La Salle coach Brett Gordon knows the feeling. The first-year Explorers’ coach had been in the same situation countless times, with every eye in the stadium trained on him and his next move. Gordon never failed. It’s why he led La Salle to consecutive Catholic League championships in 1996 and 1997.
In pressure spots, Gordon knew how to react.
In Gavin Sidwar, the Explorers’ three-year starting 6-foot-3, 190-pound junior quarterback, Gordon has a lot to shape and work with.
So far, the early results have been great.
Sidwar threw two touchdown passes, completing 21 of 27 for 302 yards and navigated a very tricky ending in thwarting the comeback attempt of a very good Malvern Prep team Friday night in a 21-17 La Salle victory at Ocean City High School, in Ocean City, New Jersey.
The Explorers are now 2-0, while Malvern Prep, despite very strong play by Inter-Ac League MVP Navy-bound Andrew Pellicciotta and Cam Brickle, lost its season opener.
“I think every single game I can go in and dominate, and that comes from the confidence my coaching staff has in me and the players around me, who I know will do their jobs,” said Sidwar, who committed to Rutgers in July. “As a team, every game we go into we think we are going to win, and that comes from coach Gordon and his staff. Every game is a statement of all the disrespect that we had over the last two years.
“Coach Gordon has a trust in me and our relationship. In the six months we have been together, I owe everything to him. I came up to him (Friday night) on the sideline and asked him if he wanted to throw it. Coach Gordon was like, ‘Yeah, go ahead and win the game.’ Our relationship made that happen.”
Clinging to a 21-17 lead, La Salle junior strong safety Eddie Sutter put the clamps on the Friars’ bid to win with a late interception at the La Salle 20. From there, Sidwar took over, squeezing the last 48 seconds off the clock to preserve the victory.
But it was little things that surfaced that said Sidwar had taken a massive step in his game maturity and field awareness.
After building a 21-3 lead on a pair of Sidwar touchdown passes to Joey O’Brien and Julian McFadden, and linebacker Jack Leuthe’s 56-yard pick-six, the Explorers’ offense stumbled briefly in the third quarter.
Malvern Prep crept to within 21-17 with 6:42 left in the fourth quarter, thanks to junior quarterback Jackson Melconian’s third-quarter 13-yard TD strike to Jake Bauer and Chris Smith’s 2-yard touchdown run.
That’s when Sidwar chipped away at the clock with a seven-play, 69-yard drive that put Malvern at its 11 with 3:34 to play. Gordon gave Sidwar the freedom to attack immediately after the Smith score. He connected with McFadden, who made an amazing catch, for 50 yards down to the Friars’ 30. Sidwar then made a crucial completion to Joshua Simmons on a third-and-four at the La Salle 26 to seal the victory with :34 left.
Even though the Friars lost, Malvern coach Dave Gueriera had to be pleased with many things he saw. The Friars seemed down and out trailing 21-3 and battled back. What’s more, the quarterback battle between juniors Skyler Smith and Melconian may have a winner. Malconian drove the Friars back with pinpoint passing, and an uncanny ability to escape sacks.
“I liked how we fought,” Gueriera said. “We will be able to move the ball against the tough schedule we have and I found out we are a resilient team. There are a couple of positives to pull from this. La Salle is a great program and well-coached. But we also hurt ourselves with penalties and things we can correct.
“The theme of the week for me going into this game of two heavyweights is that the team that makes the least amount of mistakes wins the game. If we played a clean game, we would have had a shot at winning. You can’t make mistakes against a very good team like that. But we did come back after being down 21-3. It’s something we can take with us.”
Scoring Summary
Malvern Prep (0-1) 0 3 8 6-17
La Salle (2-0) 7 7 7 0-21
1st Quarter
L – Joey O’Brien 58 pass from Gavin Sidwar (Aidan Hatfield kick), 9:40
2nd Quarter
MP – Austin Trout 22 FG, 3:48
L – Julian McFadden 27 pass from Sidwar (Hatfield kick), :18
3rd Quarter
L – Jack Leuthe 56 INT return, 8:48
MP: Jake Bauer 13 pass from Jackson Melconian (Jackson Ford pass from Melconian), 4:17
4th Quarter
MP: Chris Smith 2 run (kick failed), 7:11
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito.
