McNeil, Ryan run all over Bonner & Prendie
UPPER DARBY >> Jaye McNeil was surprised to hear how many yards he gained Saturday afternoon at Upper Darby’s Memorial Field.
McNeil and Archbishop Ryan cruised to a 33-12 triumph over Bonner & Prendergast, and the junior tailback had plenty to do with his team’s success.
The 6-4, 190-pound McNeil had his greatest game to date.
“My most was 208 (yards),” he said.
Well, he shattered that personal record Saturday, amassing 257 yards on 31 carries with three touchdowns.
“Wow, I never have run for that much,” McNeil said.
He did most of his damage after halftime, when the Raiders (2-0) took full control. On Ryan’s first possession of the second half, McNeil had gains of 12, 16, seven and 12 yards. Quarterback Matt Romano put the finishing touches on an impressive drive with a 16-yard scamper to the end zone, which extended Ryan’s lead to 19-6.
“We came out in the second half and we were saying, this team is not better than us, so let’s just go down and keep punching the ball in,” McNeil said. “We did it over and over again.”
McNeil accounted for 257 of his team’s 361 yards of offense (71 percent). He was impossible to bring down on initial contact. Late in the third quarter, he had back-to-back runs of 20 and 26 yards, resulting in his second of three TDs.
McNeil enjoys eluding would-be tacklers.
“I like that,” he said. “It makes me want to get the ball more and more.”
McNeil’s big gainers were demoralizing for a Bonner & Prendie defense that hung tough in the first half.
“He’s not everything they say he is, but he was really good,” said linebacker John Henderson, who thrived on defense and as the team’s punter (36.6 yards on five boots). “They out-physicaled us. It was a Saturday (afternoon) game, maybe we were all tired and our heads weren’t in it … They came out and threw the first punch. We responded, but they kept coming at us.”
When quarterback Evan Raiburn threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Kyrin Jackson midway through the second quarter, it appeared the Friars indeed responded. But following a Ryan field goal, the Friars fumbled the ball deep inside their own territory. That allowed Ryan Stock to nail his second field goal in the span of one minute, 33 seconds, and put Ryan in front, 13-6, at intermission.
The Friars faced a 29-6 deficit late in the third quarter, but continued to battle. On fourth down, Joe Hartley-Vittoria caught a screen pass and darted 11 yards to extend the drive. Kyrin Jackson hauled in a 12-yard pass to put the Friars inside the red zone. On the next play, Tom Millison ran a comeback route and was immediately met with contact upon reception. Millison made a valiant try to gain extra yardage, but the extra effort cost him when he fumbled the ball. Ryan recovered, and effectively put the game out of reach.
Millison, who had an interception for the second week in a row, did catch a 13-yard touchdown pass from Raiburn with a minute and change left. Raiburn had a solid afternoon passing, going 13 of 20 for 168 yards. However, the Friars only rushed for 70 yards on 26 carries.
“I told the kids at halftime, we had a pretty good opportunity to compete with a really good football team and that’s what they are,” Friars coach Jack Muldoon said. “We just flat out didn’t answer the bell in the second half.”
