Radnor makes adjustments to rally past Chichester

UPPER CHICHESTER — Radnor coach Tom Ryan had a talk with his team at halftime of the Raiders’ nonleague game at Anthony Apichella Memorial Field against host Chichester Friday night.

“We talked about how if you want to be a good football team, you have to be able to play when you are behind,” Ryan said. “We made some mistakes, but I was pleased with the way we stayed together.”

His players picked up on the halftime message as they rallied in the final two quarters to earn a 24-17 season-opening decision, spoiling the debut of Chi head coach Bob Brice.

Raiders quarterback Sam DiLella, who threw for 200 yards, had a pair of scoring passes in the fourth quarter — a 49-yarder to Jahmir Dixon and a 17-yarder to Cameron Williams.

“We changed some of our running-game calls in the second half,” DiLella said. “And that helped make things a little easier for our passing game. I have to give the credit for that to our offensive coordinator Larry DiSipio. He did a great job.

“(Chichester’s) defense was a little tricky the way they used two safeties. One that one touchdown, our slotback (Brendan Surbeck) took the safety out, and Jahmir got wide open.”

In addition to DiLella’s passing and Dixon’s 116 receiving yards, Scott Belveal picked up 75 yards on the ground and Taylor Margolis added 72 yards rushing for Radnor.

After the DiLella-to-Williams scoring pass, Chichester junior Marquise Fields returned the kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown. Zach Taylor’s conversion kick cut the Radnor lead to 24-17 with 3:59 to play.

The Eagles had only one more possession and got as far as the Radnor 25 before the visitors forced four consecutive incompletions by quarterback Nate Decenzi, who had thrown a 14-yard TD pass to Zaquon Bruton in the first quarter.

“This was my first varsity game,” Fields said. “I just tried to stay patient and waited for Manny Rivera to make his block. That was the key. Once he did that, I had a hole to run through and I just took off.”

Brice, a former assistant coach at West Chester Rustin, knows better things are ahead for his football team.

“We overcame some adversity,” he said. “But I was proud of the way we hung in there all the way through.

“We had mental breakdowns and problems with lining up properly, which we will work on. Give Radnor credit. Tom Ryan is a good coach, and he had his team well-prepared.”