Spring-Ford football pushes reigning District 1 champ Garnet Valley to the limit

In building their 31-game winning streak against District 1 opponents, the Garnet Valley Jaguars followed a formula that’s almost as easy to explain as it is difficult to overcome.

The Jaguars run the ball downhill – dives, sweeps, keepers, mixed in with just enough play-action passes to keep a defense honest … and confused.

Eventually, opponents go where Garnet Valley wants them to go. They get out of their lanes; they lose track of assignments. Physical exhaustion meets mental fatigue, and the Jaguars win by football’s version of a TKO.

It’s an effective approach. After all, Garnet’s District 1 winning streak now stands at 32 games after Friday night’s 30-27 overtime win over No. 8 seed Spring-Ford.

But the victory came with a question 12-0 Garnet Valley had to answer for the first time this year: what do you do when your opponent just won’t go away?

In an area more than familiar with heroic underdog performances in sports – both real and cinematic – Spring-Ford’s unwavering resolve against the class of District 1 nearly resulted in a seismic victory at Moe DeFrank Stadium, leaving fans of the hosts with an unfamiliar reaction – relief.

And while the ending was more Rocky or Friday Night Lights than it was Miracle, Spring-Ford provided a blueprint for underdogs everywhere by simply refusing to believe that they were, in fact, expected to lose this game.

The Rams trailed by double digits midway through the second quarter yet were undeterred and managed to battle back to a 10-all tie by the eight-minute mark of the third period. That was when the fun really began.

Garnet Valley would break their 20-minute scoreless streak – an eternity for their offense – with a short touchdown run in the first minute of the fourth period. The score came at the end of a 16-play, 84-yard drive, the type of possession that typically heralds Garnet Valley assuming permanent control over yet another conquered opponent.

But Gage Swanger wasn’t being toppled. The Spring-Ford senior kept hope alive with a thunderbolt of a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to re-establish the tie game.

That was when something changed for the hosts. A murmur through the crowd, an exchange of glances on the sideline. Spring-Ford wasn’t going away, Garnet Valley would have to put them away. The Rams had designs on more than just ‘hanging around.’

Surely, however, this marked the beginning of the end. The Rams’ defense had been on the field for almost an entire quarter, Swanger’s kick return their only brief respite. Fittingly, the Jaguars charged down the field on a 58-yard drive that took only two minutes to re-establish the lead.

Click HERE to read the full article.

Garnet Valley’s (36) Jason Bernard carries the ball in the first half against Spring Ford in the quarter-finals of State 6A playoffs Friday night. The Jags went on to win by a score of 30-27. (Pete Bannan – MediaNews Group)