Youth movement powers Shanahan past Sun Valley, 36-0
DOWNINGTOWN – Bishop Shanahan quarterback, Cooper Jordan, may look like a preteen, but through seven games the skinny sophomore has already faced powerful opponents like Downingtown West.
Listed at 5-foot-8, 130-pounds, Cooper is developing into a dangerous duel-threat QB, and Friday was his breakout performance. The Downingtown native scored twice on the ground and added a third touchdown through the air to propel the Eagles past Sun Valley, 36-0, on Senior Night at Jack Mancini Stadium.
“(Shanahan’s) quarterback is a nice player,” said Vanguards’ head coach Greg Bernhardt.
“Cooper is a good athlete who makes plays,” added Shanahan head coach Paul Meyers. “When you think a play may be dead, he uses his feet to scramble, and if he gets outside, he can make some plays.
“He’s been getting better and better each week.”
Jordan finished with 227 of his team’s 430 yards of total offense, and orchestrated a ground game that averaged 7.3 yards per carry and finished with 306.
“The read-option was there all day,” said Jordan, who led the Eagles with 12 carries for 100 yards. “(Sun Valley’s) defensive end was crashing down, and my coaches told me if I can pull it, to do it and run. We had the speed to get to the edge, so we knew we could do it if we need to.”
The win halts a three-game skid for Shanahan, who improves to 4-3 overall. The Eagles entered the day third in the District 1 4A power rankings.
“We are young and we know we are going to be good in the future, but we want to make some noise this season,” Meyers said. “This win will move us up. And just playing Coatesville and Downingtown (East) in the next two weeks will give us a lot of points also.”
It was the seventh loss in seven games for Sun Valley, who hung with Shanahan early but faltered late.
“When you’re losing like this it’s disappointing,” Bernhardt said. “I feel for our players – they are great kids and they work hard. We are just not quite there yet.
“We are in a tough spot right now. I just told them to hang in there and stay positive.”
What started out as a Ches-Mont crossover battle between teams looking to notch an initial league victory, ended with the Vanguards going three-and-out five times, punting it seven times and amassing just 50 yards of total offense.
“We played with a good motor tonight,” Meyers said. “We challenged our defensive line and told them that’s where we wanted to win this game, and they did the job.”
Senior Garrett Glendenning ran for 51 yards on the Eagles’ very first possession, and even though the drive ended with a turnover, it was a precursor. Shanahan opened the scoring when Jordan went for 51 yards on three attempts in the next series, including a 21-yard first quarter score.
“After that early play, I knew we could run the ball easily,” Glendenning said.
Glendenning later scored on an 18-yard read-option in the final three minutes of the half. The Eagles then got the ball back and drove 53 yards in 45 seconds, setting up a 33-yard Connor Bailey field goal at the buzzer to make it 15-0.
Two missed PATs and the fumble deep into the red zone prevented Shanahan from extending the lead at the intermission.
“We’ve been a little banged up, but we are starting to get healthy,” Meyers said. “We were a little stagnant in the first half, but then we started to get into a rhythm and were better in the second half.”
Sophomore Gus Ross recovered a Sun Valley fumble early in the third quarter, and nine plays later Jordan ran it in from 13 yards. And then later in the period he hit wideout Connor Roth in stride for a 51-yard scoring strike to make it 29-0.
“We needed a big win like this tonight,” said Glendenning, who ran for 89 yards on seven carries.
“It feels good to get back to winning,” Meyers added. “It’s been three long weeks, but now we have some momentum and a big task in front of us.”
Yet another sophomore, running back Brandon Choi, chipped in with 70 yards on the ground on just 10 attempts.
“Our sophomore class has a bunch of talent. They are going to be really good in future because they are good right now,” Glendenning said.
“We played as a team today,” Jordan added. “Our chemistry was kind of sloppy the previous few weeks but we stepped it up as a team, first in practice and then we carried it over to the game.
“We are a young team, but I think the Ches-Mont is one of the best in the state and it really does prepare us for games like this.”
Receiver Antonio Riviera notched five receptions for 54 yards to lead the Vanguards. But afterwards, Bernhardt was frustrated by his team’s six penalties.
“The early down penalties, and for us to get behind the sticks — that was disappointing,” he said.
“It was 15-0, we stop them and get the ball and have an 11-yard run for a first down and it gets called back for holding. Now we are looking at first-and-20, and we are just not good enough to overcome that.”
