Mercersburg’s football team returned to the field and to Keystone State Football League play with a strong performance September 18, defeating visiting Valley Forge Military Academy 42-28 in the season opener for both teams.

The Blue Storm (1-0) dominated the first half, scoring three touchdowns for a 22-0 lead at intermission. Luke Golumbic ’22 capped Mercersburg's first drive with a short pass to Christopher Tompkins ’23 with 4:00 to play in the first quarter. Caleb Newcomer ’23 took a pitch from Golumbic and scored the two-point conversion to put the hosts up 8-0. 

The Storm defense then flipped the switch on a 4th and 1, disrupting the Valley Forge backfield for an 8-yard loss that gave Mercersburg the ball on the VFMA 30 yard line. Louis Concordia ’22 capped this drive with a two-yard run. The 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete and the Storm led 14-0 as the first stanza closed. 

Golumbic, who completed five of his six passes on the day, then hooked up with Christian Jetter ’22 on a short fly pattern that Jetter turned into a 91-yard score, breaking three tackles to burst free at the 50 yard line on the way to the end zone. Concordia added the conversion with a two-yard dive, giving Mercersburg a 22-0 lead with just under five minutes left in the second quarter. 

VFMA opened the second half with a spark of its own, capitalizing on a fumble recovery to score its first touchdown of the day early in the third quarter, but the Storm responded with an impressive drive, as Concordia rushed for his second TD of the day on a 20-yard carry, followed by a Golumbic two-point conversion run. Golumbic notched his rushing touchdown when he picked up an errant fumble and raced 25 yards around the end to score, giving Mercersburg a 36-6 lead at the end of the third quarter. 

Both benches saw plenty of playing time in the fourth quarter, as the visitors picked up three scores and Newcomer added big to his rushing total for the day, juking two defenders and racing in from 40 yards out to put what would be the final Mercersburg touchdown of the day on the boards. 

"We did a lot of things well and a lot of guys got to play,” Mercersburg head coach Andy Brown said. “It's important that our new guys were able to get good reps. We'll fix our mistakes on Monday and get ready for next week."

The contest came 686 days after the inaugural Keystone State Football League championship game, when Perkiomen defeated Mercersburg for the KSFL title on November 2, 2019. 

Mercersburg hosts the second of four consecutive home games next Saturday, September 25, as Delaware County Christian School visits the Storm at 1 p.m. In the most recent meeting between the teams Mercersburg defeated the Knights in a 2019 KSFL semifinal thriller, 42-36.