Germantown Academy forces eight turnovers in win over the Hill School

WHITEMARSH >> Really, by all accounts, Germantown Academy should have blown the Hill School out on Saturday afternoon.

Yes, the Rams are improved. But they were down their starting quarterback and forced to play a green-as-fresh-grass ninth grade wide receiver at QB, and, most damaging of all, turned the ball over eight times.

Yes, you read that right. Eight. And GA still only won 30-15.

“We didn’t execute,” GA coach Matt Dence said, and despite the turnovers, “(the Rams) did. They made plays up front and got into the backfield.”

“I’m impressed with the job that (Hill coach Dave Rackovan) did,” Dence said.

The turnover tally was as follows: four interceptions (three by senior captain Jimmy McAfee), two lost fumbles, a muffed punt return that found its way into GA hands and a punt that the Hill’s punter literally whiffed on.

“The name of the game was turnovers,” Rackovan said. “No question. If we don’t turn the football over, it’s a different football game.”

“I have no idea,” Rackovan said, about what led to his team’s case of the butterfingers. “We haven’t been struggling with ball control, but it looked awful today.”

“That’s all about concentration,” he said. “It’s about effort. We need to spend more time protecting the ball. We played like a seventh-grade program out there with all of those turnovers.”

That said, GA let the Rams hang in there until the Patriots’ final drive.

Syre Gruber’s 25-yard touchdown toss to A.J. Bates about halfway into the fourth and the subsequent two-point conversion run by Dymir Davis-Carruth cut the lead to just eight, and after a Patriot three-and-out, Hill hopes were high.

Then, just like that, the final fumble slipped out of the hands of Trey Humes and put the ball into GA possession at the Hill’s 20. Four plays later, the Pats scored on Kyle McCloskey’s 19-yard sprint to the end zone, finally sealing the game.

“The thing we did that I liked was that we played well on defense,” Rackovan said. “And with that many turnovers, it should have been a blowout.”

GA was actually outgained, 265 yards to 230, but 83 Ram yards came on a single play (a run by Humes) that didn’t lead to a score, thanks to a strong stand by the GA defense. In all, the Patriots played well on that side of the football, allowing just the aforementioned score (the Hill’s other touchdown came on a 98-yard punt return) while managing to rack up so many turnovers.

“That one run really bothered me,” Dence said, “but I thought our defense played well.”

“Our linebackers were outstanding,” he went on. “It’s hot. When they weren’t tired, our defensive line was outstanding. There’s a couple kids on the line playing both ways. It’s hard — you try to play guys on each side of the ball, and they just get tired.”

McAfee, too, was certainly outstanding. The senior captain hauled in three interceptions, and picked up the last Hill fumble to add a cherry on his day.

“He’s as good of a player as I’ve ever seen,” Dence said. “I don’t know how many picks he’s got this year.”

The football and lacrosse standout has, by Dence’s count, seven or eight just three games in.

“He’s just a good football player,” Dence went on.

Up next for Germantown Academy is a home tilt against the Academy of the New Church. If they’d like to extend their winning ways (the Pats have started 3-0 in 2015), they’ll have to find some consistency on offense.

The Patriots sputtered, struggling particularly in the run game, leading to only 135 yards on the ground on 43 carries. A young offensive line kept quarterback McCloskey from being able to get his feet set on most plays, forcing GA to call more rollouts and keeping him out of a rhythm, resulting in an on-and-off 6-of-18 day passing (for 95 yards) and 29 yards on the ground.

That said, McCloskey darted through the Hill’s defense for the 19-yard game-sealing score, and Dence was pleased with the way his junior leader played.

“That was awesome,” he said of McCloskey’s run. “I thought he ran well, and he threw well when he could set his feet.”

The 29 yard total is misleading: he lost 18 on four busted plays that were less his fault than his line’s.

“There were some times where the pressure got to him,” Dence said. “But I thought he threw some really good balls early on…his athleticism was the difference in the end.”