Garnet Valley Near Perfect in 43-0 Triumph Over Owen J. Roberts @GarnetValleyFB @OjrWildcatFB

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News

Phil Myers | November 2, 2019

Cover photo courtesy of JS Garber Photos

pic courtesy JS Garber Photos

A jaguar is known as a sleek, elegant, speedy, and deadly precise animal.  The Garnet Valley football Jaguars imitated the animal Friday night in their complete domination of Owen J. Roberts.  In a game many thought would be a hard-fought, tightly contested game, Coach Mike Ricci’s squad excelled in every facet in slaying the Wildcats 43-0 at Garnet Valley.  “We never worry about what the result is going to be, our plan is to come out and execute,” Ricci said.

The Jaguars scored every time they had the ball, save one.  The GV offense amassed 436 yards, 411 on the ground.  “I give a lot of credit to Kevin McGarrey our backup quarterback, who did a great job of running the offense.  His reads were good all night, he was composed, and he took charge in the huddle,” Ricci stated.  Jake Morin topped all rushers with 125 yards.  More importantly, Morin tallied four touchdowns.  He had a three-yard run and an eight-yard jaunt in the first quarter to give the Jags an early 14-0 lead.

But, the key to the game may have been with less than a minute left in the first half.  Morin ran for 21 yards to the Wildcat 21 and a penalty put the ball at the 11.  Then, McGarrey, found Nicholas Wiesendanger in the end zone with 19 seconds remaining.  Reece Malek scored on the 2-point conversion and Garnet Valley led 22-0 going into the half.   “To come down and score right before halftime I think was huge,” asserted Ricci.

Malek returned the second half kick 72 yards to the OJR 25.  Morin proceeded to score on the third play behind some great blocking from his line from ten yards out.  He followed that up with a three-yard run on GV’s next possession to invoke the mercy rule as Garnet Valley now led 36-0 with only 3 minutes and change gone in the third.  “The only reason I did that was because of the offensive line in front of me,” said Morin, “they opened huge holes that were easy to run through.”

After Ryan Saunders recovered a Wildcat fumble, the Jags went on a 21-play 92-yard scoring drive that took 11:58 off the clock.  Evan Fenster bulled in from the eight to put the asterisk on the elongated drive and increase the lead to 43-0.  Big 6’3” 285-pound offensive lineman, Lance Schwartz said, “going against the #1 defense in District 1, we challenged ourselves and I think we did a good job.”

While the offense was operating with precision, the Garnet Valley defense did just as well, holding a good OJR offense to 163 total yards.  Most of those yards came via Cooper Chamberlin’s arm as he was 16 of 27 passing for 124 yards.  His leading receiver was the reliable Dante Denardo who had 7 snabs for 73 yards.  “Defensively, we had a really good game tonight,” stated Coach Ricci.  Morin added, “it was a team effort tonight and it starts in the trenches and that’s where we won this game.”

Game Notes: Owen J. Roberts finishes the season with an 8-3 record.  Garnet Valley moves to 10-1 and plays host to Plymouth-Whitemarsh next week in the second round of the District 1 Class 6A playoffs.  The OJR Wildcat band was superb and received a standing ovation from the Garnet Valley faithful after their halftime routine.

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