Friars rout Sallies in opener

MALVERN» The Malvern Prep football team waited a very long time to play its first game of the 2020 season. Saturday afternoon at the Pellegrini Athletic Complex, the Friars certainly made up for lost time.

The Friars completely dominated a good Salesianum (Del.) team, limiting the Sallies to just 156 yards of total offense and picking off four Dylan Mooney passes on their way to a 35-0 victory in an almost perfect 48minutes of football.

Two of those Sallies (0-1) interceptions were by Malvern Prep (1-0) star Lonnie White, who is bound for Penn State, and one was a Jake Brownley pick six that gave the Friars a commanding 19-0 lead late in the first quarter.

“Our defensive coaches really put us in good spots to be successful,” Brownley said. “We are always talking about doing our homework on defense and that is going over film. I just read his eyes and the ball came to me and I took it and started to go down the sideline and I got a good lead block for the score. We saw them get off the bus and they were a lot bigger than us. But, we played a lot of teams that are bigger than us and we really came ready to play today after waiting so long to have a season.”

Malvern scored on its first two offensive possessions of the game. Junior quarterback Jack Capaldi had a good game, completing 11 of 16 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns, two toWhite and one to Luke Connolly. IsaiahWright ran the ball 12 times for 54 yards in his one half ofwork and he got MalvernPrep goingwitha 5-yard touchdown runto make it a 7-0 game after just fourminutes of play.

After a Sallies three-and out, Capaldi then hit D’Angelo Stocker for a big third down pass to give Malvern Prep a first down at the Sallies’ 24-yard line. One play later, Capaldi threaded a perfect pass to Connolly over the middle for and Malvern Prep had an early 13-0 lead.

With the Sallies unable to do anything offensively against the Malvern prep defense, led by Brownley andRyanDavis, White had a chance to shine in his first game on the defensive side of the ball. The future Nittany Lion put the game away at the end of the first half to put the game into themercy rule.

White picked off a Mooney pass at the Salesianum43-yardlinewith a little over threeminutes left in the first half. Two plays later Capaldi hit White down the left sideline for a 30-yard touchdown and the rout was on.

After getting the ensuing kickoff, Mooney again went over the middle and White juggled and then hauled in the interception at the Sallies’ 48-yard line. Four plays later, and with time running out in the second quarter, White leaped high in the air in the right corner of the end zone for a fantastic 20-yard touchdown catch. After Wright banged in the two-point conversion, it was a 35-0 game at halftime.

“Getting those two picks really pumped me up,” White said. “We have been waiting so long to play and my first game on defense to get two interceptions is an unreal feeling.”

Malvern continued its stout defensive play in the second half as the Friars clamped down on any offense the Sallies could muster. The Sallies only gained 76 yards on the ground and 156 total yards for the game and Malvern Prep had a very impressive opening day win.

“Just having the kids out here and kicking the ball offwas a win,” Malvern Prep head coach Dave Gueriera said. “We have been waiting since April to play football and I told the kids to keep chopping and chopping. Sometimes, the tree does not come down the first time but if you keep working it will eventually fall. And through all the Zoommeetings and uncertainty, the kids never stopped believing.

“I amso proud of the kids today,” Gueriera said. “I thought our defense was stout against the run and we did not know anything about these guys except they always have a good program so to win like this feels really good.”