BOYERTOWN — Two long touchdown runs by Tilman Henley, a key fake punt play and a defense that came up with big stops when it needed to added up to a 20-16 Boyertown upset win over Perkiomen Valley Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

The Bears broke a 14-game losing streak against the Vikings in the process and as a result are tied for first place with Spring-Ford two games into their Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division schedule.

Henley rushed for 159 yards and Antonio Fargnoli ran 30 yards on a fake punt to set up a touchdown that gave Boyertown (4-2 overall, 2-0 PAC Liberty) a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. Aiden Messatzzia passed for 307 yards for Perk Valley (3-3, 1-1).

“That fake punt was huge,” said Boyertown head coach Jami Sands. “And Tilman had a big early run. Our guys did what they had to do to get a ‘W.’ That was the most composed I’ve seen them.”BOYERTOWN — Two long touchdown runs by Tilman Henley, a key fake punt play and a defense that came up with big stops when it needed to added up to a 20-16 Boyertown upset win over Perkiomen Valley Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

“It really showed our whole off-season,” said Henley. “This week at practice we were all focused. It’s a credit to everyone.”

The Bears, who lost to PV 42-7 last season, drove 80 yards on five plays to start the contest, with Henley running 57 yards into the end zone. Perk Valley scored on a 32-yard field goal by Juliun Corropolese early in the second quarter and the score still stood at 7-3 at the half.

Then the Vikings moved right down the field to start the third quarter on a five-play, 78-yard drive, topped off by a 22-yard pass from Messatzzia (26-for-40 passing) to Will Stein for a 10-7 advantage.

But Boyertown bounced right back with an 80-yard drive of its own, scoring on a 63-yard dash by Henley that gave the hosts a 14-10 lead.

“I think Tom (Barr), our offensive coordinator, made a good job of adjustments at halftime,” said Sands.

“We knew their offense was good,” said Henley. “At halftime we had to remain focused. We didn’t flinch when they scored.”

The Bears still led by just four points in the fourth quarter and faced a fourth down at the Viking 40. But Fargnoli broke his 30-yard run on the fake punt play and Henley hit Connor Foskey in the end zone from nine yards out two plays later to increase the lead to 20-10 with 7:15 remaining in the contest.

Boyertown stopped the Vikings on downs at the Bear 16 with just over four minutes to go and the Vikings scored on a 14-yard pass from Messatzzia to Jon Boyd on the final play of the night.

Joey Keough made 11 catches for 154 yards for the Vikings, including several spectacular grabs despite close coverage by the Boyertown secondary. Stein pulled in eight passes for a total of 112 yards. Henley averaged better than 10 yards on 15 runs, Fargnoli gained 41 yards on two carries and Michael Boorse picked up 37 on 14 attempts.

The Bears wound up with 294 total yards to PV’s 3.

The win was the first for Boyertown over the Vikings since a 26-14 decision in 2010, when the Bears won their first eight games on the way to a 10-2 record.

“We felt as a team we had to come out here and play hard,” said Henley. “It feels like we got over the hump. We didn’t back down.”

Boyertown is now tied for first place in the division with Spring-Ford and will host a 1-1 Owen J. Roberts squad next week.

“They’re a good football team,” Sands said concerning defending division champion Perk Valley. “They’re always the standard in the PAC. I’m super proud of the guys. It was a huge team win. They responded. Every time they (the Vikings) made some ground, we were able to respond.”