Malvern Prep’s defense rises to the occasion to defeat Imhotep

Malvern >> Challenged with the early loss of quarterback Skylar Smith to injury against one of the top teams in Pennsylvania, Malvern Prep (3-0) used a tough team defense and some resourceful offense for an emotional win against visiting Imhotep Charter, 17-13, Friday evening.
“This team has got unbelievable resiliency,” said Friar head coach Dave Gueriera. “They play for each other and it showed tonight. This was a full team effort, this was Malvern Prep.”
Malvern’s Bobby Mears, whose blocked punt led to a quick Friar touchdown, said, “This win means a lot. We’ve put a lot of work into this season, and it really comes down to how bad you want it, and I think we wanted it more. Our hard work paid off.”
The Friars’ Hayden Pegg, whose pick-six early in the third quarter put Malvern ahead for good, said, “This was a great team win; our coaches got us really prepared, and we just had fun tonight -– we just went out and played football, and I’m happy I got the win with my brothers. I’m super excited.”
The first quarter was a scoreless defensive struggle, but Imhotep put together a nine-play, 60-yard drive early in the second quarter for a touchdown. The visitors’ drive mostly consisted of a couple of pass completions from junior lefthanded quarterback Mikal Davis Jr., and some solid running gains from Jabree Wallace-Coleman. When Rahmir Stewart scored on a 5-yard run, it gave Imhotep a 6-0 lead with 10:49 left before halftime.
After Smith went out with a hand injury, Malvern freshman Jaxson Melconian took over the signal-calling duties, and his 23-yard pass completion late in the second quarter was key to a Friar drive that ended with a Jack Ploszay 30-yard field goal with 21 seconds left before halftime.
Trailing 6-3 at the half, Malvern went ahead for good on the third play of the second half. Pegg intercepted a Davis pass, jumping a flat pass route by the visitors at the Imhotep 28 yard line, and ran it in for the score. Ploszay’s extra point gave the hosts a 10-6 lead with 10:49 left in the third quarter.
“I saw the flat route, we’ve been practicing this (defense), so I trusted my instinct and went with it,” said a smiling Pegg. “We’ve got a great group of guys (on defense), and (defensive coordinator Joe) Carr really got us prepared for this game. This is his win.”
The Friars then held Imhotep to a three-and-out, forcing the visitors to punt from their own 25 yard line. Mears broke through and blocked the punt, and Sean Maguire recovered the ball and raced in for the score to give the hosts a 17-6 lead with 9:17 left in the third quarter.
Mears said, “My partner next to me, Hayden Pegg, took the outside man, and I had a wide-open lane up the middle.”
Imhotep then put together a 13-play, 80-yard drive –- mostly short rushing gains by Wallace-Coleman and Stewart –- to cut Malvern’s lead to 17-13 with 4:03 left in the third period.
A few minutes later, the game was delayed for about half an hour after an injury to Imhotep sophomore Zahir Mathis. A stretcher was brought out, and when Mathis was wheeled to the ambulance, he responded to the fans’ applause by raising his arm in tribute.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Malvern put together a clock-consuming drive that included a couple of pass completions by Melconian -– 26 yards to Zade Smith-Johnson and 18 yards to Ryan Falkenstein.
With 2:07 left in the game, after an Imhotep drive ended at the Malvern 23 yard line and the Friars took over on downs, Melconian hit Smith-Johnson on a crucial third-down pass for a first down to keep the clock running.
“Jaxson showed a lot of poise out there tonight,” said Gueriera. “This was his first week as the backup (quarterback) -– he took only 10 to 15 percent of the reps this week.
Pegg said, “Jaxson stepped up, it was amazing to watch. We’ve always had faith in Jaxson; he’s a really good player who’s going to be something special in the future.”
The Friars also were helped on offense by small but vital rushing gains by Yaahdir Nash.
“We had to manufacture on offense tonight,” said Gueriera. “We had to get enough done to keep moving the chains.”
Defensively, Gueriera praised the entire unit.
“Chris Lake, Hayden Pegg, Phil Tabasso, Bobby Mears, Cam Brickle, Colin McHugh played really well tonight, but really I think the spotlight should be on the whole team – they did a great job,” said Gueriera.
Imhotep head coach Devon Johnson, whose squad advanced to the PIAA 5A state championship final last fall, said, “We knew that Malvern is a good team; we made mistakes tonight that cost us, and they didn’t. Unfortunately you don’t win games in which you give up two turnovers for touchdowns. We have a young team who is playing good teams like Malvern early so we can iron these kinks out now, and make those plays later in the (PIAA) playoffs.”