PA – Central Athletic League | Archive | October, 2023

Add another laurel to the pile of them in Olivia Cieslak’s possession. The Haverford junior clocked in at 17 minutes, 35.70 seconds to win the District 1 Class 3A individual title at Lehigh University on Friday.

Cieslak was 12 seconds clear of runner-up Ella Woehlcke of Mount Saint Joseph. She was one of only four runners to break 18 minutes.

Cieslak helped the Fords finished second in the team race, only four points behind Owen J. Roberts for the crown. Haverford scored 169 points to OJR’s 165. The Wildcats put four runners in the top 37, while Haverford had three in the first 29 and four in the top 49.

The teams will meet again at the PIAA Class 3A Championships. Strath Haven also qualified for that race, finishing sixth in the team race, one point up on Conestoga, for the final District 1 states berth.

Camryn McGeehan backed Cieslak by finishing eighth in 18:13.60. Micah Haskins-Kyer was 30th for the Fords.

Strath Haven’s Hannah Prokup crossed the line in 12th place, two spots ahead of teammate Chloe Browne. Radnor’s Zoe Margolies got across the line as Delco’s second-best individual finisher. She covered the course in 18:04.90 for sixth. That secures one of the district’s 30 individual spots at states.

Springfield finished 16th in the team category, led by Sophia Kurtis’ 15th place individual result. Lizzie Getz of Marple Newtown was 39th.

On the boys Class 3A side, Penncrest is states bound. The Lions scored 206 points, good for fourth. Edomias Mulugeta led the Lions across the line in 10th place with a time of 15:29.80. Freshman Rowan Carr followed in 15th place.

Council Rock North won the boys title with 119 points, ahead of Lower Merion’s 153. The Aces had the individual race winner in Nicholas Mazzeo, who went 15:07.40.

The honor of top Delco individual finisher went to Luke Bodden, the Radnor senior finishing sixth overall in 15:22.20. He’ll run at states in Hershey next week, as will Ridley’s Jackson Kane, who finished 12th in 15:35.50. Haverford’s Teddy Foster (26th place in 15:51.40) and Dan Wuenschel of Strath Haven (27th in 15:51.90) also are off to Hershey.

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CONCORD — As an old saying goes, it’s not how you start, but how you finish.

For Garnet Valley, a strong ending to the regular season in the form of a dominant 35-8 win over Upper Darby has the Jaguars feeling good about where they are heading into the District 1 Class 6A playoffs.

“They’re a resilient group,” said Garnet Valley coach Erik VanWyk, whose team improved to 8-2. “We’ve had our highs and lows this year, but they really stayed in the middle and I think you need that if you want to succeed in the next chapter.”

Garnet Valley used a tricky mix of its patented ground attack and some timely passing from quarterback Tyler Lassik to keep the Royals guessing.

“It’s important to be able to show that (offensive) balance to go deep into the playoffs,” VanWyk said. “I thought we executed pretty well.”

Lassik hit Luke O’Donoghue with a 21-yard touchdown pass just three minutes into the game before Luke Vaughn added two more scores to give the Jaguars a 21-0 lead by the end of the first half.

“I was excited. The holes opened up and I think we have some of the best lineman that we have ever had here. It’s not me, it’s those huge holes they open up for me,” said Vaughn, who finished with 73 rushing yards. “I know that we let up eight (points), but they didn’t get that on the defense, so it meant a lot to not let them score on our defense, too.”

Defensively, the Jaguars were all over the Royals, as Massimo Iavarone and Chase Britton each tallied a sack. For lineman Aidan Bendo, the squad’s defensive effort was top notch.

“The defense was phenomenal,” Bendo said. “Every play was relentless. The coaches had a great scheme, the scout team gave us great looks at practice. Everything worked out perfect.

“We’re stoked (for the postseason). We have a couple of injuries and they hurt, but every guy here can be replaced. We install the system and everything else will take care of itself.”

The Royals were game, but mental and physical mistakes plagued them. In all, the Royals were whistled for 12 penalties in the first half alone, and 15 for the game. Those mistakes would prove costly against the Jaguars.

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Garnet Valley quarterback Tyler Lassik, seen celebrating during a victory over Marple Newtown the previous week, led the Jaguars to a 35-8 win over Upper Darby to close the regular season Friday night. (Pete Bannan – MediaNews Group)

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RADNOR — A project more than a year in development culminated Friday for Springfield in a 63-14 victory over Radnor to complete a satisfying regular season. The next project began at once.

Though the Cougars improved to 9-1 overall and 7-1 in the Central League, they immediately began to plan to win a playoff game, a District 1 Class 5A championship and more. And if that journey twists a certain way, that one stain on the record can be forgotten.

“We had a rough loss to Haven,” said sophomore linebacker and running back Tanner Coll, “but we kept it going. And now we are on a roll.”

As they arrived at Provost Field, the Cougars were ranked No. 3 in the District 1 5A power rankings behind only Chester and Strath Haven. Springfield fell, 19-15, at Strath Haven in Week 2 but since has posted an eight-game winning streak.

The Cougars would welcome a rematch somewhere down the district line.

“Absolutely,” said Coll, who uncorked a 50-yard second-quarter touchdown run. “I think our defense is going to step up, our offense will click more and maybe pass the ball more and get in the end zone.”

End-zone arrival was not a problem Friday for Springfield, which had a 28-0 lead before its second offensive possession.

After Ethan Marshall capped a 10-play, 72-yard game-opening drive with a one-yard TD burst, Brian Delaney returned an interception 30 yards for a score on the first play of the ensuing Radnor possession.

Four plays later, with Radnor in punt formation, Mike Friel pounced on an errant long snap in the end zone, then caught a two-point conversion pass from Mike Turner for a 21-0 lead. Radnor suffered the same fate on its next possession when Mike Smith recovered a high snap in the end zone.

“Our special teams did a great job,” coach Chris Britton said. “We had nine different kids score. That was a great team effort. They did all their homework and things worked out for us.”

The special teams dominance continued when the Cougars blocked the next punt at the Radnor 15, leading to a three-yard Turner touchdown two plays later. When Vinny Valerio returned the next Radnor punt 42 yards for a score and Sean Williams added one of his five PATs, Springfield had a 42-0 lead.

“On coaches, that’s on us,” Radnor coach Kyle Yeiter said. “It’s inexcusable. We just take ourselves completely out of games. We knew they were big and strong, and on their first drive, we made them go six and a half minutes. Then we give them five touchdowns in a row without them having to do anything.”

The Raptors were stopped on downs on their next opportunity, and one play later Coll went on his 50-yard tour.

“Our tackle, Gus (Bryan) came in and blew up the end,” he said. “I saw a lane and I just cut to the outside. It was an open field.”

Coll, who made consistent contributions at linebacker all season, was not likely to have many offensive opportunities this season with Springfield’s heavy reliance on the trusty Turner and Nate Romano in the running game. But his speed could provide an additional and vital offensive weapon in the postseason.

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Springfield’s Tanner Coll (22) and receiver Mike Friel were right in the thick of the Cougars’ success Friday night with a big win over Radnor. (Pete Bannan – MediaNews Group)

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RIDLEY TWP. — A pair of Ridley juniors helped their older teammates celebrate Senior Night with a 29-7 Central League victory over Haverford at Phil Marion Field Friday night.

The Green Raiders (4-5), who earlier this month were 1-5, concluded their home schedule with their third consecutive victory.

“We had to send (the seniors) out the right way,” junior quarterback Ryan Carroll, who was 13-for-18 passing for 217 yards and a pair of touchdowns, said.

Junior linebacker Connor Kelly had his name called often for making tackles or assisting on stops.

“We knew with their new offense that they would be running the ball about 90 percent of the time,” Kelly said. “So we keyed on that and tried to force them to throw.”

The Fords (1-8 overall, 0-7 Central League) managed 157 yards on 42 rushing attempts. Sophomore quarterback Liam Taylor was sacked a couple of times, once by Kelly, and lost the ball once, leading to Ridley’s final touchdown.

Green Raiders wide receiver Khameen Powell, whose four catches accounted for 100 yards (including a 36-yard scoring play early in the third quarter) said every Ridley player had one goal Friday night.

“This was our last game on our home field this year,” Powell said. “And we wanted our first win on our home field this year.”

Senior Alante Smith picked up 80 yards on 17 carries and had scoring runs in the first quarter (three yards) and fourth quarter (17 yards).

“You hear so much about the history of Ridley football,” Smith said. “We just knew we had to get this win tonight.”

Smith’s first TD came at the end of a 12-play drive that covered 81 yards. The first 49 yards came on a Carroll to Powell completion on the Green Raiders’ first play from scrimmage.

Carroll also had a key third-down completion to Chase Staley to put the ball on the Fords’ 12 a couple of plays before Smith took a toss from Carroll and turned left end for six points.

A 19-yard run by Smith late in the second quarter came three plays before Carroll found junior tight end John Tinney wide open for a 26-yard scoring strike on a third-and-one play.

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Ridley quarterback Ryan Carroll, seen during the annual Thanksgiving game against Interboro last season, will return to that game in better spirits after leading the Green Raiders to a win over Haverford Friday night. (Pete Bannan – MediaNews Group)

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MARPLE — Before the players exited Friday night, Marple Newtown turning a handful of big plays shaped around gamebreaker Brian Box into a 28-7 triumph over Penncrest, the message from the head coaches was eerily similar: Don’t be surprised if we play these guys again next week.

Though it won’t be etched in stone until the district football committee completes its masters-level math work on Sunday, Tigers coach Chris Gicking and Lions counterpart Paul Graham are bracing themselves for the possibility of a déjà vu game in the first round of the District 1 Class 5A playoffs. At least in terms of another showdown. Graham obviously would appreciate a different outcome as the Lions (5-5, 3-5) lost their 12th straight game to the tournament-tested Tigers.

Let’s just say Gicking is not a fan of back-to-backs with a Central League foe.

“That honestly would stink,” Gicking said of a rematch. “(Penncrest is) a really good football team, but we want to go outside the league and represent the league, not knock each other off. We want to root for them in the playoffs just like we want to root for all the Central League teams in the playoffs.”

There is no disputing the Tigers (8-2, 6-2) assured themselves of playing a home game in the first round with their hard-fought victory.

Box all but guaranteed it by rolling for 134 yards on 11 rushes while putting the ball in the end zone on a 15-yard run and a 13-yard reception. Box may be faster than his older brother Charlie, who terrorized defenses during an All-Delco career for the Tigers. The junior gashed a swarming Lions defense for runs of 41 and 46 yards in addition to his other work.

“We just came out here ready to play,” Box said. “We just wanted it for our seniors, all 18 of them on Senior Night. We got stopped three-and-out on the first drive but once we stopped them and scored, the momentum came back to us. It’s definitely a big win. It was a real physical game. They’re a real good team. It was a dogfight.”

Box put the Tigers on the board with 3:09 left in the first quarter on a quick throw from David Bertoline, who was just warming up. That came after the Lions moved the ball but fumbled it away, Eric Janda recovering. Box’s scoring run with 1:19 left in the first half was a backbreaker.

“They made more plays tonight, that’s what it came down to,” Graham said. “When we needed to make plays, they had some stops on fourth down and they did a nice job. But that’s football. We’ll clean it up and get ready. If we play (the Tigers) again it is what it is. As I said to the guys, you’ve got to beat everybody eventually.”

Senior Paul DeFruscio gave the Tigers a 21-0 lead on a three-yard scoring run with 7:52 left in the third quarter. The Tigers scored their fourth touchdown with 19 seconds left in the third quarter to grab a 28-0 lead.

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Marple Newtown’s Brian Box runs for a big gainer in the second quarter Friday night against Penncrest. (Pete Bannan – MediaNews Group)

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By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
TREDYFFRIN >> It was just another installment of one of the state’s best boys’ soccer rivalries, but this time it was for a berth in the PIAA District 1 4A semifinals.
In similar fashion to the regular season clash, top-seeded Conestoga took advantage of its set pieces, and used its overall team depth to wear down visiting Lower Merion, and come away with a 2-0 quarterfinal result.
It was the same score as the earlier meeting on Oct. 3.
“It’s never easy against (Lower Merion). They are our biggest rival, and in my career we’ve played them more times than any other team,” said Pioneers’ head coach Dave Zimmerman.
“Every time we play (Lower Merion) it’s a tough match,” echoed Conestoga junior midfielder Cole Frederick. “It comes down to the set pieces most of the time, and I feel like today we did a good job of capitalizing on that.”
Frederick converted a throw-in about 10 minutes into the second half and it wound up being the game-winner. The fact that it came off an assist from teammate Westin Fryberger was absolutely no surprise.
“(Fryberger’s) throw-ins are ridiculous,” Frederick said. “It’s a cheat code. He can throw it upwards of 30-35 yards, so that basically creates opportunities like a corner kick anytime we are inside the 30.”
Now 18-0-1, Conestoga moves on to host No. 4 Downingtown East on Tuesday, with the winner earning a spot in the district final. And along the way ’Stoga avenged a loss to the eighth-ranked Aces in an all Central League district final a year ago.
The Aces (15-3-3 overall) drop into playbacks and will host No. 12 Council Rock North on Tuesday.
“We always know that these playoff runs, whatever postseason round it is, we are probably going to end up seeing Conestoga,” said Lower Merion head coach Nico Severini. “It speaks volumes about the two programs, and honestly our league.”

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Conestoga’s Cole Frederick (1) celebrates a goal on Saturday against Lower Merion. Photo by Tom Silknitter.

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A sophomore at Lower Merion, Sako finished fourth at the recent PIAA 3A boys golf championship, shooting rounds of 68 (four under par) and 70 at the Penn State University Blue Course and finishing only one stroke out of a three-way playoff for first place. Last July, Sako teamed with Ian Larsen to win the 37th annual Francis X Hussey Memorial tournament at Rolling Green Golf Club. Off the golf course, Sako participates in Science Olympiad at Lower Merion and plays trombone in the school’s Jazz Band.

Fun facts – Seiji Sako

Favorite movie: Happy Gilmore.

Favorite athlete: Justin Tucker.

Favorite team: Baltimore Ravens.

Favorite pre-match meal: Chick-Fil-A.

Person I most admire: Jordan Spieth.

Family members: parents Masao and Chiharu, sister Hina.

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HAVERFORD — Pennridge gave senior star Sydney Jones and the Haverford volleyball team all they could handle Thursday in a District 1 Class 4A second-round match.

With her dominant performance in the fifth set, Jones made sure that the Fords would not be one-and-done in the postseason.

The third-seeded Fords survived a scare from Pennridge, the No. 14 seed in the tournament, winning in five grueling sets (16-25, 25-21, 25-15, 21-25, 15-9) and punching their ticket to the quarterfinal round.

The Fords, who got off to such a slow start that head coach Alin Bilc was forced to call two timeouts in the first set, displayed their resilience and determination. Leading the charge in the turnaround was Jones, the Temple-bound outside hitter.

“I think at first we had a tough time adjusting to their serves,” Jones said. “We were not used to how deep and floaty their serves were, so we had to get used to it and really rotate more and just try different things to fix it. And that’s what we did. We ended up finally getting some good passes up and we started to play a lot better.”

Bilc attributed the sluggish first set in which the Fords (19-2) dropped 12 of the first 13 points to an emotional loss at Lower Merion in their regular season finale. Haverford had a chance to win the Central League title outright from Lower Merion but fell in four sets. Because the Fords had a first-round bye, they had to wait 10 days to play their first district tournament match.

“Losing to Lower Merion, in our biggest game, had a little bit of an effect on us,” Bilc said. “You noticed it … our pass and serve were not quite there, so that told me we were still lingering in that mental state losing to Lower Merion. It was a tough match and we really didn’t play as well as we would have liked, but I think towards the end (Thursday) we started to build momentum and got much better with our serving and passing. Early we were jumping too early on the block and I think we fixed that. It was a lot of hard work.”

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Haverford’s Sydney Jones, left, drills a shot between two Pennridge defenders Thursday in a District 1 Class 4A match. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY TIMES)

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UPPER DUBLIN — Down four starters, the eighth-seeded Upper Dublin Cardinals knew they had their work cut out for them.

A pair of concussions, a broken finger, and a sprained ankle had struck at exactly the wrong time.

On the other side, the No. 9 Marple Newtown Tigers were riding a four-game winning streak, and they stepped off the bus in “orange mode.”

“When we’re at our most aggressive playing and communicating, we call it ‘orange mode,’” Marple Newtown senior Olivia Dwyer said. “Instead of being like, ‘Let’s get angry’ or whatever, we scream, ‘Let’s get orange!” to get ready to go and to come out stronger than the other team.”

If orange was the objective, the Tigers were fire.

Dwyer scored twice to power Marple Newtown to a hard-fought, 2-0 victory over Upper Dublin in the opening round of the District 1-2A playoffs Tuesday.

Marple Newtown, out of Delaware County’s Central League, generated nine shots on goal while limiting the Cardinals to just three.

With the win, the Tigers (10-9-1) advance to a second-round matchup Thursday against top-seeded Villa Maria Academy (11-3), which blasted No. 16 Oxford 13-0 in a Monday game.

“I think with all the injuries, and knowing their next game would be against the No. 1 seed, I’m not sure if the girls had the most positive outlook today,” Upper Dublin coach Emily Town said. “I think that affected their intensity. But you also have to give (Marple Newtown) credit for how they played.”

Undermanned, Upper Dublin (11-7-1) had to field several freshmen who have promising talent but little varsity experience.

“I think if we were at our full health, this game might have gone differently,” Town said. “It ***** we weren’t able to get the ball up into our offensive circle and score as much as we were hoping for. If we would have played the way we played a little earlier in the season, maybe we could have won this game.”

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Marple Newtown’s Olivia Dwyer, 7, comes off the field as teammate Sophie Jackson prepares to check in against Upper Dublin during the first round of the District 1-AA field hockey playoffs at Upper Dublin High School on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. (Christiaan DeFranco/MediaNews Group)

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RIDLEY TWP. — When James Quici was in fourth grade in 2015, Conestoga High’s football team defeated Ridley.

Each Pioneers team that took on Ridley since had ended up on the wrong end of the score until Friday night at Phil Marion Field.

“My brother was on the team that lost to Ridley in the last game of the (regular) season a couple years ago,” Quici said. “Then they played at Ridley in the playoffs the next week and lost again.”

Quici was reminiscing after his 20-yard scoring run on a double-reverse play on fourth down with 4:04 remaining in Friday’s Central League contest lifted Conestoga to a 27-21 decision over Ridley.

In addition to breaking an eight-game losing streak to the Green Raiders, the Pioneers gave eighth-year head coach Matt Diamond his first win over Ridley.

“I really don’t know what to say,” an elated Diamond offered after meeting with his team following the game. “I’ll let the kids do all the talking. This is really something for them as well as for all the others we’ve brought here who didn’t get a win.”

Ridley coach Dave Wood, whose team came back from a 14-7 halftime deficit to score twice in the third quarter, saw the Green Raiders give away a game they could have won.

“We fought back in the third quarter,” he said. “We did a nice job coming back out there after the half and taking the lead. But then we just didn’t make enough plays when we needed to after that. We had some players trying to do a little too much.

“It’s been a long time since a Ridley team had a start like this (1-4). We’ve got to do a better job at paying attention to all the little details.”

Ridley scored on the second play from scrimmage as quarterback Ryan Carroll and Khameen Powell teamed on a 71-yard pass play that had the Homecoming Day crowd on its feet less than one minute into the game.

Conestoga got even at the end of a 67-yard march that used up eight plays. Senior Tommy Costigan, who also was a force on defense from his linebacker position, ran four yards into the end zone on the fourth play of the second quarter.

After Ridley went three-and-out, ’Stoga took four minutes off the clock to go 74 yards in 10 plays, with Charlie Newhall banging over the goal line from less than a yard away.

Ridley then got as far as the Pioneers’ 18 but came up short on a field goal try as the half came to a close.

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Conestoga running back Tommy Costigan, seen two weeks earlier in a game against Upper Darby, ran for 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a win over Ridley Friday night. (Nate Heckenberger – For MediaNews Group)

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