Malvern Prep claims Inter-Ac title
PHILADELPHIA- Neither wind or heavy rain could deter the Malvern Prep Friars from reaching their goal of winning an outright Inter-Academic League title. And Saturday afternoon at a cold and rainy Maxwell Field at Springtide Chestnut Hill, the Friars more than held up their end of the bargain by downing the host Blue Devils 14-0, to win the Inter-Academic League championship for the first time since 2018.
Malvern Prep (5-0 inter-Ac, 8-2 overall) got a sparkling rushing output from senior Isaiah Wright who carried the ball 47 times for 235 yards and scored both Friars touchdowns. Wright started things off in style as he carried the ball nine times on the opening drive of the game before scoring from seven yards out to give Malvern a 7-0 lead after the first seven minutes of the game.
“That is a lot of carries but I don’t mind,’ Wright said. “As long as we get there win I don’t care how many times I carry the ball. And to win this championship is an awesome feeling. This is for the guys who played last year and there was no league games and the guys in 2019. I have been at Malvern since the sixth grade and this is what we play for. to win the league title.”
After the first Friars touchdown, the vaunted Malvern Prep defense took over. Malvern Prep was averaging giving up less than nine points per game and the Blue Devils (0-5, 3-7) could muster next to nothing against the likes of Colton Deery, Ryan Davis and Bobby Meers. Chestnut Hill managed just 128 total yards of offense for the game and only 40 of those yards came on the ground. The Friars defense held the Blue devils to just six first downs.
With the weather getting worse after halftime, Malvern Prep went on another short scoring drive. This came after Davis picked off a Blue Devils pass at the blue Devils 22 yard line. three plays alter, Wright banged in from three yards out and it was a 14-0 Malvern Prep lead.
“Our defense has been stout all season,” Malvern Prep head coach Dave Gueriera said. “And today we had two goal line stands that we’re sensational. Our defense was so good this season we were actually surprised when we were scored on.”
Chestnut Hill severely tested the friars defense in the fourth period, twice getting within the 10 yard line before Malvern Prep closed the doors on the Blue Devils token the shutout intact. The first Blue Devils threat was stopped when Jaylyn Evans sacked the Blue Devils quarterback on a fourth and goal play from the four yard line. The second stop came when Marcus Crawford’s pass sailed high out of the end zone and the Friars punctuated its championship by pitching a shutout on a very bad day weather wise.
“We wanted to be run heavy today,” Gueriera said. “we wanted to use Isaiah a lot but we had to because you could not throw the ball in these conditions. This team deserves this championship because of how hard they have worked all season.”
Malvern Prep could only thew five passes for theme because of the extreme wind and quarterback Jack Capaldi said that was okay as long as Malvern Prep got the title.
“We really wanted to win this this season for all the guys that could not play for it last year.” Capaldi said. “This was our goal for a long time and we reached it today.”
Malvern Prep 14, Springside Chestnut Hill 0.
Malvern Prep 7 0 7 0-14
Springside Chestnut Hill 0 0 0 0-0
Scoring
M-Wright 7 run (Reid kick)
Third Period
M-Wright 3 run (Reid kick)
Team Totals
MP- SCH
First downs 14 6
Yards rushing 236 40
Yards passing 29 88
Total yards 265 128
Passing 2-5-0 10-26-1
Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-1
Punts-avg 4-32.5 5-27.0
Penalties-yds 3-35 4-25
Individual statistics
Rushing: MP: Wright 47-235, 2TD’s; Stocker 1 (-4); Evans 3-3; Capaldi 4-2. SCH: Crawford 6 (-5); Thorpe 3-12; Roberts 2-4; Colavito 12-29.
Passing: MP: Capaldi 2-5-29. SCH: Crawford 10-26-88.
Receiving: MP: Davis 1-18; Connolly 1-11. SCH: Thorpe 4-44; Shelinnsky 4-22; Regamn 1-12; Colavito 1-6.
Sacks: MP: Evans, law. SCH: None.
Interceptions: MP: Davis. SCH: None.
EOF-
