Malvern Friars 40 Germantown Academy 30 October 14, 2006
At Haverford School
By Gerry McKee, Rob Rafferty and John Ostick, Parents Booster Club
HOMECOMING DAY 2006 AT MALVERN PREP—A SPECIAL DAY AT A SPECIAL PLACE.
It’s unlike any other Saturday of the year at Malvern. There’s a traffic jam on the rind road (Flynn’s Way). There are people everywhere. The atmosphere is positive, festive, electric. It’s difficult to find a seat in the stands. There are so many good friends to talk to that you may not make it to the stands by gametime, and that’s ok. And oh, by the way, there’s a football game to be played.
The Patriots of Germantown Academy brought a 5-1 record to Malvern Prep, and were looking for a win to put them in position for a piece of the Inter-ac Championship.. Their 2006 team features one of the top running backs in the area. Averaging just over 165 yards per game in excess of 30 carries per game, Alex Holcombe is the all time rushing leader at GA, and will soon find himself at the top of many college recruiting lists. He is complimented by a very solid group at offensive line, and a quarterback that isn’t flashy, but is very effective.
The Friars won the toss and elected to receive. Johns Hopkins bound senior Matt Dolente fielded the opening kickoff on the ten yard line, found some daylight to his right, and returned the kick out to the Malvern 30 to get the Friars started with good field position. On the first play from scrimmage, Malvern went with what appeared to be a new wrinkle, shifting into an unbalanced line, and running a sweep to the strong side. Chris Layne seemed to like the idea of an extra blocker on his side. He picked up 15 yards before being run out of bounds at the 35 yard line. Following near perfect blocking, on the very next play, Chris took a handoff around left end for a gain of 30 yards. Coach Gamp then called on one of his leaders, Alex Forte. The Senior fullback didn’t disappoint. Behind a perfectly executed guard-trap, Alex rumbled for 17 tough yards, dragging several Patriots along with him over the last several yards, to set up another 1st and ten at the Patriot 13 yard line. Chris Layne then tried to take it in for the score , but was stopped at the two, setting up a 1st and goal situation. Alex Forte took the next handoff and followed fellow senior Rob Bates through the middle of the defense and into the end zone to open the scoring with less than two minutes gone in the game. Joe Buckley added the point after to cap off a perfect opening drive for the Friars. In five running plays the Friars covered 70 yards, or an average of 14 yards per carry!!! The interior linemen, the wide receivers and the backs all executed their blocking assignments with near flawless precision . The ball handling was perfect. In a coach’s dreams, it doesn’t work that well.
The Patriots weren’t easily impressed. They too have a running game. On the ensuing drive, they let the Friars know they had come to play a football game. They hammered away at the Friar defense which was stacked to stop the run. The Patriots put together a twelve play scoring drive that chewed up over six minutes on the clock and was capped off by a three yard plunge by Alex Holcombe on a first and goal from the three yard line.
GA then tied the score, kicking the extra point with 4:29 remaining in the first quarter.
Matt Dolente fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 5, and brought it out to the 23 yard line. The Friar offense took over, and after two running plays that netted about four yards, Junior Quarterback Ryan Nassib dropped back on 3rd and 6 and found Senior wide out Joe Hoban wide open for an eleven yard gain. That play was sort of a warm up for those two. They would catch fire before the day was over.
The Friars were forced to punt on the following series as the offense stalled for one of the few times this day, and the quarter ended with the score tied at seven.
2nd quarter summary from the article in the Wayne Suburban Times By: John DiCandilo
10/26/2006
”With fourth-and-4 at the GA 35, Ryan Nassib (9-for-14, 232 yards, two TDs)
threw a pass to Joe Hoban off bootleg action. Hoban (five catches, 166 yards)
gathered it in on his fingertips before tumbling into the end zone.
"It's a read pattern," said Pellegrini. "Nassib saw it open, and
laid it out there."
"Coach said we could be open," said Hoban. "We saw openings and
took advantage of it. Chris [Layne] and I thought we could get deep on them. We
tried it and it worked."
The euphoria lasted 14 seconds. Holcombe gathered the kickoff at the 13, his
teammates walled off the Malvern defenders, and he raced 87 yards unencumbered
for the score. It's 14-14.
It was Nassib-to-Hoban again just over two minutes later. Hoban ran a slant and
zipped 54 yards to paydirt, leaving it 21-14 at the half.
3rd quarter summary
As the 2nd half begins the friars are holding on to a 21-14 lead. GA starts at their 34 yd line, and are going to ride the back of there spectacular halfback Alex Holcombe. After 5 consecutive carries by Holcombe our Joe Coffey, Alex Forte, and Rob Bates are getting to know him pretty well. GA moves the ball down to the twenty and makes a 37 yard field goal with 6:40 to go.
Malvern 21 GA 17
Malvern takes over with Chris Layne returning the kickoff to the 35 yd line. After 2 dives with little gain we line up in the shot gun and Ryan Nassib connects with a perfect strike across the middle to Joe Hoban who races down the sideline to the 7 for one of his big plays of the day. Two plays later Chris Layne takes the Nassib handoff over right side and walks into the end zone as a big hole is opened on the right side of line by Joe Coffey and Alex Forte.
The Joe Buckley kick is blocked.
Malvern 27 GA 17
With 4:08 left GA takes over on the 39 yard line and 3 plays later Holcombe races 55 yards for a TD.
It looks like we are in for a shootout. The 3rd quarter ends.
Malvern 27 GA 24
With only 108 seconds into the final quarter, the Friars from the GA 5 yard line scores a decisive touchdown, a handout to Alex Forte for his second touchdown on this Homecoming Day. The Joe Buckley splitting of the endzone gives the Friars a double digit bit of breathing room.
Malvern 34 GA 24 with 10:12 remaining in this war.
GA moves the football to the 33 yard line and after a nice stop by Tim Bemer are faced with a 4th & 3 and just under 8 minutes on the clock. As Alex Holcombe sets back in punting position it seems like an ideal fake punt. Guess what….Holcombe carries the ball past the first down marker and the game complexion changes again as the Patroits have a first down.
Fortunately, Debbie Moore had a mommy moment and envisioned something good to happen 5 minutes before the fake punt when the clock read 11:11. Of course, on the next series of GA downs, the Friars #11 Chris Moore makes the “play of the game” with an interception with just 6 minutes left on the game clock.
With the Malvern offense once again one the field, Chris Layne scored his 2nd Homecoming touchdown but the extra point conversion failed….
Malvern 40 GA 24
As the game wound down, Joey Hoban got a GA pick; Alex Holcolme though scored his 4th touchdown of the game with just :41 ticks left. The score 40 – 30 as GA went for the 2 points. If they make it, they are 8 down and an onside kick recovery give them a chance in this wacky Homecoming affair. But Alleluia, Mr. 11-11, # 11 Chris Moore breaks up the the attempted conversion, and the FRIARS go 2 and 0 in the Inter-AC (5 – 1 overall) with a nice 40 – 30.
Next up: at Penn Charter (2 – 0) Friday, October 27, 2006 3:30 PM
Inter-Ac Football: Malvern holds off Holcombe, GA on homecoming
By: John DiCandilo
10/26/2006
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MALVERN - Malvern Prep played Alex Holcombe on Saturday for its Homecoming game. OK, you caught us in a mild frenzy of hyperbole, but not by much.
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Friars defeated the opponent du jour, Germantown Academy, 40-30, to make the
Homecoming pig roast more palatable. But Holcombe gave Malvern and its fans
major agita before the final whistle. Rumors abounded that people were looking
for a cape and a big red "S" stashed somewhere on the campus.
Holcombe, who has aspirations of becoming a world-class decathlete, accounted
for 255 all-purpose yards (168 yards rushing, 87 on a kickoff return), scored
all four Patriot touchdowns and played some nasty defense. That driving-the-bus
theory was pure speculation.
While Malvern couldn't contain Holcombe, the Friars unleashed their own weapons
upon the Pats. One nuclear firecracker against an entire team presents good
story lines. But the team won out. It's 2-0 in the Inter-Ac and has bitter
league foe Penn Charter next Friday in East Falls. Winner has the inside track
on the league championship.
"We did everything humanly possible to stop Holcombe, and it didn't
work," said coach Gamp Pellegrini, glad that GA is out of way. "And
the guy we discounted was their quarterback (Charlie Taft), and he did a job
all over us. That's a tough football team. There were no gifts in those 40
points. There wasn't anything cheap."
This was a test of wills to see who could outlast whom.
First series of the game, Malvern went 68 yards in five plays. Chris Layne
sucked up 55 of those yards, while Alex Forte took care of the rest, including
the 1-yard scoring run.
GA responded in kind, taking longer, but no less effective. It was a steady
diet of Holcombe runs, but a 33-yard pass from Taft to Mike Doty was important.
Holcombe finished it with a 2-yard sweep of left end.
With fourth-and-4 at the GA 35, Ryan Nassib (9-for-14, 232 yards, two TDs)
threw a pass to Joe Hoban off bootleg action. Hoban (five catches, 166 yards)
gathered it in on his fingertips before tumbling into the end zone.
"It's a read pattern," said Pellegrini. "Nassib saw it open, and
laid it out there."
"Coach said we could be open," said Hoban. "We saw openings and
took advantage of it. Chris [Layne] and I thought we could get deep on them. We
tried it and it worked."
The euphoria lasted 14 seconds. Holcombe gathered the kickoff at the 13, his
teammates walled off the Malvern defenders, and he raced 87 yards unencumbered
for the score. It's 14-14.
It was Nassib-to-Hoban again just over two minutes later. Hoban ran a slant and
zipped 54 yards to paydirt, leaving it 21-14 at the half.
The Friars countered a 32-yard Dan Lipschutz field goal with Layne's first
score of the day, capping a 65-yard march. Hoban ran a post pattern and
scampered 55 yards as the big play.
One minute, 23 seconds later, Holcombe ran a sweep for a 55-yard touchdown, and
it was now 27-24, Malvern.
Malvern rang up the next two touchdowns. The first was Forte's 5-yard run to
close out an 11-play, 65-yard drive. The next, set up by Chris Moore's
interception, was Layne's second sixer of the day. It was an 8-yard burst off
left tackle. Ben Bryer's 23-yard reception was the big play.
The score was 40-24, but the Pats didn't quit. Hoban ended one foray with an
interception, but Taft drove his team one final time until Holcombe cashed in
from the three with just 41 seconds remaining in the game.
"We didn't expect this to be as high scoring a game as it was," said
Hoban. "We knew we could score some points, but we'll have to step it up
defensively against Penn Charter next week."
Is there a Holcombe there, too?
***Malvern inducts four into Hall***
At halftime of their Homecoming football game Saturday, Malvern Prep honored
four new inductees into its Athletic Hall of Fame: Paul Celentano '76, Terry
Pitt '83, John McEvoy '86 and Jack "Shark" McGuinn, former football
coach.
Celentano, a Phoenixville resident, was a stellar cross-country and track
runner for the Friars, setting an Inter-Ac League record in the mile in 1975.
He was a member of the Pennsylvania state record-setting two-mile relay team in
1976.
Pitt, a West Chester resident, was a three-sport athlete at Malvern, competing
in football, basketball and golf. He was named All-Inter-Ac as a defensive back
in football two years in a row and was named Sportsman Athlete of the Year by
the Philadelphia Area Football Officials Association.
In 1998, Pitt was listed by the Philadelphia Daily News as one of the "20
Years of Prime Time Players."
McEvoy, a Berwyn resident, played football and lacrosse at Malvern and was
named All-Inter-Ac in football and was named MVP, All-State and All-American in
lacrosse.
He continued his lacrosse career at Villanova University, where he finished his
collegiate career as a two-time MVP and all-time leading scorer. McEvoy also
played 10 years for the Philadelphia Wings. He is now a social-studies teacher,
assistant director of admissions and head lacrosse coach at Malvern, where he
led the Friars to a state title in 2006.
McGuinn, a Springfield resident, coached the Malvern football team for nine
seasons, winning six Inter-Ac titles and orchestrating three undefeated seasons
from 1969-1977. He was selected as the National Catholic School-Boy Football
Coach of the Year in 1974.
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Late Rally, Defensive Stand Leads #21 Football To Thrilling 31-28 Win Over #15 Harvard |
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Mike Meehan (Malvern Prep captain 2002) added six stops, two pass breakups and one tackle for loss. |
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PRINCETON, N.J. - Esteemed sportswriter Grantland Rice, who termed
the 1922 Princeton football squad the "Team of Destiny," once wrote
that "a team that won't be beaten can't be beaten." In front of a
raucous home crowd Saturday afternoon, the 2006 Tigers, ranked 21st
nationally, took on the No. 15 Harvard Crimson in the first undefeated
showdown between the two legendary programs since 1922. Despite trailing in
the fourth quarter, Princeton decided that it, also, would not be beaten on
this day. And for the sixth straight time this magical season, the Tigers
were right. |
