Palis ignites Garnet Valley, leaves Ridley all wet

CONCORD >> The rain beat down on Moe DeFrank Stadium as Garnet Valley and Ridley warmed up for their Central League opener, giving both teams a taste of the conditions that they would be facing throughout the night. Unfortunately for the Green Raiders, the weather was not the only thing pouring it on.

The Jaguars showed no signs of weakness in Week Two, putting forth a dominant offensive effort and staunch defense Friday night to throttle Ridley 55-21.

Before the Green Raiders could even step back and take a breath, Garnet Valley had jumped out to a 21-0 lead with 5:02 remaining in the first quarter.

“I was really happy with our execution on offense and we had a lot of big plays when we needed them from our offense,” veteran Jaguars coach Mike Ricci said. “Cole Palis, I can’t say enough about him as a leader and director of our offense; he really makes us go. Our offensive line has been really good, and our backs are running hard.”

Palis electrified the crowd with a 61-yard scoring run to give the Jags an early edge. Then running back Colin Robinson (115 yards) ripped off consecutive touchdown runs of 53 and 10 yards, respectively, providing that early 21-0 advantage.

Palis, who had 145 yards rushing and is just an absolute dynamo at quarterback, attributed Garnet Valley’s success to its senior leadership and talent on the offensive line, along with how hard the offense is pushed in practice.

“We’re pretty comfortable with where we are,” Palis said. “On the line we’ve got a senior leader and returning starter in Kyle McCullough and a great center in Jake Colelli. They do a great job of leading the guys there.”

Ridley did attempt to stay in the contest as Elijah Yakpasuo ripped off a 90-yard kickoff return for a score, but Palis soon took to the air, hitting Rory Glackin with a four-yard scoring pass before adding another dazzling 28-yard touchdown run. To cap it off, Palis found Adam Oldrati for an eight-yard scoring pass that gave the Jaguars a 42-7 lead at halftime.

For Palis, the confidence gained from his time under center last season has paid huge dividends.

“I feel like I got the speed down from last year, so coming into a varsity game I knew what to expect and how to compose myself,” he said. “I don’t rush myself, I don’t have the jitters, I trust everybody around me and they trust me.”

Oldrati, one of the rare Jaguars who sees time on both sides of the ball, showed great guile in capitalizing on the open space granted to him by the Ridley defense and was more than happy to haul in Palis’ pass for a touchdown.

“I’m the secondary tight on offense, so whenever we go with two tight ends on offense, I’m in,” Oldrati said. “I was open because the other tight end, Nick Wiesendanger, brought two guys with him and that left me wide open.”

When the conversation shifted to the Jaguars’ defensive effort, Oldrati was quick to point out that the intensity and skill-level during practice offers the Jaguars a distinct advantage when preparing for the opposition.

“We have a tremendous scout team and we’re always going 100 percent at practice,” he said, “and those looks really help you out throughout the season.”

Ricci was extremely pleased with his defense’s effort and how it physically exerted itself on the Ridley offense.

“I thought we played very well defensively,” Ricci said. “They had a couple of big plays and those are things that we have to get cleaned up, but for the most part we were where we were supposed to be and we played physically.”

Despite the huge deficit, Ridley continued to battle as quarterback John Bakey scored on a 28-yard run and Devin Bowell scooped up a blocked punt for another score.

The night, however, belonged to Garnet Valley.

“In any game, it’s never as good as it looks and never as bad as it seems,” Ricci said. “We’re going to take a look and see what some of the things are that we need to clean up and try to be better for next week when we play a big game against Haverford.”