Football: Sumpter fires on Episcopal at right time to keep SCH title hopes alive

NEWTOWN SQUARE – Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s Jayden Sumpter fought for every yard for three-plus quarters Friday night at Episcopal Academy.

The senior running back was having a fine night piling up three-yard runs here and six-yard runs there. It was only a matter of time before Sumpter broke off a big gain.

With the Blue Devils clinging to a three-point advantage in the fourth quarter, Sumpter showcased his explosive skills with two incredible runs that solidified the Blue Devils’ 24-21 Inter-Ac League victory.

On fourth down from EA’s 41, he sprinted 21 yards. Two plays later, he found himself in the end zone on an 18-yard jaunt.

“It felt great knowing that it was my first touchdown since Week 4, because I had missed a couple of games,” Sumpter said. “It’s great to be able to come back and come up clutch for the team.”

Sumpter carried the ball 26 times for 117 yards. He helped the Blue Devils (8-1, 3-1) got back on track one week after Haverford School snapped their seven-game winning streak. Springside Chestnut Hill concludes its season next week against Malvern Prep (8-0, 4-0) with a chance to earn a share of the Inter-Ac title.

Episcopal did not go quietly in its final home game of the season. Quarterback Brody Garrison, forced into duty after senior Na’Rome Rayborn suffered an injury in the fourth quarter, connected with Zeke Kane on a nine-yard touchdown pass with 1:57 to play. The Churchmen (4-5, 2-2) got the ball back with good field position with nine seconds left but were unable to stop the clock after a short Garrison pass to Joe Bogle.

Two-way senior lineman AJ Koukou, bound for Villanova next fall, was a workhorse on both sides of the ball for Episcopal.

“There are just so many emotions right now,” Koukou said. “Especially from last year, coming off a big loss (to Haverford School) at home to end the year. We wanted to come here tonight in our last game at home and have it be something really special. Even though we lost, we gave it our all every play and that’s all we can do. And we have to stay positive for next week.”

Episcopal coach Todd Fairlie called Friday’s game “sloppy.” His team has had a few of those performances in an up-and-down season. The most pressing issue Friday was a defense that had trouble getting off the field, allowing too many chunk plays that led to SCH controlling tempo.

EA’s no-huddle offense began the second half on an impressive drive, but it unraveled in the red zone. A high snap sailed over Rayborn’s head for a loss of 17 yards, and EA eventually turned the ball over on downs with the score tied at 14.

Springside chewed up several minutes of game clock and had a goal-to-go to begin the fourth. EA’s defensive front — including Koukou, I’jazz Abdul-Malik and Luke Montanye — made a huge stand, forcing Alex Zeka to kick a 28-yard field goal to break the deadlock.

EA went four-and-out on its next possession, failing twice to gain one yard for a first down.

“The thing we always talk about in our league is, if you don’t play a good football game, you’re more likely to lose,” Fairlie said. “You know you’re going to play against scholarship football players every week and play against kids that can beat you. They (SCH) did a really good job controlling the pace of the game in the first half. We didn’t get in a rhythm and we’ve been really humming offensively. Credit to them. They kind of took the ball out of our hands for a long time there and we were playing their type of football there for a while.

“They had a game plan and they executed it. And our game plan went out the window.”

Rayborn, a four-year starter, completed 13 of 19 passes for 110 yards and ran for 63 yards on 12 carries. He threw touchdowns to Michael Cadden and Jackson Orcutt in the first half.

Springside quarterback Tommy Markey was 11 of 14 for 112 yards. He hooked up with Tyler Roberts (seven catches for 56 yards) on an eight-yard scoring pass in the second quarter.

The Churchmen, who had a two-game winning streak snapped, have one more chance to get things right. Next Saturday is Haverford School, the biggest game of the year for both programs.

“Our mindset right now is zero and zero. We haven’t lost any games, we haven’t won any games,” Koukou said. “Haverford is always a close game, no matter what our records say.”