In what is now classified as “week 0”, the Bishop Shanahan Eagles ran the Speedboys of West Philadelphia out of Downingtown by a score of 48-6. As sloppy as Bishop Shanahan played tonight, the score could have been worse.
Early on tonight, it was clear that Shanahan was not only a far more talented team, but depth would be a huge advantage to the Eagles. West Philadelphia only had about 35 players dress, with another half dozen not in pads due to injury.
Following a Speedboy punt on their opening possession, it did not take long for Shanahan to build a 7-0 lead, as Connor Whalen scored from 10 yards. West Philadelphia was able to keep Shanahan’s high powered spread offense off the field, but could not capitalize.
Unfortunately, it unraveled for West Philadelphia in the second frame. It started with Danny Bathon scoring on a 43-yard run, a six-yard run by quarterback Danny DiBenedetto, and a four-yard pass from DiBenedetto to Andre Moffett, to expand Shanahan’s lead from 7-0 to 28-0 at halftime.
What had become a forgone conclusion in the PIAA Mercy Rule, became a reality with 7:27 left in the third quarter as Andre Moffett scored from 15 yards out to make the Eagles’ lead 35-0. Connor Whalen zig zagged his way to the end zone from 49 yards out to put Shanahan’s lead to 42-0. Backup tailback David Schaffer put Shanahan up 48-0. Terrell Smith was able to put the Speedboys on the board with a short run, to close out the scoring.
On the evening, Bishop Shanahan accumulated 276 of their 332 on the ground, and only attempted eight passes. Connor Whalen ran for 96 yards and several scores (seven carries). Danny Bathon ran for 52 yards. Liam Deering ran for 45 yards.
After the game, Shanahan coach Paul Meyers attributed the somewhat sloppy play to, “first game jitters. We had a lot of new players play. We were able to get a lot of players out there tonight. We were able to establish the edge, since they weren’t walking their Outside Linebacker to the edge. Pregame, we told them to take it one game at a time.”
