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Football: Central League champion Garnet Valley outright dominant against Upper Darby

Posted On: Monday, October 29, 2018
By: ldevlin

UPPER DARBY — Its season still dripping with perfection and anticipation, the Garnet Valley football team can be assured that it finishes with at least one substantial accomplishment.

By defeating Upper Darby, 56-10, Friday, the Jaguars improved to 10-0 and clinched the outright Central League championship at 9-0.

There will be opportunities, and big ones, later.

For the moment, that will do.

“These guys have worked hard,” coach Mike Ricci said. “It’s been five years since we won the Central League championship. I know it was important to our guys that we did that. I’m really happy for them and I am really proud of them that they worked together and made it happen.”

The Central leader all season, Garnet Valley finished the conference season with a convincing victory over a good Upper Darby team that entered with a league record of 5-2. A season-high 567-yard rushing explosion featured nine Jags carrying the ball, none for fewer than 27 total yards.

With starting quarterback Cole Palis leaving early with an unspecified injury, junior Ryan Gallagher played most of the game and rushed five times for 107 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown blast. In dropping the Royals to 7-3, Garnet Valley completed just one pass, that for two yards. Yet its dominance should have sent a message throughout District 1 that it will be a handful in the Class 6A playoffs.

“One achievement at a time,” Ricci said. “We’re really big on one game at a time. We came out tonight and were really ready to execute. They got a big play on the first play of the game, then the rest of the half we were able to keep them from any big plays, which is what we were trying to do.”

After handcuffing Garnet Valley on its first possession, Upper Darby moved quickly to the Jags’ nine, using a 31-yard pass from Kevin Kerwood to Shawn McCullough to spice the drive. The Royals, however, were limited to a 26-yard Sammy Beweh field goal for their only lead.

From there, Garnet Valley took control, with Dan Bradley uncorking a 54-yard run to help set Nick Westburg up for a 32-yard scoring burst. Before the end of the first quarter, Colin Robinson would add a 24-yard TD sprint and Dominic LaBricciosa would score on a 27-yard run.

Robinson’s eight-yard second-quarter touchdown run helped supply the Jags with a 28-3 halftime lead on a night when the Royals were desperately trying to maintain their postseason playoff hopes.

“I’m going to be brutally honest,” Upper Darby coach Rich Gentile said. “We have not played well in the last couple of weeks. And that falls on the players, falls on the coaches, falls on everybody. It’s something that we need to change. We have four weeks left, wherever we go, whoever we’re playing, whatever is going to happen, we have to figure it out on both sides of the ball.”

Click HERE to read the full article. fb- gv celebrate

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