PA – Central Athletic League | Archive | November, 2014

SPRINGFIELD — Anthony Myers has been an integral part of the Strath Haven football program since his sophomore season in 2012. He can be a real game-changer, as evidenced by his performance Friday night in the Panthers’ Central League finale against Radnor.

Myers exploded for a season-high 245 yards and four touchdowns in Haven’s 26-13 victory, the fourth-highest single-game rushing total in program history. He was recognized for his efforts by the Monday’s Delaware County Coaches Association meeting at Moe’s Grill in Springfield, as the senior running was named weekly MVP of the Central League.

Other weekly honors went to:

Central League

Players of the Week: Quarterback: Dan Fisher (Penncrest). Running Back: Anthony Myers (Strath Haven). Receiver: Abel Hoff (Marple Newtown). Offensive Line: Jonah Jackson (Penncrest). Defensive Line: Sam Romanofsky (Haverford). Linebacker: Mike Romanofsky (Haverford). Defensive Back: Paul Somaru (Strath Haven). Specialist: Evan Boyce (Haverford).

Honorable Mention:

Quarterback: Steve Flanagan (Garnet Valley); Pat Stewart (Harriton); Jack Donaghy (Haverford); Jake Hoffman (Ridley); Charles Kanneh (Upper Darby).

Running Back: Parke Schwieter (Conestoga); Derrick West (Garnet Valley); Adrian Sapnas (Marple Newtown); Joe Quintiliano (Penncrest); Dasante Callis (Ridley); Isaiah Bruce (Upper Darby). Receiver: Martin Dorsey (Conestoga); Sam Schlichting (Harriton); Jack Veasey (Harriton); Nick Costello (Haverford); Quideer Wimes (Springfield).

Offensive Line: Greg Schenk (Garnet Valley); Luke Lozowicki (Marple Newtown); Jonah Jackson (Penncrest); Carlos Ruiz (Penncrest); Justin Fremont (Strath Haven); Alex Andersen (Radnor); Matt Cella (Springfield); Scott Rucci (Upper Darby); Nataar Henderson (Upper Darby).

Defensive Line: Len Watson (Conestoga); Daquan Perry (Conestoga); Ryan Donegan (Garnet Valley); Joe Granahan (Garnet Valley); Tom Campli (Haverford); Kyle Kelly (Marple Newtown); Noah Turner (Marple Newtown); Justin Fremont (Strath Haven); Brian Layden (Springfield); Dan Archibong (Springfield).

Linebacker: Ed Jean (Conestoga); Matt Prestipino (Conestoga); Anthony Severoni (Garnet Valley); Mike Romanofsky (Haverford); Ryan Kinnard (Penncrest); Diego Zubieta (Penncrest); Todd Parker (Ridley); Ryan Dougherty (Ridley); Alex Bratsis (Strath Haven); Dario Falcone (Radnor); Adam Krauter (Springfield); Dane Burke (Upper Darby).

Defensive Back: Jordan O’Donnell (Harriton); Ethan Somel (Haverford); Carmen Christiana (Marple Newtown); Dan Chuckran (Penncrest); Zane Horne (Penncrest); Jamir Jennings (Upper Darby).

Specialist: Connor Hendrixson (Garnet Valley); Colby Schreiber (Garnet Valley); Kyle Davis (Garnet Valley); Sam Rudolph (Garnet Valley); Shane Breckenridge (Penncrest); Pat Hughes (Penncrest).

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Lower Merion vs. Radnor, believed by many to be the oldest continuous public high school football rivalry in the United States, has featured some pretty impressive names during the past century. Ted Dean, who scored the winning touchdown for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1960 NFL championship game, has played in it. So has Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back Emlen Tunnell. The 118th meeting between these two teams will kick off Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. at Lower Merion High School’s Arnold Field.

Lower Merion holds a 56-50-11 advantage. One of the reasons is the coaching of the legendary Fritz Brennan, whose Aces beat the Red Raiders every year from 1945 to 1956.

Up until the last 15 years, Lower Merion held the dominant upper hand in this rivalry. When the Aces won the 100th contest, a 27-20 victory in front of 6,000 fans at Arnold Field, Lower Merion held a 53-36-11 advantage. That game, which attracted national attention and was the final game of LM coach Rogers Frassenei’s career, ended when Lower Merion’s Kevin Dixon intercepted a pass in the end zone with 15 seconds left to preserve the win.

Since that day, Radnor has prevailed 14 of 17 times. The Red Raiders posted a record 10-game winning streak that came to an end in 2010, when the Aces’ won, 20-7. In 2012, Radnor broke its 20-game losing streak with a 35-7 victory at Arnold Field, and last year, Radnor prevailed by a score of 33-14.

Lower Merion-Radnor is not the oldest public high school football rivalry in the United States. That honor goes to Needham and Wellesley High Schools in suburban Boston — this rivalry began in 1882, but has not been held every year since. According to Wikipedia, the oldest public high school football rivalry in the United States is Boston Latin School vs. English High School of Boston, which have faced off annually since 1887.

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HAVERFORD — Jack Donaghy had one of those stop-and-smell-the-roses moments after Friday night’s 17-8 victory over Ridley. Here was the junior Haverford High quarterback, receiving high-fives and congratulatory pats on the back, feeling like he was king of the world. For good reason, too. Not many quarterbacks can claim they have beaten Ridley twice in their careers. Donaghy has a perfect record.

“I think I can speak for the team when I say that we feel like we’re on top of the world,’ he said.

“Maybe not in the District One standings, we’ll see what happens tonight. But it’s definitely awesome beating a team like Ridley. You can’t beat it.’

The District One Class AAAA playoffs? Yeah, that was something Donaghy and the Fords thought about, but weren’t obsessed with. It turned out they were very much alive for a berth in the 16-team tournament, despite last week’s devastating 44-41 defeat to Garnet Valley, a game the Fords let slip away. Losses by Abington and Harry S. Truman enabled the Fords to qualify.

“If we would have lost this game, we would have been really down on ourselves,’ said Donaghy, who showed why he is one of the top quarterbacks in Delco. He finished 7-for-11 with 159 yards and two touchdowns. “With this victory, we’ve built so much confidence coming off that heartbreaking loss last week. It helped everyone.’

Joe Gallagher, who notched his 125th victory as the Fords head coach, didn’t necessarily care about where the Fords potentially fit in the postseason bracket. His team’s undivided attention was on the Green Raiders, who controlled their playoff destiny. All Ridley had to do was beat Haverford to get in. Surely, it was a topic of discussion that came up during the work week. With some outside assistance, the Fords could make it … but how cool would it be to spoil Ridley’s playoff bid on the final Friday of the regular season for the second year in a row?

“We talked honestly about this,’ Gallagher said. “Our biggest motivation was beating Ridley. The playoffs were a secondary concern, and if that happens it happens. We are still playing one of the best teams in the Central League historically if not the best program. That was really the main thing and then we said, ‘ If we get to the playoffs, hey that’s great.’ It’s still a Central League game and very important to us. Playoffs or not, we want to have a great year.’

Ridley came in with the top run defense in the county, so the Fords allowed Donaghy and wide receiver Nick Costello to do their thing. Last week, they connected six times for 150 yards and a pair of touchdowns. In the first quarter against the Green Raiders, it was more of the same. One of Donaghy’s best assets as a signal caller is his ability to scramble out of the pocket and keep plays alive with his feet. Donaghy likes to roll left or right and wait until the play develops before deciding to throw the ball away, take a sack or run with the ball. In this particular instance, Donaghy held the ball long to lure Ridley’s defensive backs in, allowing Costello to get wide open. Costello hauled in the pass and went 59 yards for a touchdown to give Haverford a 7-0 advantage. They connected on a 41-yard pass in the third quarter to set up Evan Boyle’s 30-yard field goal.

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The game only counted for seeding, but that didn’t dampen Garnet Valley’s drive to head into the state tournament with a win.

The Jaguars stormed back from two sets down to book a 3-2 win over No. 1 seed Pennridge in the third-place game of the District One Class AAA Tournament Saturday.

It appeared to be a short day for the Jaguars as they fell behind by two sets, 25-18 and 25-16. But Garnet Valley stormed back, winning 25-12, 28-26 and a 15-6 laugher in the fifth and final set.

Elise Cummings led the way with 38 assists. Brianna Plush was the star in attack and defensively, pairing 13 kills with 17 digs, while libero Jenna Hostetler came up with 14 digs for the Jags. Both Maria Nicolaides (nine kills, three blocks) and Kiley Price (eight kills, three blocks) were forces to be reckoned with at the net.

The win earns the Jaguars the No. 3 seed out of District One in the PIAA Tournament. They’ll open up the PIAA Tournament Tuesday evening by traveling to Nazareth High School to take on District 11 champions Parkland.

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SPRINGFIELD — Fans orchestrated those “I believe’ chants in the third quarter. Reserves dusted off their helmets for the first drive of the fourth quarter. And the head coach took an ice-water bath with 2 minutes, 30 seconds to go. From top to bottom, those around the Springfield football program were unwilling to wait any longer than necessary to accept the title as outright Central League champions.

“Twenty years, man. Twenty,’ said Springfield quarterback Brian Allen, who had four touchdowns Friday night in the Cougars’ 36-7 win over Harriton.

The victory assured Springfield (10-0, 9-0) an undefeated regular season and its first Central League title since 1994. Beating the Rams also locked up the No. 1 seed in the District One Class AAA tournament, which begins next weekend. No player on Springfield coach Chris Britton’s roster was born the last time the team clinched a league title, a fact that apparently was lost on the Cougars during their raucous postgame celebration.

“I don’t think they’ve figured that out,’ said Britton, the first-year coach.

This has been a special season for Britton, the longtime Springfield assistant who played on the Cougars’ 1994 Central League title team.

“I’m from Springfield,’ Britton said. “I have a lot of friends here. I put a lot of pressure on myself and on the kids. I wanted to deliver. I didn’t want to come up short, even in my first year.’

Falling short hasn’t been an issue for Springfield, which again relied upon its defense to beat up on a weaker opponent. The Cougars forced three turnovers, including an interception and fumble recovery by senior Mike Fleagle. Fellow senior Brian Layden, the Cougars’ nose tackle, had three quarterback sacks to establish the regular-season program record, with 21. In the third quarter, Springfield forced a safety on Harriton quarterback Patrick Stewart, and lineman Justin Shields pounced on a fourth-quarter fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. Springfield also held Harriton to four yards rushing on 19 carries.

“We’ve still got more work to do,’ Layden said.

Springfield has some areas to polish up before hosting its district opener. The Cougars played a scoreless first quarter in which they struggled to find a rhythm. And they fumbled four times in a span of five plays in the fourth quarter. Allen, their quarterback, smoothed over those miscues with stout play in the second and third quarters. The senior rolled left to deliver a pinpoint 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dan Archibong for a 7-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter. On Springfield’s next possession, Allen found Quideer Wimes down the right sideline for a 26-yard, fourth-down pass that only the receiver could have caught. Then, on their next trip, the Cougars got a 6-yard scoring lunge from Allen.

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