Garnet Valley shows they can air it out in win over Lower Merion
CONCORD — From the defensive look to the pass route, everything looked like a perfect setup for six easy points for Garnet Valley on the Jaguars’ first drive of Friday night’s 49-21 Central League win over Lower Merion.
With Aces’ defenders peering into the backfield on third-and-eight, Garnet Valley tight end Adam Oldrati ran up the seam untouched with nothing but green in front of him and… dropped Ryan Gallagher’s perfect pass. On a normal night, that might have been the last target that Oldrati would see because of the Jaguars’ preference for pounding the ball on the ground.
It was far from a normal night for the Jaguars. After Ian Goodman gave the visitors (1-6, 1-5 Central League) their only lead of the night with a five-yard touchdown, offensive coordinator Rich Boyd gave Oldrati a shot at redemption, and it paid off in spades. The Jaguars (7-0, 6-0) ran the same play and got Oldrati wide open, and this time, he hauled in the pass and motored 80 yards for a score.
Oldrati also added a 27-yard touchdown catch and a 48-yard reception that set up a Gallagher scoring scamper before the end of the half to finish with a career-high 155 yards on three grabs. Gallagher also established a career best with 221 passing yards. On a night where Lower Merion put 10 and 11 men in the box and dared the Jaguars to beat them through the air, the hosts gladly obliged.
“I was kicking myself a little bit, but Coach Boyd had faith in me and came back,” Oldrati said. “I tried not to think about it, because on the first one, the whole time I was telling myself, ‘don’t drop that ball.’ After the Springfield game, I made the same mistake. On the 80-yarder, I was looking around and I knew they had some skilled kids who had some speed, so I was just trying to run as fast as I could to the end zone. I think our ground-and-pound offense really opens up the pass game, and our ability for our line to block for that long and give Gallagher that much time to throw and running backs carrying out their fakes really opens it up.”
Danny Bradley from four yards out for a 14-7 Garnet Valley lead. Set up by a 36-yard Colin Robinson wide-open wheel route (redundant, I know) #DelcoFootball pic.twitter.com/kV2RBMi2iu
— Matt Chandik (@MChandik26) October 5, 2018
While Gallagher ran for 69 yards and two scores, and threw a whopping-for-Garnet Valley nine times, he knew that wasn’t a typical game, but at the same time, he had faith that his team could get it done if need be.
“It was really cool, but we practice pass plays every day,” said Gallagher, who also hit Colin Robinson on a wheel route and a swing pass for 66 more yards. “We all knew what we were doing. We were prepared and ready to go. We always have to be prepared for whatever the defense gives us.”
At times, the Aces gave the Jaguars fits defensively. Quarterback Matt O’Connor was 21-for-34 for 203 yards and a touchdown in a game where Lower Merion receivers dropped at least seven passes. His favorite targets were Goodman (eight catches, 83 yards), Jaden Helton (seven catches, 77 yards) and Villanova-bound Jalen Goodman (five catches, 54 yards). Lower Merion attacked Garnet Valley on the perimeter with a plethora of screen passes, and the Goodmans and Helton were dangerous enough to only need a sliver of space before getting up field.
“It’s awesome. Those guys make my job pretty easy,” O’Connor said. “A two-yard pass can go for 80 any single play. We’re just a much better program than we’ve been in the past. We’re all coming together as one. We’re not getting it done quite yet, but we’re playing a lot better.”
