No birds, no planes, all Fords need to go is Blair
ROYERSFORD — Trey Blair was like a superhero in a comic book.
Imagine the all-purpose senior as a masked crusader, draped in red and white Haverford High armor. “The Flash” would be a perfect name for Blair, who possesses magical powers on the gridiron, the ability to accelerate and leave his villains in a cloud of dust.
He can defend. He can run. He can pass. He can punt. He can block field goals.
Blair did it all Friday night to lead No. 12 Haverford to its first playoff victory in program history, a 49-14 trouncing of fifth-seeded Spring-Ford in a District 1 Class 6A game.
Finally filmed Trey Blair scoring a touchdown! 58 yards run. 42-7 Haverford… pic.twitter.com/5KSbY1GtyR
— Matt Smith (@DTMattSmith) November 2, 2019
In comic books, there are captions commonly referred to as speech balloons, which include pithy words or sentences that represent the awesomeness of a character. “KAPOW!” “BANG!” “BOOM!” are just a few apt descriptors for Blair’s performance.
There was the 309 rushing yards, which was the second-best output in Haverford history, and four touchdown runs. The beautiful 62-yard scoring strike to Justin Burgess or the blocked field goal in the second half. And then, to cap it off, the interception in the fourth quarter to break the school record for most picks in a career (13).
Blair was amazing.
And yet … his preference was to talk about more important things such as getting the program’s first playoff win and advancing to the next round of the District 1 tourney. The Fords (9-2) will take on the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 13 Perkiomen Valley and fourth-seeded Downingtown East. Haverford has won nine consecutive decisions.
“This is the best feeling I’ve ever had,” said Blair, who has amassed 200-plus yards on the ground in three straight games. He is the county’s leading rusher with 1,574 yards and 20 touchdowns.
“We had the same vibe we’ve had all season. Our whole thing is, it really doesn’t matter who we’re playing because we’re playing 100 percent every play, through the whistle. It really doesn’t matter who is in front of us because we’re going to do our thing. We’re been doing our thing now for nine wins in a row and it’s really working out for us.”
Blair’s father, Chet, a phenomenal basketball player in his day and a member of the West Chester University Hall of Fame, joked with Haverford coach Joe Gallagher after the game. The elder Blair told the coach he was a little disappointed Trey couldn’t return an interception 81 yards to the house. Instead, Trey was forced out of bounds inside the 10-yard line.
“We’ll talk about it,” Gallagher said.
Joking aside, Gallagher has been around 28 years and has never coached a player of Blair’s ilk. He’s coached great players, All-Delcos and Daily Times Players of the Year, but Blair is another kind of special. While his official position is quarterback, it’s not exactly his natural spot. When Blair heads to University of Buffalo, he’ll be used as a defensive back and in multiple other areas.
“His strength, speed and acceleration … unmatched,” Gallagher said.
The Fords’ offensive line unit of Dean Ranlof, Kevin Gillespie, John Cunningham, Bill Clancy and Elihu Bey paved the way for Blair and Chase Wint, who accrued 123 yards on 11 carries.
“They do not get enough credit for what they’ve done,” Blair said. “If you watched our first game against Carroll (14-7 loss) and watched the game we just played, it looks like five different guys up there but it’s the same guys, they’ve just been putting in work day after day after day, going after it and competing. I think I owe a lot to them. Five great friends, too; they’re awesome dudes. I’m really proud of them and I just have to pay a lot of respect for what they’ve done.”
On the other side of the ball, Haverford’s defense was outstanding, limiting 1,000-yard rusher Armante Haynes to a paltry 37 yards on 14 carries. Defensive coordinator Dan Milewski has done an excellent job coaching the unit, which was led by linebackers Will Higson and Sean Reynolds and lineman Harry Carpenter on this night.
Blair and the Fords are happy to make school history, but the fight isn’t finished.
‘We want to keep it going,” he said.
And in a flash, he was gone.
