HARRISBURG –Saturday’s season-opening contest against Harrisburg was a full circle moment for La Salle College first-year head coach Brett Gordon. The 1998 La Salle graduate got to lead his alma mater to a resounding 45-7 win over the Cougars on the road in his first game at the helm on Saturday afternoon at Severance Field.
It could be argued one of the most impressive results during the opening weekend of the 2024 Pennsylvania high school football season.
“My takeaway is that I am just so proud of the kids,” Gordon said. “The theme that I have been preaching to them since I took over in January is to play to our potential. We know we have some talented kids and our job as coaches is to put them in positions to showcase what they can do. The kids did that today, but I also think we have a lot to clean up too.”
Gordon’s first reward after being hired by La Salle was to open with three-time defending District 3 champion Harrisburg on the road that had a roster loaded with Division I talent across the field. The Cougars entered 2024 ranked as high as second in the 6A class throughout various preseason ranking outlets even without quarterback and Pittsburgh commit Shawn Lee, who was denied another season of eligibility by the PIAA on Wednesday.
After Saturday’s performance, many eyes will shift focus on the Explorers who showcased the top talent they have to offer this season.
“We heard all the noise about how good they are, and no one was talking about us,” La Salle quarterback Gavin Sidwar said. “We flew under the radar entering this season and we have worked extremely hard all summer to get to this point. The last two years have not lived up to the La Salle standard and Coach Gordon preached to us to return this program back to prominence. We are so happy to help get him his first win in his debut.”
Sidwar, a Rutgers commit, got the ball rolling right from the jump to start as he went 5-for-5 through the air on the Explorers opening drive which ended with him finding Julian McFadden for a 20-yard touchdown at the 8:31-mark of the first quarter. The Explorers got great field position following a very short Cougars punt, but Sidwar was intercepted by D’Antae Sheffey off a deflection and the State College transfer returned the ball 46 yards to the Explorer 35-yard line.
Harrisburg sophomore quarterback Mikal Shank Jr. earned the start following the decision on Lee and he connected with Jayion Lewis for a 24-yard touchdown to tie the game at seven late in the first quarter.
The tide of the game changed early in the second quarter when the lone Explorers punt of the day deflected off a Cougar and was recovered inside the red zone by La Salle. Aidan Hatfield took advantage of the turnover by knocking through a 21-yard field goal to put La Salle up 10-7. The Explorers used a lengthy 8:26 drive to extend their lead to 17-7 before the half as running back Desmond Ortiz converted a 4th and 17 with a 27-yard catch-and-run.
It was all Sidwar and his favorite target on the day, Joey O’Brien, in the second half as he connected with the 6’4 junior twice to help La Salle ultimately pull away from the Cougars in the third quarter. The first came on a 62-yard reception after O’Brien took advantage of his defender falling before snatching a 22-yard pass three minutes later. Sidwar capped his day with his second strike to McFadden on the first play of the fourth quarter that made it 38-7.
Sidwar threw for five touchdown passes and went 21-for-29 through the air, totaling 268 yards. O’Brien caught nine passes for 147 yards and two scores while Syracuse commit McFadden finished with seven receptions for 63 yards.
“Our success today all started on the offensive line,” O’Brien said. “If they give Gavin the time, he has the weapons and IQ to find us in successful spots. We have a very talented receiving crew and we are going to be hard to guard all season.”
Equally as impressive was the Explorer defense that limited the Cougars to just 185 yards of total offense and 68 passing yards. La Salle bottled up Penn State commit Messiah Mickens, who was making his Harrisburg debut after transferring from Trinity, on the ground by holding him to 54 yards on 10 carries. Mickens impressed most on defense with two sacks, but in the end the Cougars could never find a consistent offensive groove all afternoon.
“We are very happy with how both sides of the ball played today,” Gordon said. “We put a lot of hard work and effort into preparing for this game and it made me excited to go out there and watch our kids execute.”
It does not get any easier for the Explorers as they take on another Pennsylvania powerhouse next Friday night in their home opener against Malvern Prep. The Friars have gotten the best of the Explorers the last two seasons, winning 35-0 in 2022 and 13-7 last season.
“We just have to take one game at a time,” Gordon said. “I know its cliché but our schedule kind of forces us to do that. Harrisburg is perennial state power, they have good players, so we knew we would have to come in and be very prepared. We made sure our offseason conditioning was at an all-time high for us to be the better conditioned team. The kids have bought in so far and Malvern has gotten the best of us the last two years so we need to be at our best next week.”
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| La Salle College | 7 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 45 |
| Harrisburg | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | La Salle | McFadden, 20 pass from Sidwar (Hatfield kick) | 8:31 |
| 1 | Harrisburg | Lewis, 24 pass from Shank Jr. (Lopez kick) | 1:25 |
| 2 | La Salle | Hatfield, 21 FG | 9:43 |
| 2 | La Salle | Ortiz, 27 pass from Sidwar (Hatfield kick) | 1:11 |
| 3 | La Salle | O’Brien, 62 pass from Sidwar (Hatfield kick) | 9:44 |
| 3 | La Salle | O’Brien, 22 pass from Sidwar (Hatfield kick) | 6:14 |
| 4 | La Salle | McFadden, 18 Pass from Sidwar (Hatfield kick) | 11:54 |
| 4 | La Salle | Simmons, 6 run (Heck kick) | 5:29 |
Team statistics
| La Salle College | Harrisburg | |
| First downs | 19 | 13 |
| Rushes-yards | 26-53 | 41-117 |
| Passing yards | 268 | 68 |
| Total yards | 321 | 185 |
| Passes COMP-ATT-INT | 21-29-1 | 9-17-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-0 | 5-2 |
| Punts-average | 1-28.0 | 3-19.3 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-20 | 11-91 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
La Salle: Simmons 10-47, Ortiz 12-24, McFadden 1-6, Sidwar 3-(-24)
Harrisburg: Mickens 10-54, Hill 5-34, Ewell 7-30, Sheffey 4-21, Cooke 1-11, Lewis 8-10, Brannon 1-(-3), Williams 1-(-5), Shank Jr. 3-(-7), TEAM 1-(-28)
PASSING
La Salle: Sidwar 21-29-1–268
Harrisburg: Shank Jr. 7-14-0–59, Lewis 2-3-0–9
RECEIVING
La Salle: O’Brien 9-147, McFadden 7-63, Swanson 3-22, Ortiz 1-27, Patrick-Oates 1-9
Harrisburg: Cooke 3-16, Sheffey 2-12, Brannon 2-7, Lewis 1-24, Williams 1-9
INTERCEPTIONS:
Harrisburg: Sheffey
