Norristown Eagles football battled hard to get their second win of the season to put themselves at a 2-2 record against the Pottstown Trojans last Friday evening.

The Trojans did get on the board first after recovering the ball on a muffed catch from the opening kickoff. The Trojans’ special teams member returned the ball to the endzone to put Pottstown up 6-0. Luckily, the kicker missed the extra point, so the score started off at 6-0. 

A series later, defensive back Elijah Washington of Norristown intercepted a pass from Trojan quarterback Joniel Oister, which put the Eagles towards midfield. This changed quickly with a fumble from Norristown, which was recovered by the Trojans. They luckily didn’t score on the drive, but without a Norristown score, the Trojans took this lead all the way through the first quarter. 

There wasn’t another score until Norristown quarterback Brendan Farrell threw an absolute dime to receiver Rashon Giddens for a 13-yard touchdown with 10:20 left in the second quarter. The kick by Brett Murphy soared over the goalposts, giving the Eagles their first lead of the game.

Up 7-6, Norristown felt good about the score but not great yet. It was still anyone’s game and either team could take home the win. 

Coming back into the game after halftime was a battle for both teams. Neither team had breathing room and would have to push themselves. The Eagles’ 7-6 lead stayed this way until 5 minutes left in the third quarter when Eagles running back Marzon Carr scored on a 29-year touchdown run. This put the Eagles up 14-6 after Brett Murphy drilled another extra point. Finally, the Eagles had a little bit of breathing room. 

Norristown found the weakness in Pottstown’s run defense and continued to use this against them the remainder of the game. Pottstown’s Oister was carted off the field after his helmet popped off, and he stayed out of the game for the remainder of the third quarter.

In his first play under center, backup QB Rasheen Bostic threw a missile to his wide receiver for a 37-yard touchdown to close the gap a little and put them two points behind Norristown. To try to tie this game up, the Trojans attempted a 2-point conversion but failed on a designed run play. 

Norristown held their breath, as it was still a very close game. The score of 14-12 continued until 10:44 in the fourth quarter, but this changed on a Jamal Griffin 1-yard touchdown run. This put the Eagles on top with a score of 21-12 after Brett Murphy smashed a third extra-point. 

Norristown had way more room now but would have to fight to keep this score until the game clock expired. The capitalizing play was an interception by Tajhir Gaskins with seven minutes left, which put Pottstown out of the reach of a win. Gaskin’s pick wasn’t the only one, however, as Elijah Washington also had one. Amazing defensive plays does not mean Norristown would simply rest on its success. 

“We can take it all the way this season,” said Gasksins. “I just think even though we have the 2 wins it could lead us to become lazy or just not giving it our 100%. There is always something we can work at to become the greatest team in the PAC and shock the world.”

Norristown also had two sacks in the game, as Norristown’s D-line and secondary looked phenomenal Friday as they helped Norristown push through for their second and back-to-back win. 

Friday was a running back palooza, which included key performances from Meyon Ferell and Griffin. Meyon ran for a game high 111 yards on 19 backfield touches. Griffin was another key running back option in this game because of the fact that he had another touchdown in back to back games. Besides this touchdown, he also had 69 rushing yards on 11 carries. Carr, along with that massive touchdown run, had a pretty decent day for which he averaged 6.8 yards on the ground throughout 5 run plays.

Overall a great fight by both teams but the Eagles played with more grit to defeat the Trojans. Norristown looks to put themselves at a 3-2 record this week as they play away at Methacton tomorrow at 11am.