Haverford School responds with victory over Archbishop Carroll

HAVERFORD — Everything went wrong for Haverford School in a season-opening, shutout loss at home to Northeast High School last week.

Coach Mike Murphy demanded better of his Fords and was particularly insistent about his team’s response. Would they continue to spiral, or pick themselves off the ground and come out Saturday afternoon with renewed vigor?

The Fords got the result they wanted, a 31-21 nonleague victory over Archbishop Carroll at Sabol Field.

“Even when things didn’t go great in the beginning, we dropped some balls and things, we didn’t have the same sort of reaction that we had last week that I thought put us in the tank,” Murphy said. “Watching how we responded after a game that didn’t go the way any of us expected it to go, it was really impressive. That starts with our seniors. We had another good week of practice and the attitude was great on gameday.”

Senior quarterback Dante Perri was 14-for-31 for 124 yards. His 17-yard connection with 6-3, 158-pound sophomore tight end Matt McKenna gave the Fords a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Perri sneaked into the end zone from a yard out to make it a 14-0 early in the second quarter.

“We practice at a high-tempo, and it’s what we try to do during games,” senior lineman Michael Barr said. “We’re not wasting time, we’re not walking around. It helps us when we’re in the game and when the defense gets gassed, we want to keep our foot on the pedal and keep it going.”

The Fords were balanced on offense, producing 120 yards on the ground (3.6 yards per carry) and 124 through the air.

“Our offense was a lot better today,” Barr said, “but we know we still have a lot of work to do.”

The Fords’ defense was tested against Carroll quarterback Russel Minor-Shaw, who showcased his dual talent. He hooked up with Tyler Alston on a post route 34 yards for a touchdown to cut the Carroll deficit to 14-7 late in the second quarter. On Carroll’s first possession of the second half, after Haverford fouled to complete a fake-punt pass, Minor-Shaw connected with Malachi Hansen on a 33-yard scoring strike to tie the score. Haverford went back in front to stay on a Chris Clark 26-yard field goal.

The Fords’ defense improved as the day went on. Sophomore lineman Bill Brosko had a huge sack to force a punt late in the third quarter, and senior cornerback Daiyaan Hawkins made a pair of interceptions, including a 75-yard pick-six in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.

“We worked as a team all week in practice and came in prepared for this game,” Brosko said. “We know we’re all out there for each other. If we get down and times get tough, we’re there to pick each other back up.”

After a 14-7 win opening night at Haverford High, the Patriots (1-2) have dropped back-to-back decisions on the road, including last week’s 42-20 defeat at Seton Hall (N.J.) Prep. Minor-Shaw finished 18-for-34 for 208 yards, three touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. He also ran for a game-high 101 yards.

“We knew that we wanted to test ourselves before the Catholic League schedule, so we scheduled three legit teams and here we are 1-2,” Carroll coach Kyle Detweiler said. “I said to the kids that it’s going to go one of two ways. We’re a 1-2 team and that’s who were are or it’s going to help us going forward. We have to figure out what our flaws are and be ready for brutal league play. The last two weeks we had opportunities to pivot this thing and seize the opportunity and we failed to do so. Are we going to find our way out of this hole and propel forward or not?”