After beating the undefeated Ridley Raiders last week the Garnet Valley Jaguars were looking to cruise in their final regular season game against the Lower Merion Aces. Coming into this game the Aces only had two wins the whole year while the Jaguars were 8-1. All the Jaguars had to do was win tonight and would at least share the Central League Championship with Ridley, and that’s what they did.
The Jaguars didn’t waste anytime and was scoring early and often. After senior quarterback for the Jaguars, Mark McHugh ran the ball for a 26 yard gain; junior running back Alex Warden also had a big run with a 20 yard carry. For the Jaguars first touchdown McHugh went to the air. Catching the football with a 13 yard touchdown reception was senior running back Marcellus Irving.
Just a few minutes after Irving’s touchdown junior running back Alex Warden darted for a 38 yard touchdown run to give the Jaguars a 13-0 lead. Early in the second quarter again the Jaguars found the end zone, scoring back to back touchdowns. Warden carried the football into the end zone (15 yard carry) for a 19-0 lead. Head coach of the Jaguars, Mike Ricci said “Alex has been outstanding all year. He is a very good athlete, he’s fast, and he really sees the field well. We’ve been thrilled with the plays we have had from him all year.”
The Aces tried to get something going running the football with junior running back Joshua Novak. On third and eight, defensive end Jeremy Irving recovered a fumble on the 20 yard line and the Jaguars offense did the rest. This time scoring on a 17 yard touchdown run was senior running back Kyle Moore. About the defense, coach Mike Ricci said, “We have some good athletes on defense, we have pretty good team speed, they have been working hard and they have been doing a great job.”
On the Aces next possession things only got worse for the offense. On the cold night the Aces lost the football again and picking it up was Irving. He put the Jaguars up 33-0 after dashing into the end zone. The way Irving has been running the past few games you would think he was a running back.
McHugh rushed on a 22 yard keeper to get the Jaguars into scoring position. Moore added to the already large lead with a 13 yard touchdown run which made it 40-0. The second string offense and defense entered the game before the second half even began.
Even though the second string offense entered the game it didn’t stop the hot Jaguars offense from scoring. Junior running back Bob Herbster scored on a 44 yard touchdown run and the second string quarter back, junior Jake Helmes capped off the high scoring affair on a quarterback keeper for 50 yards and a touchdown.
Finally the Aces got onto the score board. With just a couple of minutes to go Novak scored on a one yard touchdown run. The two point conversion failed for the Aces and the final score was 52-6. The final regular season game of the season went very well for the Jaguars as they can now prepare to see who they will play in the first round of the playoffs at Garnet Valley.
The Jaguars finished the season winning seven in a row and for the second year in a row having some part of the Central League title crown (Ridley defeated Upper Darby). Their only lost of the season was nearly two months ago. Lower Merion has now lost four games in a row. The Aces head to Radnor to play on Saturday afternoon (November 14) at 1:30pm. Next week Garnet Valley will play at home in the first round of the District I Playoffs against Penncrest. This is Garnet Valley’s fourth straight playoff appearance.
