Posted on 19 September 2016 by ldevlin.
Charlotte Ross scored five goals, including the 100th of her career, as Conestoga rolled past Radnor, 7-1, in a Central League field hockey contest Thursday. Ross’ milestone goal, her second of the game, came on a penalty stroke with three minutes left in the first half. Madison Rogalski and Charlotte de Vries also scored for the Pioneers.
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Posted on 16 September 2016 by ldevlin.
RIDLEY >> It’s not difficult to pick out Sam Brown on the soccer field, not just because he’s rarely far from the ball. There’s also what’s on the head — think a darker-hued version of wild-haired international star of the past Carlos Valderrama — that helps the Penncrest forward stand out from the crowd.
Younger brother Max, thanks in part to a new haircut, is slightly more inconspicuous. But the sophomore is just as instrumental to the Lions’ early success. That was evident Thursday in a comprehensive 4-0 Central League win over Ridley, one where the two pieces of the puzzle named “Brown” fit together nicely.
Sam Brown scored twice, one on a penalty kick. Max Brown pulled the strings from deep in midfield, his incisive service and defense-softening shots from distance, though errant, providing forwards with lanes to run through.
It would be convenient to draw parallels between their games and choice of hair styles, Sam sporting the ostentatious style of someone who relishes taking on defenders one-v-one; Max the more conservative, stay-at-home midfielder.
For as well as their framed manes complement, it’s tempting to think they arose by design playing alongside each other.
But it’s a tactical coincidence that the Browns gravitated toward different areas of the pitch. (And, for the record, the hair is just an attempt by Max, a sophomore, to “look a little different” than his corkscrew-coiffed brother).
“I guess we play well together because I like to play more holding and pick out passes, and Sam likes to go at people and he’s a finisher, too,” Max said. “It’s a pretty good combo.”
Penncrest’s early season success would concur. Max Brown played the over-the-top ball that led to the first goal, when Ridley goalie Zach Ritz pawed away a shot by Sam Brown, but Nate Rodgers was first to swoop to the rebound deposit it into the net for Penncrest (4-2, 2-1).
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Posted on 15 September 2016 by ldevlin.
HAVERFORD >> Rare are the games in which one player makes a dramatic impact in all three facets: offense, defense and special teams.
Then again, Brock Anderson is no ordinary player.
The Ridley senior was a jack of all trades in leading his team to a thrilling 28-20 victory over Garnet Valley in a crucial early-season Central League showdown Friday night. Anderson eclipsed 100 yards rushing, made several tackles and recorded an interception in the secondary, and averaged nearly 40 yards per punt.
Not surprising, Anderson’s yeoman’s work earned him Central League MVP honors at Monday night’s weekly meeting of the Delaware County Coaches Association at Barnaby’s of Havertown.
Central League
Players of the Week >> Quarterback: Anthony Paoletti (Marple Newtown). Running Back: Brock Anderson (Ridley) and Ja’Den McKenzie (Springfield). Receiver: Sean Burke (Upper Darby). Offensive Line: John Sheldon (Ridley). Defensive Line: Justin Shields (Springfield). Linebacker: Dave Strawley (Springfield). Defensive Back: Brock Anderson (Ridley). Specialist: Jack Coary (Springfield).
Honorable Mention >> Quarterback: John Fanelli (Springfield); Nate Rimel (Upper Darby). Running Back: Dan Guy (Garnet Valley); Taj Wright (Harriton); Kareem Bernard (Haverford); Malik Young (Ridley); Zach Newlon (Strath Haven); Phil Shovlin (Springfield). Receiver: Jake Buttermore (Garnet Valley); Cameron Mathes (Marple Newtown); Dash Dulgerian (Marple Newtown); Luke Cantwell (Marple Newtown); Joe Kennedy (Springfield). Offensive Line: Jack Farrell (Haverford); Kevin Hahn (Haverford); Zack Wagner (Ridley); Lee Holbert (Strath Haven); Rob DuBois (Strath Haven). Defensive Line: Joe Thomas (Garnet Valley); Rob Monachello (Garnet Valley); Todd Odgers (Haverford); Nick Dilorio (Haverford); Cooper Maas (Marple Newtown); Kyle Tobin (Marple Newtown); Jake Quinn (Penncrest); Joseph Spillman (Ridley); John Harrar (Strath Haven). Linebacker: Harry Thomas (Harriton); AJ Katrakazis (Marple Newtown); Caleb Mahalik (Penncrest); Zach Wade (Radnor); Charlie Connelly (Radnor); Kyle Addis (Radnor); Ryan Gricco (Ridley); Jake Fisher (Strath Haven). Defensive Back: Jack Thomas (Harriton); John Klee (Haverford); Carmen Christiana (Marple Newtown). Specialist: Dave Wood (Garnet Valley); Kyran Baker (Ridley); Emmit Young (Strath Haven).
Ridley’s Brock Anderson is the Week 3 Central League MVP.
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Posted on 13 September 2016 by ldevlin.
NEWTOWN SQUARE >> A week ago, on his leisurely way to 200-plus yards, Marple Newtown quarterback Anthony Paoletti saw just two of his passing attempts hit the turf.
Friday, when Paoletti’s first pass was corralled by Radnor linebacker Charlie Connolly and his first five attempts in succession missed their mark, the junior quarterback … well, he changed nothing.
“It was a rough start,” Paoletti admitted with a laugh.
True to form for the robust offense coach Chris Gicking has cultivated at Marple, denying Paoletti his first or second plan merely delayed the inevitable in the Tigers’ 28-7 Central League win over a shorthanded but tenacious Radnor bunch.
The astute signal-caller in Paoletti misfired early in the face of Radnor’s attack defense, one that limited the running game and prevented the Tigers’ backs from leaking out to present an escape valve for Paoletti. But after that touch beginning, Radnor’s aggressiveness flipped the switch for Paoletti to brandish one of the other arrows in his extensive quarterbacking quiver: The QB draw.
Paoletti eventually got his requisite 200 yards (205, but requiring 25 attempts) for the third time this season. But he helped break the game open with his legs, running for three scores and taking his season tally in that department to seven.
“Once our guys are getting it going, I think the whole team gets it going,” Paoletti said. “We just need some guy to get it going, and the whole team is on each other, supporting. We’re a family.”
He got a little help from a defense that caused three turnovers and contributed to a ragged first quarter. But Paoletti finally cashed in the latest riposte in the turnover battle, a Dylan Conan interception of Radnor backup quarterback Sean Mullarkey at the 31. Paoletti connected with tight end Luke Cantwell on a 23-yard seam route for his first completion, then scampered the final eight yards to the house.
“You’ve got to stay patient in times like that,” Paoletti said. “It all turned out our way obviously. But we weathered the storm, we got it all down and we came out with the W.”
From there, normal service was restored between two fairly evenly matched teams had one not been missing its starting quarterback and running back. Both Radnor’s Pat McDermott and Jack Horvath were confined to the sidelines for a second straight week, and while Raiders’ coach Tom Ryan expects them back in a matter of weeks rather than months, the absence showed.
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Posted on 13 September 2016 by ldevlin.
LOWER MERION >> Penncrest coach Rick Stroup’s final remarks Friday night summarized what had transpired over the previous three or so hours.
“There’s not a lot to say,” he said.
Penncrest beat Harriton, 21-6, in a game that will certainly not go down in Central League or Delaware County lore.
The teams combined to fumble the football 19 times — most coming on poor Harriton snaps — while not reaching 300 yards of total offense. Six of those fumbles were lost. One resulted in a safety. The game’s leading rusher, Penncrest’s Caleb Mahalik, had just 63 yards.
But Penncrest did win. It is now 2-1, 1-1 in league play (Harriton drops to 0-3, 0-2). The Lions do have that, at least.
“A win’s a win,” Stroup said. “It’s better to win **** than lose good. That’s all.”
The veteran coach wondered if the steaming hot weather, or the fact that it was the first week of school, contributed to the sloppiness. He knew the Lions didn’t practice well enough. He knew a performance like this likely would not have resulted in a win against any other team in the league.
The players heard that and saw that, too. They figure they can rebound and re-focus.
“We’re pretty committed with each other, we’re a family,” senior leader Mike Wilson said. “We have good chemistry, team chemistry. I think once we got everything together, once we start getting focused — no mistakes. We need to have continuous plays and go down the field.”
That’s what hurt Penncrest in this one. Mark Ullman’s 80-yard touchdown return was called back for a penalty on the opening play of the game. Drops stalled the following drive. A fumble ended a series early in the second quarter. A lack of communication between quarterback Chris Mills and wide receiver Manny Ruffin put a stop to a quest for points before halftime.
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Posted on 13 September 2016 by ldevlin.
CONCORD >> Ridley senior Allen Martin was told at halftime to be ready to make a big play. Not just any old play — the game-winning play.
“They came up to me and said, ‘A-Mart, you’re winning the game for us.’ That’s what I was told,” Martin said Friday night, recalling what coaches and teammates told him in the locker room at Garnet Valley.
The Green Raiders had done this before. Quarterback Cade Stratton takes the snap and flips the ball to running back Malik Young behind the line of scrimmage. Young fakes as if he is going to run, stops and fires a pass to a wide receiver streaking down the sideline.
“I mean, I wasn’t nervous about it,” Young said. “If you look back from last year, I had the same passing play. The coaches this year saw it the day we did that and they believed in me that I could to do it again.”
This would be a defining moment in a young season.
“My boy A-Mart made a beautiful catch and we just rocked with it,” Young said. “The coaches believed in me, the line blocked beautifully and we just completed the play.”
Young connected with Martin for a 36-yard touchdown to allow Ridley to tie the game with 3:29 to go in the fourth quarter. Kyran Baker drilled the extra point to put the Green Raiders ahead to stay.
In an incredible, must-see Central League showdown between two Delco heavyweights, Ridley earned a 28-20 victory. It was the Green Raiders’ first win over the Jaguars since 2012.
Ridley sealed the win with old-school Green Raiders defense. Tough and in-your-face, coach Dave Wood’s crew never relented. They dominated the second half, allowing just 21 yards of offense. Linebacker Ryan Gricco and John Sheldon were stars on defense.
The trickery that catapulted the Green Raiders in front late was nice, but it was the Green Raiders’ ability to control the clock that made the difference. In the second half, Ridley ran 64 offensive plays to Garnet Valley’s 25.
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Posted on 13 September 2016 by ldevlin.
Berwyn – Throughout Fran Tomaselli’s illustrious 40-year career as the Conestoga girls’ tennis coach it’s no secret that she preaches family.
While tennis is often viewed as an individualistic sport, Conestoga had several opportunities this season to display what has the made the program so successful throughout the years and how Coach Tomaselli’s message has been passed on.
For the past seven years, the winner of the Harriton-Conestoga match has been fortunate enough to go on and win the Central League crown. With last year’s match not decided until the final court finished, Tomaselli was expecting much of the same this year and she hoped that the family atmosphere she has fostered would pay dividends especially with her team suffering a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to West Chester Henderson to open the year.
This year, the Conestoga-Harriton match was held Sept. 8. With the score knotted at 3-3, Tomaselli signaled to sophomore Ashley Griffith that she would decide the match. After feeling like she had let her team down against Henderson dropping the deciding point, Griffith was determined not to have a repeat result.
“Against Henderson I did not know what the score of the match was and when I lost I felt like I had let my team down,” said Griffith following the match against Radnor. “So if the match was tied I wanted to know. I was tired and it was a long match so I wanted to use it as motivation.”
The plan worked to perfection as Griffith outlasted Harriton’s Sophia Sassoli 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-3 to give her team the win and the inside track on an eighth consecutive Central League title.
“The win over Harriton [Sept. 8] will probably be our biggest win of the season, as for the last seven seasons whichever team has won our match has gone on to win the league championship,” said Tomaselli. “This then gives the team automatic entry into the district tournament. We also knew that they have three excellent singles players, which makes it very difficult for other teams to beat them. That is why it so very important to have players believe in each other and realize that it takes more than three players to make a team. It doesn’t matter where you play on the team – first singles or third doubles, each match counts the same toward a total team victory. My players understand this concept and believe in each other!”
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Posted on 06 September 2016 by ldevlin.
NEWTOWN SQUARE >> As Delco Christian lined up for a fourth down on the first series of the second half Saturday, Daniel Barcliff had had enough.
The hulking Lower Merion lineman had seen the Knights’ triple-option attack move the ball steadily in a low-scoring affair. With the score tied and the Knights within striking distance, Barcliff knew someone needed to make a play.
That’s what Barcliff did on the fourth-and-1 at the 20, giving the Aces offense room to work out the kinks in offense and notch a 19-7 nonleague win Saturday.
Barcliff’s star turn was the first strike against Delco Christian’s offensive momentum, the senior lineman bursting into the backfield and wrapping up Jalen Mitchell for a one-yard loss with the Knights knocking on the door.
“I just needed a stop,” Barcliff said. “I knew the ball was going to go down the middle because whenever they put five in the middle, I know it’s going straight down the middle. So I said, ‘I’m going to stop this. He’s not going to gain any more yards.’”
That wouldn’t be enough to spark the Aces offense yet, but coupled with a stop on DC’s next drive, Mitchell again thrown for a loss on fourth-and-long by Demetrius Hansen, the levee finally broke.
The final blow was struck by Lower Merion’s Elijah Smith, who picked his way 49 yards down to the 1-yard line, shedding tackles and nearly plowing into the end zone.
Three plays later, Deion Davis did the honors, his first of two second-half touchdowns thrown by Matt O’Connor that spelled the victory for Lower Merion (1-1).
“That was a really big play,” Davis said of Smith’s run. “It gave us energy and our team scored after that. It gave us energy and we were up. That’s what made us win the game.”
So, too, did the defense that set it up. Before Barcliff’s fourth-down stuff, Delco Christian (0-2) had collected 166 yards on the ground in a half plus one series, a tally that qualified as an offensive outburst Saturday between two teams still sorting out their personnel groupings in the early season.
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Posted on 06 September 2016 by ldevlin.
MIDDLETOWN >> Anthony Paoletti unclipped his shoulder pads with one hand as he played catch with a little guy half his size.
“Isn’t your arm getting tired?” Paoletti, Marple Newtown’s quarterback, asked 5-year-old Daniel Presser, who shook his head and extended the back-and-forth tosses.
A post-game workout was the last thing Paoletti needed, given his workload during Friday night’s game, but the senior was happy to oblige. Paoletti and Marple Newtown dispatched host Penncrest, 35-14, Friday night at Louis W. Scott Stadium.
Paoletti rushed for one touchdown and threw for two more, as the Tigers (2-0, 1-0) cruised. He finished 8 for 10 with 209 yards through the air, including a 70-yard catch-and-run touchdown connection with Carmen Christiana. Paoletti also carried six times for 39 yards.
Heavy workload for him? Sure. But Paoletti and his Marple Newtown teammates also had heavy hearts.
The Tigers played their Central League opener in honor of Daniel’s brother, Michael, 7, who passed away a year ago after a brief battle with Leukemia. The Presser family, including father Dave and mother Kristen, who live in Broomall, were on hand for the game. Dave and Daniel watched from the Tigers’ sideline. And all three met with players in the locker room in pregame.
Dave Presser, a 1994 Marple Newtown alumnus, said the outpouring of support from the community has been tremendous. And at a youth-night event a few months ago, he approached Marple Newtown coach Chris Gicking to personally say thanks. He never expected Gicking would respond by inviting the family to meet his team.
“Their story just puts life into perspective, and the least we can do is show them our love and support, and let them know that we’re always thinking about them,” Gicking said.
“From the moment we learned that Michael was sick, we heard from so many people who expressed their support,” said Presser. “It means a lot to be a part of this community.”
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Posted on 06 September 2016 by ldevlin.
HAVERFORD >> Dave Wood wasn’t certain how long it would take, when it would happen or how the celebration would unfold. All he knew was that if he were going to help Ridley High return to Central League dominance, there first would be one major correction.
At some point, the Green Raiders were going to have to defeat the sitting champion, a program that their seniors had never beaten, a well-coached growing power. At some point, they would have to beat Haverford.
That point, Wood figured, arrived with just over five minutes left Friday at A.G. Cornog Field. That’s when he told quarterback Cade Stratton to let it fly and throw it high.
“As much as we pound the ball, sometimes play-action will get one-on-one coverage,” Wood said. “So we went to the tall receiver.”
The 41-yard pass from Stratton to 6-foot-4 Liam Wright down the right sideline would land the Raiders at the Haverford 20 in a scoreless game. Less than three minutes later, Stratton would squeeze into the end zone from a yard away for the only touchdown in a 7-0 Ridley victory.
Though the Green Raiders would attempt just 11 passes, six were complete, all to Wright, none more valuable than that 41-yard connection that finally cracked a strong Fords defense.
The Raiders improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the Central in their first season under Wood. Haverford, rebuilding some after its championship season, dipped to 0-2, 0-1 in the conference.
“This league is going to be real close,” Fords coach Joe Gallagher said. “We entered this game and said, ‘We’re in the Central League now. It’s going to be a nine-round bout.’ Tonight was Round 1. That’s all. We lost the first round. We have eight more rounds to go. And we take pride in getting better every week, which I know we will.
“I relate it to boxing. We’re the belt-holders. And until somebody takes it, we’re still the champs. It’s nine rounds. This is one round. We’re still in it.”
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