Five Storylines from Week 4 of Delco Football

Tagged under: District 1, District 12, News

Brendan Ricciardi | September 20, 2022

After a nice Monday Night Football win for our Philadelphia Eagles that has the city starting to dream of what Jalen Hurts could be, it’s time to take a look back in on the best of Delco Football action from last weekend and the biggest stories that came of it.

We’re through four weeks of games, and every conference outside of the Inter-Ac has started to get into their conference schedules and really find out how they compare to their competition. Rivalries are becoming renewed, and the hunt to be Delaware County’s best is on.

No right hand, no problem for Strath Haven’s Sam Milligan

The Strath Haven Panthers won the PIAA 5A District 1 Championship last season with Sam Milligan at quarterback during his junior season, and went into this season with visions of more of the same.

However, in Week 1 against Interboro, the three-sport star suffered a broken bone in his right hand that would make him unable to throw the football.

Instead of feeling bad for himself and sulking on the bench, Milligan and Head Coach Kevin Clancy had a bit of a different philosophy.

Why not just switch to running back?

In their Wing-T offense where the majority of the plays are on the ground anyway, it’s hard to keep your fastest player on the bench if it’s possible for him to be out there.

After getting surgery on his hand, Milligan suited up in a big bulky cast on his right hand during Friday night’s 41-14 win over Springfield.

Not only did he suit up, but he ran for 120 yards and three touchdowns on just six carries in his first start at running back since middle school.

After Anthony Crawford got the scoring started with a three-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Milligan followed that up with a four-yard score to open up a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.

Springfield got some momentum back when Jake Rama hit Brad Barber for a 19-yard touchdown pass, but all that momentum went away when James Fisher took the ensuing kickoff 94 yards to the house for the Panthers.

The Cougars wouldn’t stop fighting quite yet, as they opened up the second half with a six-yard touchdown pass from Jake Rama to Aidan Kreydt, and a successful two-point conversion to make it a 21-14 game.

At this point, it was time for the notorious Strath Haven rushing offense to take over.

Sam Milligan scored the second of his three rushing touchdowns at the end of the third quarter, this one for a 24-yard score. After Bob Fooskas turned in a 20-yard touchdown, Milligan would add one more for good measure with a 28-yard run to end the day.

Strath Haven improves to 4-0 with the win, and 2-0 in the Central League. They’ll be back in action next Saturday afternoon at Lower Merion, with a 1:00 start coming.

As for Springfield, they fall to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the Central League. Next up for them is a Friday night meeting at Garnet Valley against a Jaguars team that has won 37 straight Central League matchups. That will be a 7:00 start.

Jalen Harris and the Chester Clippers continue to live up to the hype

Early on in the season, the critics might have said that Chester was only having the type of start they were having because they were beating up on some Philadelphia Public League teams that they should be beating up on.

After the performance that Chester had on Saturday against Interboro, those critics may be a bit quieter.

Freshman quarterback Jalen Harris has been getting a lot of buzz for Chester, as he came into this game sporting a 15-0 TD/INT ratio through three victories.

Saturday afternoon marked the beginning of Delaware Valley conference play, where Chester would meet up with the Interboro Bucs to start off their schedule. 

After a scoreless first quarter, Harris found Dominic Toy for an 11-yard touchdown to open up the scoring. He followed that one up by hitting Noble Thompson on a screen pass, and Thompson would take that one 24 yards to the house to bring a 14-0 lead into the half.

The game was still 14-0 late in the third when Jalen Harris hit his favorite target, Cymeer Brown, for a 21-yard touchdown to start to pull away from the Bucs.

Harris would add add a fourth touchdown pass to Dominic Toy, and Nahree Melvin scored a late rushing touchdown to give Chester a 33-0 win.

Jalen Harris now sits at 19 TD’s and 0 INT’s on the season through four games, just ludicrous numbers for anyone, let alone a freshman.

While a lot of the praise has deservedly gone to Harris, the Chester defense deserves their fair share of love as well.

The Clippers have allowed just 10 points in their first four games combined, and have put together three shutouts. Noble and Charles Thompson are the heartbeat of this defense, as they comfortably lead the team in tackles. Lafenis Mays Jr. has picked up four sacks, and Daron Harris has three interceptions already.

The Clippers improve to 4-0 with the win, and 1-0 in Del Val action. They’ll hit the road for some more non-conference action this Friday night at 7:00 when they travel to West Chester East to take on the Vikings.

As for Interboro, they fall to 2-2 on the season and 0-1 in the Del Val League. They will also be back to non-conference next week as they travel to Oxford on Friday night for a 7:00 meeting with the Hornets.

Shepherd fires five touchdowns, Bonner defense dominant in big win over Carroll

It had been a bit of a slow start to the season offensively through two games for Bonner, as they had only scored a total of 24 points.

Friday evening against Carroll was a bit of a different story.

Justin Shepherd got the start at quarterback for the Friars, and to say he was great would be a massive understatement. The first four passes that Shepherd threw on the day all resulted in Bonner touchdowns.

After Isaiah Sessions recovered a Carroll fumble, Shepherd hit Malvern Prep transfer Zach Coneys for a 15-yard touchdown to open up the scoring. The next possession for Bonner saw a pretty similar result, as Shepherd hit Coneys for an 11-yard touchdown this time. 

On his third pass of the game, he hit Jalil Hall for a 23-yard score. The biggest of the throws on the day came on a 62-yard wheel route completion to Jalyen Johnson to make it a 28-0 game on only his fourth pass.

He would add one more touchdown pass to Coneys to give him five in the first half.

Bonner would go on to win this game 48-0, with their defense allowing just four total yards of offense the entire evening. The Bonner defense has been playing excellent to start this season off, and if they have found their signal caller in Justin Shepherd, they can be a very dangerous team.

Bonner improves to 2-1 on the year and 1-0 in the PCL with the victory. The Friars will be back in action to face their other PCL competition from Delco, as they travel to Cardinal O’Hara for a Friday night matchup at 7:00.

Carroll falls to 0-4 on the season, and will have a home PCL matchup with Archbishop Ryan next Friday night at 7:00. 

Box and Marple Newtown win fourth straight game to open up the season

Brian Box and the Marple Newtown Tigers sit alone at the top of the Central League with a 3-0 record after a big 32-6 win over Radnor on Friday night.

Wearing camouflage jerseys to honor the military with “Pennsylvania” written across the back where the nameplates would typically be, Marple Newtown converted a huge 4th and 6 from the Radnor 23 yard line and turned it into a touchdown when David Bertoline found Ty Can, with the two-point conversion no good.

Radnor answered back when quarterback Tucker Graham ran for a two-yard touchdown, but the Raptors extra point was no good leaving the game locked at 6-6.

After a 90-yard drive by the Marple Newtown offense, who else but Brian Box put the finishing touches on it as he punched it in for one yard out to put the Tigers back in front 13-6.

With only a 13-6 lead at the half, the Marple Newtown offense knew they needed more, and the David Bertoline/Ty Can combination worked again as Can took a screen pass from Bertoline 80 yards for a house call and a 19-6 lead after another failed two-point conversion.

With just under six minutes to play and the game far from decided, the southpaw quarterback David Bertoline hit Joey Yukenavitch with a perfect throw for a six-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach for all intents and purposes.

Just for good measure, Brian Box decided to add an interception to his box score late in the fourth quarter in addition to the 157 rushing yards on 22 carries. Brett Wolski would capitalize with a five-yard run to put the exclamation point on a 32-6 Marple Newtown win over Radnor.

Marple Newtown improves to 4-0 on the season, and 3-0 in the Central League. They’ll hit the road next Friday night at 7:00 when they take on Conestoga.

As for Radnor, they fall to 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the Central League. They’ll travel to Haverford High for a Central League matchup next Friday night at 7:00. 

The Haverford School gets their revenge on La Salle 

In 2021, The Haverford School and La Salle College Prep squared off, and La Salle won that game by a score of 44-0.

Fast forward to 2022, the Fords had no interest in seeing that result again.

Matt Brosko started the scoring off with a one-yard touchdown run after the Fords recovered a fumble. It was a defensive battle throughout the first half, as that touchdown was the only scoring through two quarters.

With a 7-0 lead after three quarters, Gavin Wright found Derrick Knox for a 20-yard touchdown reception to give Haverford a little bit of breathing room.

The Explorers would not go quietly, as Gavin Sidwar hit Gavin Muller for a four-yard touchdown, but that’s as close as La Salle would get.

Matt Brosko put the icing on the cake with a 12-yard touchdown run to make it a 21-7 game with just under four minutes left. Brosko had a big day, with 155 yards and the two touchdowns.

The Haverford School improves to 3-0 with the win and will hit the road to take on Archbishop Wood next Friday night at 7:00. Being in a smaller conference like the Inter-Ac means the Fords won’t see their conference schedule begin until 10/15 against Springside Chestnut Hill.

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