Friars’ defense stands tall in victory over Haverford

MALVERN » Malvern Prep’s 31-7 victory against Haverford School Friday evening at Quigley Field was highlighted by its defense, and particularly its defensive line.

The Friars limited the visitors to just three first downs and 23 total yards in the first half while building a 24-0 halftime lead.

“Our defensive line played great,” Malvern Prep linebacker Keith Maguire said. “They were in Haverford’s backfield a lot tonight — so they didn’t make it back to us, the second line much. We had lost our nose guard, Ryan Betz, with an injury, and I know the defensive line wanted to make [tonight] a good game for him.”

“Our defensive line coach, Rod Lusane, did a great job getting us ready for Haverford even though we had lost Ryan Betz,” Malvern Prep coach Dave Gueriera said. “And our defensive coordinator, Joe DiTulio, did a great job bottling up Haverford’s attack.” Malvern Prep linebacker/receiver Quincy Watson said, “We were expecting Haverford to pass more than our other opponents, and we spent a lot of time this week studying film, going over our coverages.”

Gueriera mentioned defensive lineman John Turley as well as offensive lineman Joe Basiura as having standout games up front Friday evening, adding, “This was a good allaround win for us — the defense, offense and special teams.”

The first time Malvern had the ball, running back O’Shaan Allison broke loose for a 51-yard run down to the Haverford 32-yard line. Four plays later, on 4th-and-2 at the Fords’ 24, Watson grabbed a short pass from Drew Gunther and found daylight to the end zone for a 7-0 Malvern lead.

“We had run the ball four straight times, which opened up that passing play,” said Watson. “Our left receiver, Quinn McCahon, ran a pattern to the right, and I ran a bubble to the left and got open. I had good blocking all the way to the end zone.”

Just before the first quarter ended, Garrett Reilly booted a 33-yard field goal to give the hosts a 10-0 lead.

Midway through the second quarter, Malvern drove 68 yards on seven plays for another touchdown. The highlights were a 20-yard pass from Gunther to Maguire on thirdand-13, and a 19-yard burst up the middle by Allison into the end zone.

With time running out in the second quarter, Gunther hit Kevin Boyle for a 49-yard pass down the right sideline to the Haverford six-yard line.

Two plays later, Maguire made an amazing onehanded catch in the back right corner of the end zone, leaping high into the air despite tight coverage to snag the ball and give Malvern a 24-0 halftime lead.

“It was a fade pattern, a play that we’ve used before,” said Maguire. “I had one free hand to make the catch, my right hand, I jumped early and Drew put it right where I could get it. I focused on [catching] the ball first, and then I looked down to see how much room I had – I think I was about a yard [from the out-of-bounds line].”

In the first half, Gunther completed passes to eight different receivers, going 11-for-18 for 156 yards.

“Drew really clicked tonight, he spread the ball around,” said Gueriera. “Our offensive line did a great job of blocking, and O’Shaan and Quincy really ran hard tonight.”

Haverford got on the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter when sophomore quarterback Patrick Toal hit junior wide receiver Dan Whaley for a 95-yard touchdown down the left sideline. Toal’s throw hit Whaley in stride, and the Ford receiver outran his coverage all the way into the end zone.

“I think we took a step backwards tonight, this was a disappointing loss,” Haverford School coach Michael Murphy said. “The week before [a 21-7 loss to Penn Charter], we did some OK things that I thought we could build on today, like our defense. But we keep making the same mistakes. We’ll have to learn from tonight, and keep moving forward.”