Malvern Prep upsets St. Joes’s Prep

Fort Washington >> Malvern Prep looked determined to pull off the upset against rival St. Joseph’s Prep on Friday night and they did just that winning the nonleague contest 33-21.

The Friars (3-1) received a lot of help from their defense as they forced four St. Joseph’s turnovers.

The Hawks (2-2) got off to a hot start going 80 yards on their opening series of the game to go up 7-0 early on the visiting Friars. Malvern stalled on their first drive but recovered a muffed punt on the St. Joseph’s two-yard line to set up an easy touchdown for O’Shaan Allison to bring the game to 7-6.

The early miscue by the Hawks cost them as Malvern gained momentum and dominated the rest of the first half.  A 58-yard touchdown from Allison and a 34-yard score from Zac Fernandez helped the visitors jump out to an early 20-7 advantage. The running backs rushed for 269 yards and four touchdowns on the night.

Heading into the last play before half Malvern’s quarterback Kevin Doyle connected with Mike Fay for a 38-yard Hail Mary touchdown as time expired.

“My main focus on the play was to just get into the end zone as quickly as possible because of the small amount of time left,” said Fay. “I have to give credit to the quarterback, Kevin Doyle, on making a great pass and giving me a chance to go up for the ball.”

The score sent the Friars into the halftime locker room with a 27-7 lead against one of the toughest teams in southeastern PA.

The Hawks responded in the second half. On their first drive of the second half quarterback Kevin Shaw found D’andre Swift across the middle for a 54-yard touchdown to bring the score back to 27-14.

On their next drive the Hawks and Swift found the end zone again, this time on a two- yard run tighten the game to 27-21.

 After a Friars punt, St. Joes put their opponents on their heels.  They marched down the field and faced a fourth and goal. Shaw dropped back to pass and was intercepted by cornerback Pat Finley. The defensive back returned the pick 58 yards setting up the Friars with an opportunity to ice the game.

They made the most of the opportunity piecing together a 42-yard drive that ended with an Allison 13-yard touchdown.

“They just played hard. Love these kids,” said Friars’ coach Aaron Brady. “Credit to the seniors, they  got some breaks in the first half and then we hung in there long enough that’s an unbelievable football team we were lucky to hang in there.”

SJP — Simmons 7 pass from Shaw (Talbot kick)

MP — Allison 2 run (kick fail)

MP — Allison 58 run

MP — Fernandez 34 run

MP — Fay 38 pass from Doyle

SJP — Swift 54 pass from Shaw (Talbot kick)

SJP — Swift 2 run (Talbot kick)

MP — Allison 13 run (kick fail)

MP     SJP

First downs 15 13

Rushes-yards 47-272 31-175

Passing 10-16-0 12-25-2

Passing yards 104 169

Total yards 376 344

Punts 3-17.0 3-36.0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2

Penalties-yards 12-70 6-50

Rushing — Malvern Prep: Allison 31-164, 3TD, Fernandez 13-105, TD, 1-2, 2-1. St. Joseph’s Prep: Swift 23-134, TD, Walls 6-21, Terrence 2-20.

Passing — Malvern Prep: Doyle 7-11-0, 88 yds., TD, Maras 3-5, 16 yds. St. Joseph’s Prep: Shaw 11-24-2, 149 yds., TD, Hines 1-1-0, 20 yds.

Receiving — Malvern Prep: Fay 1-38, TD, Murray 1-4, Murphy 1-9, Allison 2-9, Berry 1-8, Fernandez 4-36. St. Joseph’s Prep: Simmons 1-7, TD, Greene 1-9, Dumon 1-15, Carr 2-65, Swift 5-119, TD, Walls 2-4.

Interceptions — Malvern Prep: FInley, not available. St. Joseph’s Prep: none.

Sacks — not available.