HAVERFORD — There wasn’t a shout. There wasn’t a slammed-to-the-floor helmet. There wasn’t a lecture or pointed finger, nor a bulletin board message. There wasn’t even a winked eye.
All there was last season at halftime of Haverford High’s football game was silence. And it worked.
“Nothing really had to be said,” recalled Fords receiver Buddy Coacher. “We just knew. We knew we were better than that. And we went out and executed.”
The Fords were down, 28-7, to Penncrest, but wound up winning, 30-28, in a Central League comeback. Then they beat Upper Darby on Thanksgiving to squeeze out two things: A .500 record and new, raging optimism for an encore.
“That’s when things really turned around for us,” Coacher said. “Everybody got their juice back again. And the momentum changed.”
That translated into the weight room in the offseason, into a spirited training camp and onto heightened expectations under third-year coach Luke Dougherty. Though the Fords will lose Tommy Wright, the All-Delco quarterback, they are deep enough at the skill positions to ease Liam Taylor into the signal-calling job. While that might sound like a tough assignment for a sophomore, on-the-field quarterback development long has been a Haverford tradition.
“We can go all the way back to Eddie Durkin,” said Dougherty of the 2013 All-Delco quarterback. “With the exception of Trey Blair, we have had sophomore quarterbacks – Jack Donaghy, Jake Ruane and Tommy Wright – who were sophomore quarterbacks who developed into All-Delco quarterbacks. So the process has been good for us.”
Along with Coacher, the Fords will buffer Taylor with senior wide receiver Keith Heinerichs, who also excels in lacrosse and basketball, senior pass-catcher Owen Morris and Vinny Fusaro and Jimmy Fusaro, who will double as defensive backs.
Junior Collin Corkery, who started on both lines as a sophomore, will solidify the offensive line, along with junior Alex Klee and tight end Ryan Corbett.
“Late last year, our offense started to click,” Dougherty said. “But our defense really turned it on over those last four games. We pretty much were staunch on defense, and then our offense started finding some rhythm, scoring points and making things happen.”
Nate Shoemaker, a three-year starter, will return to give the defense some pop and will be joined at linebacker by Coacher, Will Hulea and edge rusher Vincent Cunningham. Ryan Campbell should be a force at safety. Defensive end Mike McGinley will pressure quarterbacks.
“I was really proud of our team last year, because we really struggled at the beginning of the year,” Shoemaker said. “But our captains became great leaders and our team really stuck together. And that’s part of the reason we finished strong. We grew closer to each other and we just wanted to win.”
Shoemaker, who will mix in some running-back reps, has been impressed by Taylor, who is the grandson of Rick Taylor, the former longtime Springfield High coach.
“I am really excited about him,” Shoemaker said of Taylor. “He’s a really athletic kid. I mean, he is a freak of nature, almost. He is going to be really good.”
Also among the Fords showing well in camp were two-way senior linemen Michael Caruso, wide receiver Matt McAndrews, defensive back Owen Rose and 6-4, 200-pound junior tight end Jake Lisicki.
“There is a level of excitement,” Dougherty said. “We do have a lot of new faces, but I don’t want to say that we’re young, because we have a lot of guys who are juniors and seniors that have worked really hard and are ready to start. They are guys that got great experience at the end of last year, even if it was on special teams.
“We have bodies back and feel really good about that. It was a positive offseason in the weight room. We had a positive camp. So the momentum is definitely there.”
