The 1-0 Garnet Valley Jaguars played their first road game of the year against the 1-0 Penncrest Lions. A week ago Garnet Valley crushed Harriton 42-6 while Penncrest shut out Strath Haven 14-0. With tropical storm Hanna just hours away, both the Jaguars and Lions were ready to play.
The Lions won the toss and selected to receive the kickoff to start the game. Avery Coleman received the kickoff, made a few juke moves, and down the sidelines he went to score on a 94 yard kickoff return. In just thirteen seconds the score was 6-0, as the extra point was blocked. The Jaguars quickly answered back as Tim Keyser scored as he rushed in from nine yards out. Head Coach Mike Ricci said “We gave up an opening kickoff, Penncrest did a good job returning it, and we came back and got a great kickoff return, and went in and scored.”
Later in the first Penncrest’s quarterback, Matt Atkinson, threw a five yard touchdown pass to Matt Bundy. Instead of kicking the extra point the Lions tied the game up with a two point conversion with Jerry Boyer rushing in. Then nearing the end of the quarter, Garnet Valley’s quarterback, Mark McHugh, threw a 49 yard pass into the end zone and Paul Dunn made a spectacular catch and came down with it. Acchione made the extra point and the game was tied ending the quarter 14-14.
In the second and third quarter it was mostly a defensive game. To end the second quarter Dan Acchione kicked his first field goal of the year and made a 25 yarder to give the Jags the lead into halftime by a score of 17-14. “It was big for us to go up 17-14 going into halftime.” Coach Ricci said.
The second half the Jaguars pounded and wore down Penncrest by running the ball. The Jaguars totaled 200 yards rushing to Penncrest’s 123. Coach Ricci said “In the second half we just controlled them and went down the field. We felt like we took advantage of our conditioning and our superior numbers. Penncrest did a great job, they didn’t have as many guys as we did and I think in the second half we were able to wear them down a little bit and that was to our advantage.”
In the second half different players from Garnet Valley stepped up. For the second game in a row another defensive lineman (Sean Breen) made an interception. Ryan Woods had some big hits, offensive lineman John Albany stepped in for an injured Mike Fecile, then with Jared Bonacquisti and Tim Keyser scoring in the fourth, it took Penncrest out of the game and the final was 37-21 Garnet Valley. Penncrest did end on a good note scoring at the end of the game as Nick Barbieri caught a four yard pass from Matt Atkinson.
Next week the 2-0 Garnet Valley Jaguars come back home to play Marple Newtown, as the 1-1 Penncrest Lions travel to play Haverford Township. Garnet Valley and Marple Newtown will be another good matchup for week three.
