Ruane, Haverford hold off Chester challenge
LOWER OXFORD » It wasn’t the most crisply played game in the world, tainted by six turnovers. But Haverford will take it.
The Fords opened the season with a win, topping Chester 26-12 Saturday night under the lights at Lincoln University, in the season opener for both teams.
“That team can play,” Haverford coach Joe Gallagher said of the Clippers. “They are a dangerous team, and it feels great to come out of here with a win. The defense kept us in this game. It was sort of ugly, but we’ll take the win.”
Things didn’t start particularly well for Haverford. On its first play from scrimmage of the day, the Fords coughed it up, and Chester covered it up to take over with excellent field position. But the Haverford defense wasn’t going to let the Clippers take advantage, stopping them on four straight plays, and the Fords took over at their own 13.
A 57-yard completion from Jake Ruane to Ryan Odgers put the Fords at the Chester 11. Ruane ran it in from there for the touchdown and a 6-0 Fords lead.
“In a battle like this, it was important for the defense to play like this,” said Ruane, who finished the day with 173 yards on 9 of 14 passing, while also rushing for a pair of scores. “It was a big confidence boost for the defense to make a stop like that and for us to follow that with a quick score.”
The Fords made it 13-0 by the end of the first period when Ruane connected with Shane Mosley on a 63-yard scoring strike.
But the second period was all Chester. The Clippers cut the lead to 13-12 by halftime, thanks to a pair of fumble recoveries setting up scores on a 29-yard pass from Tahree Fuller-Bryan to Kylie Scott-Harper, along with a four-yard scoring run from Ish Maultsby.
Chester continued to make big plays on offense, but saw too many drives stall because of penalties.
“That is the teaching moment from this game,” Chester coach LaDontay Bell said. “We played tough. We played some amazing defense, and we made plays on offense. But we just committed too many penalties. We have to work on those kinds of things and just keep working to get better.”
Yet the Clippers were still within a score at 20-12 late in the fourth quarter, and showed they could put together some big plays. With the Clippers forced to punt with their backs at the goal line, however, the Fords put the game away when Sean Reynolds blocked the punt, and Chasen Wint fell on it at the 1.
Ruane ran it in a play later to ice the game.
“I saw they were all staggered out, and it just looked like I had a shot to get in,” Reynolds said. “I knew if we could come up with a big play on defense, we could put the game away. It was a really cool experience to get to play here, and to open the season with a win.”