Football: Paoletti, Marple Newtown leaves last week in past

NEWTOWN TWP. >> It was a short practice week.

That didn’t mean practices would be anything but long for the Marple Newtown’s players. The Tigers needed to put their **** Central League loss to Haverford behind them and spend time preparing for Lower Merion.

“Things that happened are over with,” senior quarterback Anthony Paoletti said. “This was our week to restart and to do things better.”

Paoletti, who struggled through the loss to the visiting Fords, was 20-for-29 passing for 231 yards and three touchdowns as the Tigers rolled to a 44-13 Central League victory over visiting Lower Merion Thursday.

Marple (4-2, 3-1) did enough in the first half to claim a 16-6 lead after two quarters. Paoletti and Aaron Diamond teamed up on a 46-yard completion in the second minute of the game, and Marlon Weathers banged in from one yard away two plays later for the first score.

Four minutes later, it was Paoletti to Weathers on a screen pass for 25 yards and six more points.

Lower Merion got a 42-yard Marek D’Alonzo to Jalen Goodman scoring pass early in the second quarter, while penalties and running plays for losses kept the Tigers out of the end zone in the period.

Luke Ciavardelli booted a 25-yard field goal on the last play of the half to give MN a 16-6 lead at the break.

Coach Chris Gicking got the home team fired up with his halftime talk, and Marple Newtown needed only four plays to drive for scores on its first two possessions of the third quarter. Paoletti had scoring passes to Luke Cantwell and Alden Mathes, the second coming less than a minute after a Cantwell interception.

Three plays after a Kyle Tobin sack in the fourth quarter, Weathers ran 30 yards for his third TD.

Backup quarterback Rodgers Roberts ran 46 yards for Lower Merion’s final points, and sophomore Andrew Cantwell returned the Aces’ kickoff 80 yards to close out the scoring for the Tigers.

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Marple Newtown’s Alden Mathes hauls in a pass in the second quarter of Marple Newtown’s 44-13 win over Lower Merion Thursday. (Digital First Media/Pete Bannan)