Condi Leads Conestoga to Big Victory Over Lower Merion
Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News
Jack Susanin | November 7, 2020
The Aces and the Pioneers line up for a play.
BERWYN- The Conestoga Pioneers and the Lower Merion Aces were eager to ignite their main line rivalry again as the Aces took the trip down Lancaster Avenue to Berwyn to take on the Pioneers. Both teams came in to this one winless and wanted to get in the win column for the season.
Conestoga won the toss and deferred and kicked off to the Aces who needed to get off to a hot start. They started to look good, getting all the way down to the 23 of Conestoga, however the drive stalled, and they turned it over downs. Conestoga’s first drive was the beginning of the James Condi show. The running back had 51 yards on the first drive including a 9-yard touchdown run. That drive took up most of the first quarter and the quarter ended after Lower Merion couldn’t get anything going.
Conestoga started the second half with a deep ball to Albert Marshall that was incomplete, but a pass interference was called giving the Pioneers great field position. However, Michael Costigan threw an interception a third down that gave Lower Merion the ball deep in their own territory. They went three and out and were forced to punt. That punt was blocked by Conestoga and it gave them the ball at the one-yard line. James Condi punched it in for his second of the night. The PAT was no good and Conestoga held a 13-0 lead. Lower Merion got the offense moving on the next drive, including two fourth down conversions. The drive paid off for them as Jay Zheng hauled in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jack Ledo to make the score 13-7 right at halftime.
Stoga started the second half off slow with a fumble, putting Lower Merion at Stoga’s 30. The Aces couldn’t get anything going after a turnover on downs at the 21. James Condi started Conestoga’s drive off well with a 22-yard run. Soon after that Michael Costigan threw a beautiful pass to his favorite target, Peter Detwiler, who mossed his defender and dove into the endzone for a 46-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion was good to make the score 21-7 Pioneers. The third corner ended with three and outs from both teams resulting in punts.
The fourth quarter began with a nice series of James Condi runs, including the trucking of a Lower Merion defender. He then had a 37-yard run for his third touchdown of the day. The extra point was no good and Conestoga held a 27-7 lead. Lower Merion got the ball back and went three and out. The punt was blocked again, this time by Connor Whitlow and Conestoga got the ball at the 4-yard line. After two failed attempts at getting in the end zone, who else but James Condi punched it in from 2 yards out for his fourth TD of the day. The extra point was good and Stoga had a commanding 34-7 lead. Lower Merion got the ball back and quickly gave it back to Stoga after a fumble. Stoga had an immediate red zone opportunity and wasted no time with a 9-yard run for a touchdown by Chase Kelly on the second play of the drive. The PAT was good, and the lead was 41-7. Lower Merion was driving and trying to get some momentum points, but they fumbled it out of the end zone to seal the victory for Conestoga. Final score 41-7.
Final Thoughts
Conestoga coach Matt Diamond was very complementary of his whole team after the win. He was very complimentary of the offensive line and the running backs, specifically James Condi saying, “He never stopped moving his feet.” He was also pleased because of the way they pulled away in the second half and never took their foot off the gas. He said, “I really challenged our kids to say hey you got to pull away in the second half and they were able to go do that.” Conestoga hosts Haverford next week while Lower Merion hosts Upper Darby.
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