Football Notebook: Road-tested Haverford School prepped for tough Inter-Ac tests
Haverford School athletic director Michael Murphy raised his eyes a bit when he saw the schedule that football coach Brian Martin put together for the 2022 season.
The slate included three straight road games against Academy Park, La Salle and Archbishop Wood, three of the most successful programs in the area over the last several seasons.
“He asked me, ‘What are you doing?” Martin said. “Why aren’t you playing any homes game?’ I told him, ‘Any chance I get to play a Friday night game I’m going to take it. There’s nothing like it.’”
Haverford School does not have lights, so it plays its games on Friday or Saturday afternoons. The Academy Park game was originally scheduled for Friday night, but was played on Saturday. The Fords played La Salle at Upper Dublin and Wood at William Tennent under the lights, but treating his team to Friday Night Lights games wasn’t Martin’s only motivation.
He was preparing his team for what shapes up to be an interesting year in the Inter-Ac League. Of the six teams in the league, five are still undefeated. The Fords are 5-0, as are Episcopal Academy and Germantown Academy. Malvern Prep and Penn Charter are 4-0. Those five teams have outscored the opposition 717-221. That’s an average of 31.2 points per game for and 9.6 against.
“Our league is pretty tough,” Martin said. “Everybody knows each other and they’re coached really well and we always want to make ourselves better by playing good opposition and I set our schedule up that way. The alumni asked me, ‘Are you OK? Did you get hit in the head?’ You have to play those teams just to get ready for our league.”
Haverford School is off this week and the bye could not come at a better time. The Fords are a little banged up. Center Thomas Barr and tackle Josh Williams have missed time with concussions. Linebacker Sean Dougherty has been out with a broken wrist.
“Hopefully we’ll get them back fulltime by next week, which will be good for us,” Martin said.
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It might be wise for TJ Cadden’s teammates at Episcopal Academy to start calling him “Big Play TJ.” The senior wide receiver-defensive back has scored seven touchdowns for the undefeated Churchmen (5-0), the shortest one was a 25-yard run against Blair Academy. The other six have covered 37, 42, 51, 65, 71 and 80 yards.
That’s an average of 53 yards per score and he’s scored in four different ways. He has three touchdowns receiving, two on punt returns, a pick six and a touchdown run. He took a pass 80 yards for a score against Conwell-Egan, had a 71-yard TD reception against Cardinal O’Hara, returned an interception 37 yards for a score and caught a 42-yard TD pass against Hill, ran a punt back 51 yards versus All-Saints from Texas and ran a punt back 65 yards and had the 25-yard run for a score against Blair Academy.
His younger brother, Michael, is a junior running back with six TDs, which means the Cadden brothers have accounted for 41.9 percent of the 31 touchdowns the Churchmen have scored. And that has come in limited action. EA coach Todd Fairlie said the starters have only played the equivalent of 2½ full games because EA has outscored its opponents by an average score of 43.6-9.2
“He does it all,” Fairlie said of TJ. “He’s phenomenal in a lot of areas. He’s a heck of a defensive player and he’s such a weapon on offense.”
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Mike Keene and Kivaleon Clarke have been among the bright spots for winless Penn Wood (0-6).
Keene, a 5-11, 175-pound senior, leads the team in rushing (331 yards), total tackles (47), solo stops (38) and tackles for loss (13), according to the team’s stats on maxpreps.com.
Clarke, a 5-9, 155-pound junior, is first on the team in receiving yardage (312), receiving touchdowns (three) and all-purpose yardage (573). Clarke is averaging 19.8 yards per touch. He’s also second in total tackles (34) and solo stops (23).
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Matthew Ferry has been quite the threat for Penncrest. The 6-0, 180-pound junior leads the Lions in rushing, receiving and solo tackles, according to the stats on the team’s website.
Ferry has rushed 100 times for 432 yards and two touchdowns and caught 13 passes for 323 yards and two scores. He’s averaging a whopping 24.8 yards per catch and 125.8 yards of total offense per game. He has 16 solo stops and 24 tackles overall, second on the team behind Daniel Dada (30).
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The District 1 playoff picture is starting to take shape.
Through six games, Garnet Valley (6-0) is the top seed in Class 6A, slightly ahead of Coatesville (6-0), the only other undefeated team in the classification, while Ridley (4-2) is 12th. Conestoga (5-1) is seeded sixth.The top 16 teams make the tournament.
In Class 5A, five Delco teams are in contention. Strath Haven (6-0) is ranked No. 1. Chester (6-0) is third. Marple Newtown (4-2) is seventh. Springfield (3-3) is 11th and Sun Valley (3-3) 14th. The top 16 also qualify for the playoffs. Academy Park (2-4) and Radnor (2-4) are just out of the playoff picture at the moment at Nos. 17 and 18, respectively.
Interboro (4-2) is seeded third in Class 4A. Four teams make the tournament.
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NOTES >> Interboro’s Abu Kamara is the first Delco running back to rush for 300 yards in a game twice in the same season since Upper Darby’s Isaiah Bruce did so in 2015. … Chester is plus-17 in turnover differential. The Clippers have forced 23 turnovers while coughing it up six times. Chester has picked off 11 passes and recovered 12 fumbles while allowing only two interceptions and four lost fumbles. … Bonner punter Austin Cannon boomed a pair of 50-yard punts in the Friars’ 35-7 victory over Archbishop Ryan. He averaged 40 yards on three punts.
