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Upper Perkiomen quarterback Casey Perlstein, left, receives the Joseph Edwards Scholarship from head coach Keith Leamer at Sunday’s PAC-10 football awards banquet at the Pottstown Elks Club Sunday afternoon.
Photo by Barry Taglieber
© The Mercury/JRC. All rights reserved. This image cannot be reproduced without permission
Pottsgrove quarterback/defensive back Terrell Chestnut, right, receives the David L. Freed Award from head coach Rick Pennypacker at Sunday’s PAC-10 football awards banquet at the Pottstown Elks Club Sunday afternoon.
Photo by Barry Taglieber
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© The Mercury/JRC. All rights reserved. This image cannot be reproduced without permission
The Pioneer Athletic Conference held its 25th annual football awards banquet Sunday afternoon at the Pottstown Elks Club. Award winners were: from left, Owen J. Roberts’ Ryan Brumfield (Most Valuable Player), Pottsgrove’s Terrell Chestnut (David L. Freed Award and Defensive Player of the Year), Pottsgrove’s Kayvon Greene (Two-Way Player of the Year), Upper Perkiomen’s Casey Perlstein (Joseph Edwards Scholarship) and Boyertown’s Dylan Pasik (Offensive Player of the Year).
Photo by Barry Taglieber
POTTSTOWN — Upper Perkiomen quarterback Casey Perlstein joined a select, elite group of high school signal callers when he passed and rushed for more than 1,000 yards during the 2010 football season.
In doing so, Perlstein became only the second PAC-10 quarterback in the 25-year history of the league to achieve such dual status. Perlstein is also an outstanding student who carries a 3.957 grade point average in the classroom to rank 10th in his senior class at Upper Perkiomen High School.
That type of excellence as a student-athlete that characterized this particular group of PAC-10 seniors enabled Perlstein to capture the Joseph Edwards Scholarship at the Football Coaches Association 25th annual all-league banquet Sunday afternoon at the Pottstown Elks Club.
Perlstein, who was voted the second team all-league quarterback in a vote by the loop coaches, was introduced by Indians head coach Keith Leamer, who is assisted by Chris Bieler, Tom Paul, Steve Moyer, Justin Brey, Glenn Miller, Rob Wisler, Ben Kunkle, Dan Hawthorne and Brian Peoples.
Perlstein became the fifth Upper Perkiomen player during Leamer’s seven-year coaching tenure with the Tribe to garner a special award at the annual banquet.
“It’s a great honor to win it,” said Perlstein. “I was very surprised because there are so many possible recipients this year because it is a great senior class.”
Perlstein, who passed for more than 1,500 yards and rushed for more than 1,000 yards, was one of six special award winners at the banquet. The others included Owen J. Roberts running back/defensive back Ryan Brumfield, Most Valuable Player; Pottsgrove quarterback/defensive back Terrell Chestnut, David L. Freed Award and Defensive Player of the Year; Boyertown quarterback Dylan Pasik, Offensive Player of the Year; and Pottsgrove running back/linebacker Kayvon Greene, Two-Way Player of the Year.
The Boyertown Bears and Owen J. Roberts Wildcats were honored as league co-champions for the 2010 campaign.
Perlstein praised his teammates and the Upper Perkiomen coaching staff for allowing him to enjoy such a banner season.
“It all comes down to the linemen,” said Perlstein. “I had a great supporting cast. Without them, I couldn’t have done it.
“In the beginning, (offensive coordinator) coach Steve Moyer was very reluctant to have me run. But after the first game, he saw I had the ability to get the necessary yards. so he went with it and it became part of our offense.”
There was always the risk of injury with Perlstein handling the football so much of the time. However, Perlstein showed he was able to cope with all the punishment and pain.
“I did get hurt at the district game,” said Perlstein. “I had a partial tear of the ACL joint and that limited me in the Boyertown game (on Thanksgiving Day), but I played through it.”
Perlstein is the son of Upper Perkiomen athletic director Steve Perlstein and his wife, Wendy, who teaches physics at the same high school.
In terms of college next year, Perlstein has visits scheduled for Kutztown University and Millersville University and he is waiting to hear from Lafayette as a possible third choice. He wants to enter the science field.
“Having both parents working at the high school puts that extra pressure on you,” said Casey Perlstein. “But it is great to have that extra push.”
Boyertown head coach Mark Scisly spoke first as part of the banquet tradition of having the championship coaches speak as part of the program.
“It is quite an honor for you to be selected All-PAC-10 because it is voted on by your opponents,” said Scisly. “That is quite an accomplishment. And my congratulations to all of the playoff teams (Boyertown, Owen J. Roberts, Pottsgrove, Upper Perkiomen). You all had great teams.”
Scisly took over the Boyertown job in 2008 after serving previously in the Lehigh Valley area.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect when I came to the PAC-10,” he said. “But I found out quickly that there are no easy wins. The PAC-10 is a great league with so many great players who have gotten there with teamwork and hard work. To win you need a lot of players with different talents.”
He pointed out the Bears were coming off of a 1-11 season when he assumed the head coaching duties at Boyertown.
“The kids worked hard the last three years and this year we won 10 games,” he said. “You learn life lessons from playing football. Football is a great sport. It really teaches you about life.”
He noted the gridders put in long hours as players and students, and they also have the support of their parents. So he urged the players to always express gratitude to their parents.
Scisly was assisted by Jeff Delaney, James Martinez, Scott Troutman, Gregg Scholl, Jim Knight, Sean Gaul, John Graham, George Parkinson and Brett Ulrich.
Owen J. Roberts head coach Tom Barr was the next to speak.
“Our players won high accolades and I am very proud of them stepping up and being leaders and role models as PAC-10 champions,” said Barr.
Barr introduced his assistant coaches, Dave Clarke, Hank Coyne, Bryan Yetter, Chuck Nesley and volunteer coaches Howie Sage, Dyrol Powell and Matt Jenschke. Barr also introduced his wife, Carol, who assisted with the coaches’ scholarship award raffle.
The All-Academic Team consisted of the following players in alphabetical order: Boyertown, Tyler Boggs; Methacton, Anthony DeSana; Owen J. Roberts, Robert Patrick; Perkiomen Valley, John Rodgers; Phoenixville, Brendon Stone; Pope John Paul II, Nate Breidenbach; Pottsgrove, Zachary Robinson; Pottstown, Jeff Endy; Spring-Ford, Max Ullmann; and Upper Perkiomen, Michael A. Paul.
NOTES
Mercury sports editor Don Seeley gave opening remarks and introduced guests. … Pottsgrove athletic director Gary Derenzo was in charge of the scholarship award raffle and serves as the PAC-10’s executive secretary and treasurer. … Perkiomen Valley athletic director Larry Glanski serves as athletic director liason. … Pottsgrove star running back/defensive back Maika Polamalu missed the banquet because he was participating in an all-star game in California. … Spring-Ford athletic director Mickey McDaniel spoke on behalf of Pottsgrove head coach Rick Pennypacker in presenting the David L. Freed Memorial Award to Chestnut. … Former Spring-Ford High head football coach Merle Bainbridge, who coached Freed at the time of his tragic death from an incident on his practice device that is no longer manufactured, was in attendance Sunday. So was his former assistant coach in the 1970s, Steve Schein, who has returned as an assistant coach at Spring-Ford under former Spring-Ford head coach Gary Rhodenbaugh and now Chad Brubaker, who completed his first season with the Rams in 2010.
Correction: It was incorrectly listed that Dave Albright was the Pottsgrove athletic director. The current Pottsgrove athletic director is Gary Derenzo. We regret the error.
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