Upper Darby rivalry among the games to watch in Delco opening weekend
It’s time to kick off the 2016 Delco football season. In addition to Archbishop Carroll at Marple Newtown, here are five games to watch this weekend:
Friday
Upper Darby vs. Bonner & Prendergast, 7 p.m.
The neighborhood rivals kick off the 2016 campaign at Upper Darby’s Memorial Field. As is tradition, the Friars, who are technically the home team, will make the short walk together on Lansdowne Ave. Bonner & Prendie has hosted games at Memorial Field for years, but it will finally fill the hill this fall, with two games scheduled on its turf field. For years, due to township laws and lack of sufficient parking, the Friars were unable to host games on campus.
This will be the head coaching debut of Jack Muldoon, a Bonner grad who has coached high school football for decades. He was promoted from his assistant head coach position earlier this year.
Senior running back Joe Hartley-Vittoria and defensive back Tom Millison, both of whom earned All-Catholic League recognition a year ago, look to lead the Friars back to their winning ways following a disappointing 4-6 season.
The Royals are coming off arguably their greatest season in program history (10-3 record, plus a District One Class AAAA playoff victory). Gone is the county’s single-season rushing record holder, All-Delco Isaiah Bruce, but the Royals are in a position to reload — not rebuild. Senior quarterback Nate Rimel is among several fresh faces, along with running back Nasir Greer and tight end Obadiah Asare. Defensively, UD has several returnees, including stud junior lineman Derrick Korboi and shutdown cornerback Prosper Saydee.
Springfield at Glen Mills, 7 p.m.
The Cougars expect to compete for a Central League title — which they last won in 2014 — with several new additions to compliment returning running back Phillip Shovlin, who was productive with limited touches last year, and a quarterback tandem of Brandon DiChiacchio and Johnny Fanelli, the latter of whom started down the stretch of a 6-5 season which ended prematurely with a first-round loss in the District One Class AAA tournament.
It’s impossible to know for sure who the Battlin’ Bulls will be in the first week, but coach Kevin Owens could build a Del Val League darkhorse, with the likes of seniors Samaj Robinson (lineman) and Quadir Gibson (linebacker) back in the fold.
Harry S. Truman at Ridley, 7 p.m.
Is this the year the Green Mystique returns in the Central League, after three straight seasons of missing out on the District One Class AAAA tournament? If so, Ridley has the right man at the helm, as Dave Wood begins his first season on Morton Ave.
A Class 6A program under the new PIAA classification system, Wood will lean on quarterback Cade Stratton, running back Malik Young and a talented squad that should make a run at the league title.
Interboro at Strath Haven, 7:30 p.m.
For the second year in a row, the two winningest coaches in the county, Strath Haven’s Kevin Clancy and Interboro’s Steve Lennox, go to battle in an intriguing nonleague battle.
For the Bucs, who enjoyed an 8-4 season and another District One Class AAA appearance, they have their sights set on the Del Val title, with senior running back Chris Thomas and wide receivers Matt DiSands and Connor Adams leading the way.
The Panthers have nowhere to go but forward following a 2-9 season, the worst in Clancy’s 26-year tenure in Nether Providence. Quarterback Evan Atsaves, an injury replacement in Week 1 of last year, has experience running Clancy’s offense. John Harrar was one of the Panthers’ best two-way players last fall as a linebacker and tight end.
Saturday
Haverford at Chester, 10:30 a.m.
The Fords captured the Central League title in one of the greatest games in Delco history last Thanksgiving. A last-second scoring run by 2015 Daily Times Player of the Year Jack Donaghy sealed a thrilling win over Upper Darby in a winner-take-all showdown.
While Donaghy, one of the best quarterbacks the county has seen, is off at Franklin & Marshall, the Fords will move on with a veteran core that includes All-Delco linebacker Jack Farrell, wide receiver/defensive back Chris Trainor and running back/linebacker Mike Romanofsky.
A new era of Chester football begins with the debut of head coach LaDontay Bell, a former Cheyney player who coached the Chester-Upland School District’s middle-school program the last three seasons. Bell anticipates a learning curve, but the Clippers have solid pieces, including returning quarterback Jamir Green, lineman Demond Hardy Jr. and wide receiver/defensive back Braheem Bishop.
