Cohen runs Radnor past Ridley in dream rout

RADNOR >> Radnor quarterback Sean Mullarkey looked his running back up and down and offered an honest assessment.

“He’s not that big,” Mullarkey said of Matt Cohen. “I mean, no offense, but he’s not that strong either.”

Cohen smirked. Mullarkey laughed somewhat nervously, before finishing his thought: “But he just hits the hole so unbelievably hard. And they can’t tackle him. He does everything you could want in a back.”

In other words, don’t underestimate Cohen, nor Radnor for that matter. Cohen accounted for 295 yards of total offense and scored five touchdowns, three of 50-plus yards, as the Raiders whooped visiting Ridley, 63-21.

It was a program-defining win for a team that, seemingly, always came up just short when the big boys were in town.

“I remember last year after games, my locker was next to Sean’s,” Cohen recalled. “And Sean would just be like, ‘why is this the Radnor way? That we always lose close games?’”

The Raiders, with 25 seniors on the roster, have flipped the script, at least through a 4-0 start. And perhaps no one has done more to change that reputation than Cohen, who has rushed for 605 yards in four games.

“Matt has deceptive speed,” Radnor coach Tom Ryan said. “He’s a weight-room kid. He’s not the tallest kid in the world, but he works as hard as anybody.”

Cohen also runs with purpose. Last week, he got caught from behind on one play in the Raiders’ 42-8 victory over Harriton. In his own words, he “worked on that this week,” as if that was something the back could improve on in such a short time.

Well, he did. Cohen broke through holes created by Radnor’s stout offensive line and raced into the secondary. Once he was in the open field, he beat everyone across the goal line.

PHOTO GALLERY: Ridley at Radnor

“I wasn’t really getting hit that much,” Cohen said. “I just saw the end zone, and no one was really there.”

After he started his evening with a one-yard plunge for six — as the Raiders went ahead 7-0 — Cohen filled the highlight reel. He had a 54-yard catch-and-run off a wheel route in the first quarter to answer a Ridley touchdown. He then broke off nearly identical runs in the third quarter, the first of 53 yards, the second 59, to send the result into euphoric territory for the home side.

Mullarkey to a wide open Kieran Sheridan. 28-7 Radnor with 3:24 left in the half #delcofootball #NoClassFridayNightLights pic.twitter.com/s0hkB8TH7F

— Dillon Friday (@noclassfriday) September 14, 2018

But Cohen was most valuable midway through the first half, when the game was still in the balance. The Green Raiders, down 14-7, pinned Radnor at their five with a punt. The Raiders proceeded to go 95 yards in 10 plays. Cohen carried the ball eight times on the drive, accounting for 73 of those yards. The last five put him in the end zone and spotted Radnor a two-touchdown advantage.

Just 1:06 of game time later, the Raiders were in the end zone again, Mullarkey connecting with Kieran Sheridan after Radnor recovered a muffed kickoff. At 28-7, the rout was on, and it didn’t stop until the clock struck zero.

“I thought we were going to win coming in,” Cohen said. “But you never expect to destroy a team. Everyone came to play today. It’s not often you get a game like this.”

That could be said for both teams. Just as this is a new Radnor, it is also a new Ridley (0-4, 0-3 Central League). Jack Bakey gave the Green Raiders hope with a 87-yard keeper to tie things at seven early, but the offense sputtered through the rest of the half. They had just 115 yards and three first downs in the first two quarters.

Bakey added a second touchdown late. Hassan Chandler also found the end zone for Ridley.

“Give all the credit in the world to Radnor,” Green Raiders coach Dave Wood said. “We just couldn’t match the emotion and the physicalness. We go back to the drawing board, and that’s it.”

On the other side, the gleeful Raiders (4-0, 3-0) were left to consider their new reality. Ryan, who failed to beat Ridley in 11 previous tries, asked his team, “Am I dreaming?” prior to his post-game speech.

“I could never imagine this,” Mullarkey said. He finished 8-for-13 with 141 yards and three touchdowns, his third going to Matt Rosato in the third quarter. “I knew we were the better team. But that? I don’t know.”