PA – Central Athletic League | Archive | October, 2016

By Anthony SanFilippo
For Digital First Media

RIDLEY TWP. >> When coach Dave Wood took over the Ridley football program last February and instituted wholesale culture changes that would flip the historical style of Green Raider football on its ear, there were a lot of raised eyebrows. How could Ridley win as an offense that heavily focused on the run? How would a 3-4 defense work when for years Ridley was known for its 4-3 run-stuffing? How would players used to playing both ways or doing more things suddenly accept a reduced, team-oriented role?

Wood is still a few playoff wins from becoming Norman Dale from Hoosiers, but he’s made believers out of everyone in the Ridley community. The exclamation point on the team’s return to Central League prominence occurred with Friday’s 38-8 thumping of Upper Darby in the final game of the regular season. The win allowed Ridley (9-1, 8-1) to be co-champions of the Central League (along with Springfield and Marple Newtown) and earn a PIAA playoff berth for the first time since 2012. It is the 23rd Central League championship for the Raiders.

“I can’t even begin to describe the feeling,” said linebacker Sean Crowley, who along with the rest of the Ridley defense wreaked havoc on the passing attack of the Royals (4-6, 4-4). “We bought in to everything Coach Wood told us and it’s led to this – being Central League champs. But we’ve got more work to do. This was just one goal. We’ve got more.”

Efforts to reach that next goal will begin next week with a first-round home playoff game in the District 1 Class 6A playoffs. Ridley is guaranteed a home game in the first round. They will find out their opponent Sunday morning.

“This is a credit to all our seniors,” Wood said. “When I got here, they were all used to doing things their way. I asked them to give me and the staff a chance. They did and this year, these seniors beat Haverford for the first time. They beat Garnet Valley for the first time. And now they beat Upper Darby.”

Not only did they beat them, they smothered them.

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NEWTOWN SQUARE >> Behind a solid running game, Marple Newtown claimed a share of its first league championship in 39 years, prompting fans to storm the field. Nothing about Friday night’s game seemed ordinary — especially that first part. A team built on its elite passing game suddenly had to rely on its ground attack, and the strategy paid off. Marple Newtown took down Strath Haven, 33-14, to win its first Central League crown in nearly four decades. The Tigers finished atop the league standings along with Springfield and Ridley. And Marple Newtown (9-1 overall, 8-1 league) did it on the strength of Marlon Weathers’ powerful legs. The sophomore running back totaled a career-best 260 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries.

“I guess I had a pretty good game,” Weathers said, grinning ear to ear.

Marple Newtown will head into next week’s District 1 Class 5A playoffs as one of the top three seeds. Unofficially, the Tigers sat at No. 3 in the power rankings heading into this weekend, trailing only Academy Park and Springfield, both of which won Friday. The Tigers needed everything Weathers gave them, particularly early on. Strath Haven’s Hunter Mazur found the end zone on a 58-yard run on the game’s opening drive, putting Marple Newtown in an early hole.

“Honestly, against a team as good as theirs,” Mazur said, “it was good to get something going early.”

And while quarterback Anthony Paoletti still managed a characteristically productive night (13 for 20, 228 yards), something about the Tigers’ passing game seemed off.

“It was just that kind of night, I think,” said Weathers. “I just had a feeling that I’d have to keep pounding the ball.”

With the score level at 7-7 midway through the second quarter, momentum looked to be swinging toward Strath Haven. The Panthers pinned Marple Newtown at its 6-yard line with stellar punt coverage. But the Tigers wouldn’t stay there long. Weathers had other plans. On the first play of the drive, Weathers shed two would-be tacklers and sprinted for a 94-yard touchdown to help the Tigers take a 14-7 lead into halftime.

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2016 Girls Soccer All Central Teams

First Team

MVP: Lizzie King, Sr., Strath Haven
Hannah Morgan, Jr., Conestoga
Gia Dragoni, So., Garnet Valley
Maura Holst, Sr., Radnor
Gia Martyn, Sr., Penncrest
Brianna Blair, Sr., Haverford
Claire Van Duyne, Sr., Strath Haven
Filippa Graneld, So., Harriton
Julia Utkus, Sr., Lower Merion
Bridget Whitaker, Sr., Springfield
Carly Perlman, Jr., Strath Haven
Ashley Bufano, Sr., Garnet Valley

Second Team

Amelia Durfee, Sr., Haverford
Maddie Forbes, Sr., Strath Haven
Caitlin Donovan, Fr., Conestoga
Carly Dunford, So., Penncrest
Rebecca Ritchie, So., Marple Newtown
Emily Cooper, Jr., Ridley
Alex Zecca, Sr., Garnet Valley
Morgan Rees, Jr., Harriton
Jaclyn Castell, Jr., Upper Darby
Allison Lanzone, Sr., Radnor
Colleen Baldwin, Sr., Conestoga

Honorable Mention

Conestoga: Rachel Dirico, Nia Scott
Garnet Valley: Jenna Buttermore, Beth Hofmann
Harriton: Juliet Milani, Ella Milani
Haverford: Maddie Santoro, Annalena O’Reilly, Alison Durfee
Lower Merion: Lexie Sutton, Lily Elman
Marple Newtown: Chloe Canonica
Penncrest: Corryn Gamber, Tara Higgins
Radnor: Annika DeRoos, Nicole Massimino
Ridley: Andrea Pezick, Rylie Butler
Springfield: Erin Cutcliff, Isabelle Mastropietro
Strath Haven: Morgan Crain, Kacy Hafertepe
Upper Darby: Jessica Liberio

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2016 Boys Soccer All Central Teams

First Team

MVP: Sam Brown, Penncrest

Nick Jennings, Conestoga
Chris Donovan, Conestoga
Matt Moore, Garnet Valley
Alex Kedes, Harriton
Sean Cannon, Haverford
Tim O’Hare, Lower Merion
Sam Brown, Penncrest
Jack Miller, Radnor
Blaise Milanek, Conestoga
Ryan Tillman, Lower Merion
Sabastian Jenkins, Lower Merion

Second Team

Harrison Hotham, Strath Haven
Adam Azab, Marple Newtown
Mohamed Camara , Upper Darby
Gabe Harms, Conestoga
Andrew Weir, Garnet Valley
Josh Cunningham, Haverford
David Novacich, Lower Merion
Ryan Peter, Radnor
Shea Morgan, Penncrest
Mason Miller, Conestoga
Ben Toomey, Radnor

Honorable Mention

Conestoga: Mike McCarthy, Will Klein
Garnet Valley: Michael Buchy, Jacob Schwien
Harriton: Emil Andersen, Evan Tracy
Haverford: Cam Morse, Wilson Dodds
Lower Merion: Max Shapiro, Thomas Podrasky
Marple Newtown: Richie Hannig, Eamonn Clinton, Rajbir Lohat
Penncrest: Christian Evans, Max Brown, Alex Boudazin
Radnor: Cal Congleton, Ben Verbofsky
Ridley: Brendan Higgins, Kyran Baker
Springfield: Ron Miller, Thomas McCaffery
Strath Haven: Jeremy Baker, Josh Mason
Upper Darby: Daniel Willie, Scott Devlin

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Tredyffrin >> The follow-up is often the hardest part. For the Conestoga girls soccer team during Saturday’s District 1-AAAA quarterfinal against Spring-Ford, the follow-up was the best part. Junior defender Hannah Morgan was going to do her part to get on the end of senior Madie French’s corner kick five minutes into the second half of a scoreless game. After that, nothing was a given.

“Any corner we get, with Hannah in the box, she’s going to get on the end of it and be dangerous. She’s done a good job all season getting to the ball and getting the initial touch but we haven’t always had the people following in.”

Freshman Caitlin Donovan provided the missing piece as she scored the rebound of Morgan’s shot that hit the near-side post to send Conestoga well on its way to a 2-0 victory over Spring-Ford to claim a berth into the PIAA Championships and advance to the District 1-AAAA semifinals. Junior midfielder Ariel Loevy poached on a defensive miscommunication by the Rams with under 14 minutes remaining to put the final touches on a comprehensive fourth-seeded Pioneers’ performance that handed No. 5 Spring-Ford its first loss of the season (20-1-1). Not a bad follow-up to last year’s five-win season for the Pioneers. Conestoga moves on to the district’s final four to face top seed Neshaminy – a 1-0 winner over Downingtown West Saturday – on Wednesday at Neshaminy.

Spring-Ford enters playbacks for the district’s fifth and final place in states – it will host No. 9 Downingtown West on Wednesday – a road the Rams know quite well. Spring-Ford traversed that path in 2013 and 2014 to reach states.

“Unfortunately we know it all too well,” Rams head coach Tim Leyland said. “Last year was the first year we got through the ‘easy way’ where we advanced to the semis; this year will be a little tougher. Now you’re in a four-team tournament for one spot. That puts a lot of pressure on you honestly because your season is on the line every game you play.”

On Saturday, the pressure came vigorously from the Pioneers (15-1-4), a program that is returning to district prominence under first-year head coach Ben Wilson, who last year guided the Episcopal Academy girls’ team to an Inter-Ac title.

“We only won five games last year so it’s a huge turnaround. It’s overwhelming,” Morgan said. “Everyone was just so disappointed with last year that we really wanted to turn around so everyone is working hard at practice, putting in the time and wants to get better. Our mindsets have changed.”

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TREDYFFRIN >> When Logan Schwartz checked in for the final time with 17 minutes to play Saturday, and again when Mason Miller entered with 10 left, the message from Conestoga coach David Zimmerman was succinct: Closing time.

“The mentality is really just to keep up the pressure,” Miller said. “We know that there’s only a few minutes left in the game, and if we didn’t do anything, it would go to overtime. We just wanted to get a goal, put it away early and finish the game off.”

As the last wave in Zimmerman’s 20-man rotation plan, Miller and Schwartz delivered, the latter hammering home a beautifully taken goal in the 76th minute to see the top-seeded Pioneers over No. 9 Central Bucks East in a District 1 Class 4A quarterfinal grudge match.

Schwartz took Zimmerman’s “closing time” mantra to heart, and so Conestoga’s new beginning (and a fifth PIAA tournament berth in seven seasons) came from Central Bucks East’s beginning’s end.

There’s no love lost between two of the most successful teams around, a tantalizing matchup that popped off the page as soon as brackets were released. These teams decided the District 1 (then Class AAA) title last year and met in the PIAA semis, the Patriots winning both en route to a state crown and inflicting the only blemishes on Conestoga’s 2015 record. Some faces have changed, and Conestoga (20-0) is now the side lavished with national attention, but emotions were still rubbed raw Saturday.

“We got kicked out by them last year, and we needed to come back this year against them,” Conestoga defender Mike McCarthy said. “… It was definitely in the back of our minds.”

“I was a part of that, and I remember that we were their only two losses last year,” C.B. East defender Stephen Sheehan said. “If it wasn’t for us, they would’ve done what we did. And we knew coming in that they were going to want revenge. And we could tell out there, they knew who we were and what they wanted to do.”

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The new and arguably not improved District 1 football seedings were announced Sunday.

In Class 6A, four Delaware County teams qualified for the field of 16: Ridley, Garnet Valley, Penn Wood and Haverford. The big surprise from that group is Haverford, which earned the 16th seed. It was believed the Fords were eliminated from postseason contention following Friday’s 24-17 setback to Springfield. Instead, the Fords (6-4) were able to sneak into the bracket and will play undefeated North Penn, the No. 1 seed. North Penn has gone undefeated four times in the 15-year tenure of coach **** Beck.

Ridley, which grabbed the fifth seed, was the lone Delco team in 6A to earn a first-round home date. The Green Raiders (9-1) will host No. 12 Plymouth Whitemarsh (8-2), which captured a share of the Suburban One League American Division title. Ridley won a piece of the Central League crown with Springfield and Marple Newtown. Ridley advances to the district playoffs for the first time since 2012.

In other 6A matchups. No. 10 Garnet Valley (8-2) travels to Central Bucks South (8-2), while 14th-seeded Penn Wood (7-3) hits the road to play third-seeded Perkiomen Valley (9-1). Perk Valley won its second Pioneer Athletic Conference title in three years. Penn Wood is in the district playoffs for the second time in program history.

The Class 5A playoffs feature eight Delco teams, including the top three seeds. No. 1 Springfield (9-1) plays No. 16 Penncrest (3-7), one of four teams in the bracket with a losing record. No. 2 Academy Park (9-1) hosts No. 15 Radnor (4-6), while third-seeded Marple Newtown (9-1) battles 14th-seeded Upper Moreland (5-5). Radnor made history as the first football team in school history to qualify for the postseason.

Elsewhere in 5A, No. 13 Strath Haven (4-6) makes its long-awaited return to district playoff action. The Panthers will play fourth-seeded Upper Dublin, which downed North Penn for the district’s Class AAAA championship last fall. Sun Valley (6-4) is back in the postseason for the first time in a decade as the 12th-seeded Vanguards (6-4) play Ches-Mont League foe and No. 5 seed W.C. Henderson. In another 5A matchup, No. 9 Glen Mills (5-5) travels to No. 8 Great Valley (6-4).

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UPPER MORELAND >> Statistically, Marple Newtown controlled its District 1-AAA first round game at Upper Moreland.

Observationally, the game was much more even, as both the ninth-seeded Tigers and host No. 8 Golden Bears were in each other’s end and looking to threaten. The difference came in the defenses.

Marple Newtown’s back line stifled Upper Moreland and the Tigers got a pair of excellent goals to claim a 2-0 win and a date with top seed Holy Ghost Prep on Thursday.

“We told them to keep pressing, I thought we created chances when we stepped up and forced turnovers with our defense,” Marple Newtown coach Jared Harris said. “We told our forwards to step up, pressure the backs and when they got their chances, finish them. We knew they were coming.”

Marple Newtown put a total of 12 shots on net while holding Upper Moreland to just three. Still the Bears looked a better team early but couldn’t seem to generate anything on target.

Senior Randy Meehl put in a high energy showing, but was often isolated or unable to connect with his teammates inside the attacking third. That was just what the Tigers wanted.

“We talked to our defense about stepping up as a unit,” Harris said. “It started with our defenders stepping and keeping a high line. All 11 of our guys stepped up and put pressure on and we capitalized off the turnovers we created.”

In the first half, Upper Moreland was just as stout though and goalkeeper Ryan Varela made a couple of excellent saves, two on Marple Newtown attacking mid Adam Azad. Varela and second half keeper Brennan Coleman were very good for UM and Coleman wasn’t at fault for either goal.

Switching keepers has been Upper Moreland’s thing all season. Both are seniors and have done well and Bears coach Dan Mannella didn’t want to change things up.

“Both our goalies played really well today,” Mannella said. “I always think about goalkeepers. Those guys have been splitting a lot of time and I don’t think it’s fair to give one guy a full game in the only playoff game of their career so that’s why I made the switch at halftime.”

The Tigers were confident at the half they were going to score given the chances they were getting.

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HAVERFORD >> As the ball bounded off Ali Murphy’s head Tuesday night, the sophomore didn’t need to see where the shot landed. Everyone else on the field at Haverford High’s A.G. Cornog Stadium was transfixed by the looping trajectory, arcing gently toward an open goal. But Murphy was already looking for a teammate to hug in celebration. The Haverford winger knew she had headed it true the moment she connected on Grace Drames’ cross — and a moment before she absorbed a collision with a West Chester Rustin defender and goalie Nicole Cousens — as the Fords earned a 2-1 win in overtime of the opening round of the District 1 Class 4A soccer tournament.

“Right when I headed it, I knew it was going in,” Murphy said. “So I just turned around and ran toward everyone on my team and hugged them all.

”The victory moves the No. 13 Fords (15-3-1) to the second round Thursday against No. 4 Conestoga, which beat the Fords 2-1 in their regular season meeting. It’s also, according to coach Alexandra Hill, the program’s first postseason win, at least in recent memory.

It seems fitting that a defender contributed to the winner on a team that Tuesday allowed just its seventh goal of the season. The left back Drames, after a throw-in was knocked back into her path, lofted a high-arcing cross to the far post in the 90th minute. It took a bounce in the box, the cardinal sin of defending, and fell back to earth upon the waiting head of Murphy. The winger hurled herself at the ball, and with Cousens charging off her line a hair late, Murphy had plenty to shoot for on a ball that hit over the line and hopped up to tickle the netting, setting off a stampede of jacketed joy from the bench.

“Usually we work on diagonal balls in practice, so when Grace hit it as a back defender, I knew it was going to go towards me and I just headed it in,” Murphy said. “I knew the goalie was coming out so she was going to leave the goal open so I had to head it over her.”

“I saw Ali running in, and I know she’s good with her head, so I was counting on her to just finish that and she did,” Drames said. “I was happy that she did.”

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Hoog, a sophomore, won the Central League singles tournament for the second year in a row, and helped the Harriton girls’ tennis team capture the PIAA District One team tournament as well. She also plays for the Harriton paddle tennis team.  Off the court, she plays tenor sax and clarinet in Harriton’s jazz band and orchestra, and has studied piano for nine years.

Fun facts – Nina Hoog

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