Lower Merion stopped on road, on field by Clark, Springfield
NETHER PROVIDENCE — There was nothing fancy about Springfield’s 35-0 Central League victory over Lower Merion Friday night at Strath Haven, at least from an offensive standpoint.
Basically, it was Jack Clark right and Jack Clark left with a few passes sprinkled in and leave the rest up to the defense, which did its job, too.
Five other players did carry the ball for the Cougars (2-3 overall, 2-2 league), but Clark did the bulk of the work, though he’s not the biggest nor the fastest guy around. Yet the 5-7, 170-pound junior knows how to move the ball forward, which he did with consistent efficiency.
Clark carried the ball 28 times for 152 yards and one touchdown. He did fumble once, but only had one carry for negative yardage.
“I just put my foot in the ground, make one cut and get as many yards as I can,” Clark said.
It’s a simplistic approach, but one that was highly effective against the undermanned Aces (0-5, 0-3), whose trip to George L. King Field was one the team would rather forget. It started with getting tied up in traffic touring down Montgomery and Lancaster Avenues, then produced an accident on the Blue Route that delayed the start of the game by 30 minutes.
“We were rear-ended by a box truck,” Lower Merion coach Evan Briesblatt said. “No one was hurt. Everyone was fine. It just took us a little while because the police had to check with each kid individually before they let us continue.”
Once at Strath Haven, things did not get any better for the Aces. Lower Merion could not find a way to stop Clark, who had 90 yards and a TD on a five-yard run by halftime. The Cougars scored on their first two possessions and took a 21-0 lead into the locker room at halftime behind its Clark-led ground attack.
“All the credit goes to the offensive line,” Clark said. “Without them, there’s nothing.”
Center Nick Cariola, guards Gavin Atchison and Mike Wsocki and tackles James McManus and Brian Finley did yeoman’s work to help the Cougars pound out 223 yards on the ground and amass 285 yards of total offense.
“Our game plan was to run the ball downhill,” Clark said. “We felt pretty confident that with our line and after the week of practice we had that we could run the ball. That’s what we did. That’s what we did and it worked out.”
While the offense chewed up the clock with its efficient ground game, the defense never let Lower Merion’s offense develop a rhythm. The Cougars held the Aces to 59 yards of total offense, five first downs and picked off two passes, one Mike Grapin returned 28 yards for the first pick six of his career.
The junior linebacker read a screen pass perfectly and sprinted untouched into the end zone to give the Cougars a 14-0 lead.
“I thought I was going to get caught from behind, but I just kept running,” Grapin said.
The Cougars did the same thing on offense. They kept handing the ball off to Clark and the rugged running back delivered positive yards on nearly every one of his carries. It was just what the Cougars needed to get back on the winning track.
“He’s productive, he’s patient and doesn’t do anything stupid,” Springfield coach Chris Britton said of Clark. “He doesn’t do anything outrageous, like bounce it outside every time and take losses that put you in a bad situation. He stays off tackle and once in a while he’ll bounce it outside, but mostly he gets what he can get. We just haven’t been able to get him going enough.”
