Garnet Valley’s season comes to a close, lose 48 to 7 to St. Joe’s

Tagged under: District 1, District 12, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

James Middleton | December 3, 2022

Credit: @Trsmith296

Philadelphia, PA: It was a rainy, windy stage for the rematch between 11 and 1 St. Joes Prep and the 13 and 0 Garnet Valley Jaguars. The pair met in the state semis in last year’s playoff, with St. Joes advancing. Today, St. Joe’s was looking to repeat that result, and that they did winning by a margin of 48 to 7. 

The St. Joe’s offense seemed unstoppable from the jump, notching four touchdowns in the first quarter. Quarterback Samaj Jones threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to David Washington and ran one in for a 21-yard score. Running backs Erik Sanchez and Khaseem Phillips both ran touchdowns in for Prep, Sanchez’s 13 yards and Phillips’s 44 yards. Jones tossed another two passes for touchdowns in the second quarter, 38 yards to Brandon Rehmann and 5 yards to Michael Ditrolio. Late in the second, Isaiah West scored from 9 yards out, bringing the score at the end of the first half 48 to 0 in favor of St. Joes. 

As they have done all season, the Jaguars and Jaguar faithful didn’t quit. The Jaguar defense held the St. Joe’s offense to no points in the entire second half. Quarterback Matt Mesaros got the Jaguar offense going and, for the final time of his career, found tight end Drew Van Horn for a 24-yard touchdown pass. The pair connected for ten scores over the course of the season, and Mesaros threw 19 touchdowns without a single interception all year. 

Coming into the season, many people thought that the Jaguars would take a step back. Garnet Valley lost a lot of crucial seniors from last year’s team and was going through a coaching change, but as the senior class coined it, they would “Prove it,” and that they did. The Jags’ won the central league and district one for the second year in a row, maintaining a record of 27 and 2 in this two-year span. As Head Coach Eric Van Wyk was addressing his team and the surrounding Jaguar faithful, the sun finally peaked out for the first time all afternoon. Van Wyk couldn’t help but recognize that their brother Bryson Hall, who passed away, was smiling down on them, being so proud of what they had accomplished. 

“I’m holding back tears when you say that word proud, because I couldn’t be more proud—just an exceptional group of young men. Second half we’re down, whatever the score was, and they didn’t bat an eye. They just kept fighting; that phrase Prove it, they proved it to me this year. So proud,” said Van Wyk on the 2022 Garnet Valley Football team. 

With the win, St. Joe’s moves on to the 6A state finals, where they will play Harrisburg. Harrisburg won against State College today by a score of 27 to 7, and the teams will face off next Saturday at 7 o’clock. 

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