HAVERFORD — The schedule suggest that the next three weeks could be very challenging for Marple Newtown.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do ahead of us,” MN head coach Chris Gicking said Friday, thinking about Central League contests with Garnet Valley, Strath Haven and Penncrest remaining on his schedule.
After his brief gaze into the future, Gicking could turn his thoughts to a 42-14 victory at Haverford’s Cornog Field Friday night.
“I say it all the time, but playing in the Central League is a dogfight every week,” Gicking said. “Haverford’s had some tough losses in close games. That’s why I’m proud of these kids for the job they did here tonight.
“They followed our game plan. Coach (Rich) Gentile did a great job running the defense and we had some good drives.”
The Tigers also had some big plays. Paul DeFruscio had a short scoring run in the first quarter. It was matched by Haverford’s Will Hulea, who crossed the goal line with just under eight minutes to play in the first half.
A major penalty pushed the Tigers back to their 35, which was when Gicking went to his bag of tricks. On fourth down, Marple lined up in punt formation, but a short snap went to Lou DiLuzio, who wasn’t dragged down until he had advanced 62 yards. One snap later, DiLuzio was in the end zone, breaking the 7-7 tie.
“We’ve had that play in for a while, but this was the first time we used it,” DiLuzio said. “The line had a great surge. I just had to find the hole and keep running.”
The Fords kept possession for just three snaps after the ensuing kickoff, losing a fumble on third down. Marple needed just one play to add to its lead as David Bertoline found PJ Esposito in the back of the end zone to complete a 29-yard scoring pass.
Less than two minutes into the third quarter, it was sophomore Brett Wolski taking a third-down handoff and racing straight up the middle for 73 yards and six more points.
“That wasn’t me,” Wolski said. “That was our offensive line. I just had to keep running in a straight line. Our line was great the whole game.”
The offensive line, which helped the Tigers (6-1, 4-1 Central League) to 471 yards of total offense (283 rushing, 188 passing), consisted of Jason Bennett, Brett Cowan, Eric Janda, Andrew Kirlin, Jake McGowan and John Daddario.
A short Brian Box scoring run for Marple Newtown preceded a 13-play Fords drive which came up short when they lost a fumble at the MN 16. Three plays later, Bertoline heaved a long pass that DeFruscio gathered in on the Haverford side of the 50-yard line before galloping to the end zone to finish an 81-yard play.
“I realized their safety had moved over,” DeFruscio said. “I just had to make one move on him and I was wide open. We’ve been talking about getting our running game going, and I was glad we were able to do all that we did today.”
Haverford took eight plays to drive 78 yards with the mercy clock in effect before Buddy Coacher scored on a seven-yard run 2:17 before the final whistle.
“For now we can enjoy this win,” Gicking said. “But we know all about the challenges we will have to face coming up.”
