Haverford turns to Weiss to ground out victory over Radnor

RADNOR >> With nothing working offensively in the first half, Haverford coach Joe Gallagher got down to basics at halftime.

Keep it on the ground, and get the ball to Travis Weiss.

The senior running back answered the call Friday, rushing for 158 yards and the game’s lone touchdown in Haverford’s 10-0 victory over Radnor.

Weiss had just 28 yards on four carries in the first half. After the break, he got the ball 18 times on the ground and twice more through the air.

It was enough to give the Fords (7-1, 6-1 Central) the win.

“They just told me to run, and I just did that,” Weiss said. “I knew we were struggling, and I just had to make a play. “

A bulk of those yards came midway through the third quarter, with Haverford backed up at its own 3-yard line. Weiss ripped off runs of 22, 26 and two yards before hauling in a 16-yard screen pass. On the next play, he ran circles around the Radnor defense, scoring from 31 yards out.

“I was just feeling it, the holes were opening,” Weiss said. “I had good vision, I saw where to run and it was there. It was mostly my o-line, they made holes for me to run through.”

That was pretty much all the offense the Fords got, and it’s pretty much all they needed. The first half saw drive after drive stall via penalty, a negative run or an incomplete pass.

John Scheivert capped off the lone successful series, hitting an 18-yard field goal shortly before halftime. Gallagher elected to kick the ball on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

He just wanted points. He had his reasons.

“They’re well coached — always have been with Coach (Tom) Ryan, they had a great scheme defensively,” Gallagher explained. “They challenged us to run the ball, they spent most of their efforts, six guys covering four.”

With man-to-man coverage underneath and two safeties over the top, Haverford’s high-flying passing attack was grounded. Jake Ruane threw for just 55 yards. Jordan Mosley caught one pass. The offense would go through Weiss.

The result was a tougher-than-expected victory for Haverford and a trying defeat for Radnor (4-4, 2-4). The Raiders moved the football, passing for 142 yards behind Sean Mullarkey. They got inside the redzone twice late in the fourth quarter.

Both times, Haverford’s defense held.

Gallagher knew Friday’s win would not be achieved without incident.

“Are you kidding me? That was not a surprise to me, what just happened,” the veteran coach said. “No way.”

The defense intercepted Mullarkey twice and forced another fumble. He was sacked five times. The Raiders were only able to average 2.8 yards per carry.

With Haverford’s offense unable to sustain drives, its defense had to win the game. It did.

“Bend but don’t break is exactly what it was,” Gallagher said. “That’s the best way to describe it — we bend, but we didn’t break. Our kids don’t like to be scored on, they take pride in it. When they get us in the red zone, we have a good mentality.”

Haverford has a non-league contest with Lansdale Catholic next week before facing mighty Springfield to close out the regular season.

Gallagher has been around the block a time or two before with this. He is not going to let his team look ahead.

“I haven’t even seen Springfield yet,” Gallagher said. “Now I’ll just put our efforts into Landsale.”