of the game when Jamal Griffin ran in for a one-yard touchdown. 

The Norristown fans were galvanized after this score, encouraging Norristown to succeed throughout the entire game. The Falcons came back and repaid the Eagles for the touchdown allowed earlier by scoring off of a successful quarterback sneak by Gabriel Rinda. 

On their next drive, the Eagles failed to create a score after their drive all the way to deep in the Falcon’s territory, but they fumbled, causing the Falcons to regain possession of the ball. The Falcons quickly got themselves back into the game after that fumble by scoring a 4-yard rushing touchdown by running back Koleson Gale, giving the Falcons a 13-7 lead to send the game into halftime. 

After halftime, the Eagles had the ball. Eagles quarterback Brendan Farrel handed it off to Griffin, who took it to the house for a 64-yard touchdown, which put the Eagles up 14-13 after Brett Murphy nailed the extra-pointer.

The game from here was not as exciting for the offenses, but instead, it was now a defensive game. Norristown had two key interceptions from their defense, one from Milan Baird and another from Tahjir Gaskins. Quadir Drummond and Rashon Giddens each got credited with half a sack for  Norristown’s only sack in the game.

In the third quarter, no team was able to score for a while, so the Eagles held the close lead. That was until Farell found a wide-open wide receiver Meyon Ferell for a 36-yard touchdown to put the Eagles up 20-13. 

This lasted up until the clock hit zero, but Norristown wouldn’t have been able to keep this score without some key defensive stops late in the fourth quarter from that tough defense. 

Norristown was the team that battled harder, played with more anticipation, and showed they really wanted to win. They never stopped fighting for this win on both sides of the ball. Kicker Brett Murphy also went 2 for 3 on extra point conversions, which helped the Eagles gain victory over Pottsgrove. 

As the clock ticked down to zero seconds after a quarterback kneel, the crowd went crazy. They were overjoyed that we have already won a game this early on in the season compared to last year when we only won one game in total, and that wasn’t until week nine.

The Norristown team was led by Farrell, who went 8-16 passing with 137 yards and a touchdown. Ferell caught 4 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown to help his quarterback out with a great target to throw to throughout the game. However, the offensive player with the most explosive game was running back Jamal Griffin, who had 15 carries for an outrageous 118 yards and two touchdowns. 

“It was a great feeling to get the first win of the season the way that we did,” said head coach Joseph Milligan. “The kids kept believing in each other.” He also noted the great players from the game, which were Griffin, Farrell, and Baird.

Norristown continues its quest for victory tonight as they take on Pottstown High School at Norristown High School.