Downingtown >> Bishop Shanahan kicked off its 2023 football season with a tough 21-19 loss against visiting West Philadelphia Friday evening.
“Our tackling hurt us tonight,” said Shanahan head coach Paul Meyers. “West Philadelphia’s size and athleticism hurt us, but us not tackling well really hurt us — and as the head coach I’ll take the blame, we should have tackled better.
“The kids gave it all they had — they left it all on the field. Our whole team fell just a little short. West Philadelphia’s size and athleticism just wore us down. They’re huge up front, and we tried everything, we went to an odd front, we went to an even front, it just didn’t work for us tonight.”
The Eagles were missing standout senior fullback/linebacker Dan Gallagher with a broken right wrist. While Gallagher could be returning for Shanahan’s next game against Phoenixville Sept. 1 — he will be seeing a doctor this week — the loss of the senior standout hurt the Eagles Friday.
“Dan broke his wrist this summer and he hasn’t been able to practice,” said Meyers. “It hurts, not having him in there at fullback and linebacker. West Philadelphia went foot-to-foot with us and went right at us with their size, and I think Dan could have helped us if he was in the middle.”
Following a nine-play, 73-yard touchdown drive on West Philadelphia’s opening possession, Shanahan came back with two six-pointers in the first half, both on TD passes to receivers who were wide open in the end zone.
On the first Eagle touchdown, Shanahan staged a 14-play, 56-yard TD drive of its own to tie the score at 6-6. The final play was a 12-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Landon Wright to sophomore wide receiver Anthony Aquila, who was wide open in the left corner of the end zone.
On the Eagles’ next possession, Shanahan drove for another touchdown, the final play a 13-yard TD pass from Wright to senior wide receiver Nate Olivo, who was wide open in the middle of the end zone.
“On those two touchdown passes, that was our offensive coordinator (Bryan McKee) seeing some things up top (in the coaches’ box) with the matchups and making the right call,” said Meyers.
The Eagles led 12-6 at halftime, and in the first half were moving the ball with short running plays, many of them by Wright and running backs Julian Haylock and Nate Bracken. However, the hosts failed to score on their opening possession of the second half. The Speedboys took over, and marched 59 yards in 11 plays, most of them running plays by senior quarterback Zymir Poteat and senior running back Samari Moore. The final play of the Speedboys’ drive was a 10-yard TD run up the middle by Poteat. A two-point conversion run by Moore gave the visitors a 14-12 lead with 3:50 left in the third quarter.
Shanahan then went three-and-out and had to punt for the first time all night.
In the fourth quarter, West Philadelphia began another sustained drive, and moved 68 yards on 11 consecutive running plays for a touchdown. Poteat scored on a 6-yard run to cap the drive. Throughout the game, Poteat was breaking free for gains despite heavy traffic at the line of scrimmage, and some low snaps from center.
“(Poteat) is very athletic — he just kept picking it up and making plays,” said Meyers.
The Speedboys converted on the ensuing extra point kick to give the visitors a 21-12 lead with just four minutes left.
Then it was time for Shanahan senior quarterback Zach Ferraro to stand tall. He hit senior back Trevor Barbadora for a 34-yard completion, then on the next play hit sophomore wide receiver Aiden Civitella for a 28-yard touchdown pass. After the extra point kick, Shanahan had cut the Speedboys’ lead to 21-19 with 3:36 left.
“Zach came in and gave us a spark, kept his head up and came in just when we needed him,” said Meyers.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, West Philadelphia took the ensuing kickoff and controlled the football on running plays for the remainder of the game.
West Philadelphia 21, Bishop Shanahan 19
West Philadelphia 6 0 8 7 – 21
Bishop Shanahan 6 6 0 7 – 19
First quarter scoring:
W – Moore, 8, pass from Poteat (kick failed)
S – Aquila, 12, pass from Wright (kick failed)
Second quarter scoring:
S – Olivo, 13, pass from Wright (pass failed)
Third quarter scoring:
W – Poteat, 10, run (Moore run)
Fourth quarter scoring:
W – Poteat, 6, run (Satchell kick)
S – A. Civitella, 28, pass from Ferraro (Debellis kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
WP BS
First downs 17 10
Rushes-yards 47-264 16-46
Comp-att-int 4-9-1 9-18-0
Passing yards 26 122
Total yards 290 168
Punts-avg 2-23 1-30
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 3-25 11-70
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: WP – Poteat 23-153 2 TDs, Moore 13-75, Cleveland 8-27, Shubert 2-5, Chamlberlain 1-4, Totals 47-264. BS – Haylock 9-30, Bracken 4-12, Wright 3-4, Olivo 1-0, Totals 16-46.
Passing: WP – Poteat 3-7-1, 22 yards, TD; Cleveland 0-1-0 0 yards; Shubert 1-1-0, 4 yards; Totals 4-9-1, 26 yards, TD. BS – Wright 7-15-0, 60 yards, 2 TDs; Ferraro 2-3-0, 62 yards, TD; Totals 9-18-0, 122 yards, 3 TDs.
Receiving: WP – Mathis 1-12, Moore 1-8 TD, Winston 1-2, Poteat 1-4, Totals 4-26 TD. BS – Olivio 2-17 TD, A. Civitella 5-59 TD, Aquila 1-12 TD, Barbadora 1-34, Totals 9-122 3 TDs.
Interceptions: BS – Aquila.
