Germantown Academy plays it defensive in win over Haverford School

WHITEMARSH >> Germantown Academy football coach Matt Dence is unapologetic about his offensive mentality.

As much as Dence loves putting points on the board, he loves winning games even more and Saturday, that meant leaning on his team’s defense. After a moderately low-scoring first half, it got even tougher to change the numbers as the Patriots and visiting Haverford School both pitched second half shutouts.

GA’s defense took offense at the notion of giving up another score and that was the driving force in its 19-12 win over the Fords in the penultimate week of Inter-Ac play.

“Haverford’s good, well-coached football team and I’m very proud of Rob Campbell, Matt Gorman, Marty Dean and our defensive staff, they were fantastic,” Dence said. “I’m not the easiest head coach for a defensive coordinator. I’m an offensive guy so winning 19-12 is not the way I like to win, but a win is a win.”

Germantown Academy’s entire defensive unit played well but everything started up front along the defensive line. Sean Spinosa, Coulten Grasela, Logan Woodward and Donny Lattanze created good push all game and it was their efforts that directly led to the game’s first score.

Haverford was backed up to start its second drive of the game and facing a 3rd-and-10 when Spinosa blew past his man and dragged Fords quarterback Michael Benincasa to the ground for a sack, dislodging the football in the process. Lattanze was able to dive in and dig the ball out for the recovery, handing the Patriots a golden opportunity on the Haverford School three yard line.

“We knew it was a crucial down right there,” Spinosa, a 6-foot-1, 250 pound senior, said. “Our coaches put up a good scheme for us and it led to a touchdown. Our gameplan is the no. 1 thing, then it’s our technique and the drive and passion we have as a unit on the d-line.”

One play later, senior Brian Allen drove in and the Patriots had a lead they wouldn’t give back.

“When we get stopped, we get upset as an offense and want to go do better than the previous drive,” Allen said. “When we got that turnover, we all got up. We knew it was our chance to go punch it in and turn around what we’d just had. We just had to punt and now we were able to go get the points we wanted.”

The Fords responded by marching right down the field spurred by back Sam Gerber, who collected 98 yards on the day while also playing defensive back. Benincasa was able to drive in from a yard out, but GA’s special teams chipped in when Evan Spivey broke through to block the extra point.

While GA’s defense thrived by getting just enough all day, the Fords were done in by coming up just short. While Haverford School did well to answer both of the Patriots’ touchdown drives with scores of its own, it couldn’t find a way to break through in the second half.

“We’d have a positive play, then a negative play and go backwards. We just couldn’t put it together today,” Fords coach Brian Martin said. “We couldn’t get over it and seemed like we just kept hurting ourselves unfortunately.”

The teams traded touchdowns for four consecutive drives. GA’s offense had been pretty well bottled up by the Fords until early in the second quarter when quarterback Tristian Machado hit a long ball to Spivey for a 60-yard score.

Spivey had a pretty good day for GA, accumulating 124 yards on six receptions, 21 yards on four rushes, a blocked PAT and a couple tackles as a defensive back. The 6-foot-2 junior won a jumpball for a 26-yard reception that helped set up a field goal and chalked his success up to his quarterback having trust in him.

“We’ve been playing 7-on-7 together since last summer so the chemistry has really come on,” Spivey said.

Opting to go for two after the Spivey catch, the Patriots didn’t convert then gave up a response as Haverford School again went down the field and answered. The Fords got a few big plays but mainly it was hard running and getting what was there to maneuver in position for Matthew Brosko to rush in from four yards out. Like the hosts, the visitors opted to play for two but they were also stopped, leaving GA in front 13-12.

GA worked the clock to perfection to end the first half. The Patriots wound four minutes off the clock to get a Jared Smith 24-yard field goal with 1:13 left in the first half, the defense forced an extremely quick three-and-out and the offense went back to work with 43 seconds on the clock.

Machado completed a couple quick passes and as time expired, Smith booted a 27-yard field goal to put his team ahead by seven. It would end up being more than enough.

“Jared Smith with those two field goals is huge as a sophomore,” Dence said. “We got that seven point lead, it felt good but we always want that two-score lead. Today, we just couldn’t get there.”

The Fords’ defense did its job, keeping GA off the board in the second half, but the same was true of the Patriots. Both teams moved the ball but as soon as it came time to make a stand, each of them did again and again.

“That’s been the story all year,” Martin said. “The defense has been playing lights out but unfortunately, our offense keeps stalling between the red zones.”

It still came down to one stop and GA got it when the Fords’ fourth down pass from the Patriots’ 35 fell incomplete with 1:02 to play. Bottled up all day, it was Allen who finally broke free for a 28-yard gain that picked up the crucial first down that finally sealed the win.

“We knew it was one first down to win the game and I told my o-line before we walked out of the huddle ‘it’s up to you guys. I know I can do it, I know you can do it, so it’s up to us,'” Allen said. “They were willing to do it and just punched them in the mouth on that first drive, got the push, I broke one tackle and was out and we won the game.”

GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 7 12 0 0 – 19

HAVERFORD SCHOOL 6 6 0 0 – 12

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

GA – Brian Allen 7 run (Jared Smith kick) 5:32

HS – Michael Benincasa 1 run (kick blocked) 20.4

2nd Quarter

GA – Tristian Machado 60 pass to Evan Spivey (two-point fail) 10:01

HS – Matthew Brosko 4 run (two-point fail) 5:46

GA – Smith 24 field goal 1:13

GA – Smith 27 field goal 0.0

Team Stats

GA HS

First Downs 13 15

Rushing 29-84 39-152

Passing 13-19-1-0 10-24-0-0

Passing Yards 201 91

Total Yards 285 243

Penalties-Yards 3-33 8-83

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1

Individual Stats

Rushing: GA – Brian Allen 22-72, Evan Spivey 4-21, Seamus Knox 1-0, Tristian Machado 2-(-9); HS – Sam Gerber 16-98, Matthew Brosko 14-61, Michael Benincasa 6-(-7), Ryan Getz 1-6, Michael Galasso 2-(-6)

Passing: GA – Machado 13-19-1-0-201; HS – Benincasa 6-14-0-0-52, Galasso 4-10-0-0-38

Receiving: GA – Spivey 5-124, Aidan Donohue 2-24, Matt McGettigan 2-25, George Arendt 1-9, Allen 2-20, Anthony Lara 1-(-1); HS – Getz 1-(-2), Gavin Wright 3-23, Gerber 3-19, Chase Knox 1-34, James Falk 1-17