Archbishop Ryan completes comeback over Conwell-Egan, continues to suprise
Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News
Mike Livingston | September 28, 2024
FAIRLESS HILLS, PA – If there is one thing that the Archbishop Ryan Football team has been this season, its doubted.
Coming off a disapointing 3-8 campaign in 2023 the Raiders were looked at as no more than another blue division throw away by many. A team that would scrap there way to the middle of the PCL standings at best.
What many didn’t know was that behind one of the smallest rosters in all the Catholic League, with few standout players and an unproven 2nd year head coach in Mark Ostaszewski was a team that felt hungry and disrespected. That showed once again during Saturday afternoon’s 34-27 comeback win over Conwell-Egan Catholic.
“We won with the mentality that we’ve had all season,” said Ostaszewski. “It’s the mentality we use at practice and thats just; next play, next rep. These kids really believe no matter what that we can win this. The same thing happened (against) Father Judge earlier this year when we went down and we came back from that. Credit to everyone but especially the leaders on this team, they really rally and get these guys going.”
That ‘mentality’ has seemed to pay off time and time again for the Raiders who are now 4-2 on the season and 3-0 in blue divison play. Notably having started their season off with the Northeast Classic that is Father Judge vs. Ryan, as the Raiders pulled off the upset against their red division foe 21-17 in comeback fashion, much as they did against the Eagles.
Going along with the theme of the day, Ostaszewski went bold to start the afternoon; electing to receive the opening kickoff on a dreary and rainy day in Fairless Hills.
His Raiders took full advantage of the decision in effect, as the senior duo of quarterback Frankie Mawson and runningback Christion Mitchell-Brown worked the ball down field, going back and fourth with big chunk runs. Finally on a fourth goal, the Raiders elected to go for it as Mawson tossed one up for junior tight end Danny Celins in the endzone for the diving touchdown, which gave Ryan a 7-0 early lead.
It was then and there that Egan made sure the Raiders knew that they weren’t going down easy. On just the second play of their opening drive, senior runningback Monty Zoryea ran one in from 76 yards out for the touchdown to make the score 7-7.
As both defenses traded blows, Ryan ended the first period with a bang. On the first play of the drive, Mawson connected with senior wideout Damien Morgan for a 57 yard touchdown catch and run which gave Ryan a 14-7 lead going into the second quarter.
It was at this juncture when Ryan however seemed to hit a roadblock, literally in the form of the Conwell-Egan defensive front. A front that put a stop to the Ryan run game that powered the offense through the first period, stuffing nearly every attempt at the line on the ensuing drives while the wet conditions made the passing game fruitless.
Egan followed this impressive defnesive performance up with two consecutive touchdown drives to make it 21-14 going into halftime. As the Eagles quarterback Aubrey Kimbrough connected with senior wideout Chris Toombs on both occasions for the scores.
Coming out of the half and receiving the kickoff it was Kimbrough and the Eagles again who made things happen, marching down field on a nine minute drive to then find Abu Fonfana for the score which put Ryan in a 27-14 hole.
“We know that once we stick together and once we bind together we’re going to be good,” said Mitchell-Brown. “We know that if let each other grow apart and let another team break us down, we’re done for but we know if we’re together we’re going to win.”
Sticking together and not letting other teams or bad showings tear a team apart has been the mantra for Ryan football this year. Even after back-to-back loses to both Bonner-Prendie (41-14) and Cardinal O’Hara (18-13) the Raiders were able to band together and climb right back up pulling off two lopsided wins over West Catholic and Archbishop Carroll powered by their offense and run game in particular.
The same run game that is going to be brooded upon by the Egan defense for the next week. As the fourth quarter began, and the rain only began to fall steadier it was Mitchell-Brown who ran it in himself for then score to tighten the margin and make it a 27-21 Egan lead.
“Its a dog fight you know,” said Mawson. “We got a bunch of dogs on this team, we don’t got a lot of kids but we got a lot of heart. When we come together as one, I don’t know its hard to beat.”
On just the second play of Egan’s ensuing drive, the Ryan defense that had fallen flat for a majoirty of the game stepped up big time and came together for a huge play. Hugh Owens V recovered a Zoryea fumble at the 41 yard line to give Ryan possession with ample time to tie the game, and that they did.
A few Mitchell-Brown runs got the Raiders all the way down field, while Mawson completed an eight yard pass to Dave Spinelli over the middle for the game tying touchdown. Despite the score, the PAT would be blocked by Egan’s Sakai Hall, giving Ryan yet another road block to pass if they wanted to sneak out of Bucks County with a win.
Luckily, it was that defense, once again who stepped up. The Raiders forced a three and out as Egan punted away after a couple incompletions, setting up the Ryan offense with five minutes left around the 45 yard line.
In those five minutes the Raiders, just as they did on their opening drive, ran it down the Eagles throats with chunk plays from Mawson and Mitchell-Brown. Finishing it all off with a Mawson touchdown run on third and goal with around 30 seconds to go from the one yard to give the Ryan Raiders the 34-27 after the PAT.
Aside from a futile lateral pass attempt, Egan would go down quietly in the final seconds of the game as the Raiders pulled off yet another upset on the season.
“We know we don’t got guys,” said Mitchell-Brown. “So we know going into practice that we got win everyday. Everybody got to win, everybody got to win at practice. To those who still might not believe in us, ya’ll gonna see us coming when we win that blue.”
Ryan still has matchups with Lansdale Catholic, who has also impressed this season in spite of some big senior loses. Archbishop Wood, and perennial blue division favorite Neumann-Goretti in their final game of the season, one that could decide the winner of the blue division in a championship style matchup.
“Just keep watching, that’s all I got to say,” said Mawson.
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