De George: Radnor’s return to prominence eases sting of ouster
RADNOR — Aidan Carter paced the sidelines as though if he kept moving, reality wouldn’t find him. Ifeyan Gavin orbited the final huddle at a wide berth, a towel over his helmet. Jahmair Rider bit down harder on his mouthpiece, a vain attempt to stanch the flow of tears. And Nick Scheri — helmet on, chinstrap fastened — took one final walk, goal line to goal line, before exiting Prevost Field.
The biggest number in Radnor’s season, football coach Tom Ryan would tell you, was not the No. 9, as in the most wins the program has registered since its unbeaten 1976 season, or the No. 1, as in the first playoff game hosted and first district playoff win in program history.
Instead, he would identify that vital statistic as 24 — 26, identifying 24 seniors plus two team senior managers. All of them, Ryan says, contributed to an historic Radnor season.
Amid an incessant, chilly drizzle Friday night, those careers ended, 28-7 at the hands of Unionville in the District 1 Class 5A quarterfinal. But even in the distraught post-game scenes, there remained a stubborn glow of appreciation that Ryan hammered home again in his final huddle, making sure each and every player leaving the field — especially those departing for a final time — understood what they had accomplished.
“There’s a lot of great memories made that nobody can take away from this group, and it stings right now,” Ryan said. “Of course it does, from the staff down. But that’s why you play the game, ups and downs. … I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
When the team gathered in August, Radnor knew it possessed promising pieces: A veteran quarterback in Sean Mullarkey, an experienced running back in Matt Cohen, a potent playmaker in Rider to complement several returning skill players and treasured depth in the trenches. But taking inventory of a senior nucleus in the summer swelter and watching that team advance to the late-fall climes are two very different things, making the Raiders’ journey exemplary by any standards.
“Going into this season, we didn’t really know what to expect,” wide receiver/linebacker Teddy Girton said. “We knew we had a lot of seniors. We thought it could be something special. And it’s safe to say we put our heart and soul into the season, every single person on this team. We gave it everything we’ve got. I have no regrets looking back. We did it right.”
Not since 1983 had the Raiders won eight games in a regular season. Those eight wins equal the combined total from 2011-14, including an 0-11 slog through 2011.
Along the way, they beat Marple Newtown in double-overtime. They hung 63 points on a Ridley team that would rebound to make the District 1 Class 6A postseason, despite Radnor’s first win in the battle of chromatic Raiders in two decades. They’d post 60 points against Penncrest, a week after giving Garnet Valley its biggest scare in 12 outings, a one-point overtime setback. Then there was last week’s playoff perfection, a win over Marple Newtown on a last-second Mullarkey-to-Rider connection.
No one would’ve wanted that to be the last memory in the scrapbook of the season. But after the dismantling by Unionville Friday, it just might be, and the healing distance of time will bring a sense of peace.
Friday was one to forget in most aspects. The Raiders (9-3) ran just 41 offensive snaps to Unionville’s 70. They had just seven plays for positive yardage in the first half, one a Mullarkey pass to Girton for a 64-yard touchdown just 16 seconds after the Indians had opened the scoring. It was a glimmer of hope of another special chapter to the 2018 saga, but instead proved to be a premature ending.
From there, Unionville took over. It battered the Raiders for 286 yards on the ground. Of the Indians’ 63 carries, only seven lost yardage, and none was longer than 21 yards. It was death by a thousand cuts.
Mullarkey struggled, 5-for-17 through the air with two interceptions. Rider had only one touch from scrimmage, a two-yard loss on a jet sweep. Girton’s four catches accounted for all 105 receiving yards.
“We try to shut down their playmakers,” said Unionville quarterback Nick Schnaars, who ran for two scores, threw for one and picked off Mullarkey. “We have to make somebody else other than their playmakers beat us. And that’s what we did.”
Friday was the outlier rather than the norm. Despite long being a middle-of-the-road team in the Central League, Ryan has had standouts in his time. Raiders have played at the Division I level, and via Tim Wilson, the school was among the few Delco entities represented at NFL training camps last summer. But rarely has a group assembled the pieces like this one. The reason is simple to the seniors.
“I think it’s just that we all care so much about each other,” Girton said. “You’re playing for the guy next to you, not playing for yourself, and that really carries us forward.”
“We really truly love each other,” wide-out/linebacker Kieran Sheridan said. “We’ve played together for 10 years, our whole lives.”
Those seniors that played their last Friday were a big reason why the Raiders have a 27-20 record over the last four seasons, but hardly the only one. And that’s why they can move on with confidence that the new life they’ve breathed into the program will outlast them.
“We put Radnor football back on the map,” Sheridan said. “For too long, we’ve just been overlooked, just been mediocre at best. We’re a good program. We’re going in the right direction.”
Even as raindrops masked tears Friday night, few in Radnor black would argue it.
To contact Matthew De George, email mdegeorge@delcotimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @sportsdoctormd.
