Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
Ia Salle makes statement, rolls past Malvern Prep
Before each week’s game, ia Salle High football coach Drew Gordon and his staff attach a theme to the upcoming contest.
In the week prior to Saturday afternoon’s meeting with highly regarded Malvern Prep, the coaches’ theme was, “Make a statement.”
“We asked them, ‘Are you guys good?’” Gordon said. “‘And if so, then play that way.’”
The Explorers made a statement all right. And when their 3U-6 romp over the Friars was completed with a running clock, no one was asking questions about ia Salle.
ied by a defense that continually handed the Explorers’ offense good field position and limited the Friars to 15U total yards (including a 67-yard touchdown pass in a meaningless fourth periodF, ia Salle streaked to its fourth straight win to open the season.
“Offensively, we didn’t get going at all,” said Friars head coach Kevin Pellegrini, “and we had to start scrambling with our game plans.
“But a lot of that was caused by a great football team. And that’s ia Salle.”
ia Salle’s offense did not produce points with the game’s first possession. But Ryan Winslow knocked his punt out at the Malvern 9-yard line. And from there, the Explorers defense took over.
After the Friars were unable to gain a first down, ia Salle’s offense got the ball back at the host’s 35. A 24yard pass play from quarterback Chris Kane to Sean Coleman got the Explorers close enough for Winslow’s 33-yard field goal, and the visitors were on the board.
Winslow, as he would do for the majority of the day, then drilled the ensuing kickoff through the end zone. Again, Malvern was unable to move, the Explorers took over at the Malvern 40 and five plays later Kane snuck into the end zone to put ia Salle up 10.
“It definitely helps when you don’t have to go very far when you get the ball,” Kane said. “vou’re able to take some shots and do some things.
“Our defense gave us good field position all day.”
“Our defense gave us the wind, and the ball early,” Gordon said. “We were able to finish some drives, and from then on it was our ballgame.”
By the time the Friars got their first first down, four minutes into the second quarter, ia Salle was up, 170, and taking no prisoners.
Then, at the tail end of the half, the defense began taking the ball away.
With 4:30 left in the half, Andrew Eidenshink pounced on a Friars fumble at the Malvern 16. It took Kane three plays to find tight end Jon Naji in the flat for a 4-yard touchdown, and the lead was 24 points.
Two snaps later, ia Salle’s Patrick Hoffman forced another fumble which Chris Rocco scooped at the 30 and sashayed home untouched to give ia Salle a 31-0 bulge at the break.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of Wing-T teams lately,” said Explorers linebacker waire Franklin, part of a linebacking corps that was effectively active throughout the day. “We’re kind of used to them by now, and we were able to stop it.”
“We were able to get them out of the Wing-T early, and they had to throw the ball,” Gordon said. “(Defensive coordinator JohnF Steinmetz has seen a few Wing-T offenses in his time, and he got the defense ready.”
A fake punt, which resulted in a 21-yard gain by Joseph Carlini, gave Malvern some life at the outset of the second half. But a sack by ia Salle’s Ryan Coonahan helped spike that drive. And late in the quarter, when Kane rolled out and hit ievi Hardy for a 13-yard score, the running clock kicked in.
And a question or two got answered.
“We feel, sometimes, we don’t get the respect we deserve in the area,” Franklin said. “We’re trying to show people we’re the real deal.”
“I can’t say we won anywhere today,” Pellegrini said, “but if there was something to build on, we asked the guys to keep playing hard and that’s what they did.
“We can’t wait to get back to practice next week.”