La Salle beats Malvern Prep in Ocean City

Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News, Non-PIAA, Schedule

Patrick Birkhead | August 30, 2025

Gavin Sidwar leads the Explorers past Jackson Melconian and Malvern Prep

On Friday night the La Salle Explorers defeated Malvern Prep by a score of 42-35 at Casey Stadium in Ocean City. This game was filled with special teams that clearly affected the outcome of the game. A few of the key players on special teams for La Salle were Jimmy Mahoney, Owen Johnson, and Chima Auguste. Malvern Prep was led by Daniel Riely and Ian Gopez.

The game started with stops for both sides. Once they got the ball, Malvern Prep running back Zeke Bates rumbled into the endzone for a 35 yard endzone to start the scoring. On the kickoff Jimmy Mahoney took one back all the way to even the score at 7. La Salle got the ball back at the end of the first quarter and Joey O’Brien caught a deep ball from Gavin Sidwar for the score. Sidwar commented on that connection with O’Brien by commenting “Joey’s my best friend, we have been playing since youth ball, It just comes natural, I give him an eye signal and he knows what route to run.” These 2 truly have a special relationship and are both great football players.

Malvern Prep quarterback Jackson Melconian responded with a long pass to standout receiver Cade Cooper. The Friars capitalized with a touchdown pass to Danny Reily. On the kickoff Owen Johnson took a kick return past the 50 yard line before getting tripped up. This gave the Explorers great field position which set up a second touchdown from Gavin Sidwar to Joey O’Brien. At this point La Salle led 21-14. Malvern Prep responded with a touchdown toss to Dylan Novak. This game went into halftime tied at 21 posed to be a shootout.

To begin the second half the Explorers scored again on a touchdown pass to who else but Joey O’Brien for his 3rd touchdown of the day. Malvern Prep marched down the field and Cade Cooper caught a pass to mark the Friars down at the 1 yardline. The very next play Zeke Bates punched it in for a touchdown. Just as this Friars team had tied the game up sophomore receiver Owen Johnson took a kick return back all the way for the 2nd special teams touchdown for the Explorers in the game. With under 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter La Salle came up with a big stop on 4th down but Gavin Sidwar made a rare mistake and threw an interception to Trey Gibson. With the ball, Gavin Sidwar was sacked by George Parkinson to force a punt.

About halfway through the 4th quarter Zeke Bates scored another touchdown and now the game was tied at 35. Gavin Sidwar led the team on a monster drive and with just under 2 minutes to go Ahzir Nelson scored a touchdown to take a 42-35 lead. Nelson notoriously runs very hard and said that is because “ My dad usually talks trash to me before my games and gets me mad,” It is clear that this works because Nelson runs through just about anyone in his path. This ended up being the game winning touchdown after the La Salle defense got a crucial stop. Malvern Prep was very close to the win here but they got called for a holding and on the last play.

So, La Salle came away with a tight win to advance to 2-0 against 2 very talented teams. Gavin Sidwar, the leader of this team explained that they got the win through “A lot of film and a lot of practice, and just a lot of work, they are a great team fundamentally sound, the offensive line really dominated the game in the 2nd half so I was really proud of them.” Ahzir Nelson agreed that this win came through practice. Overall both teams looked very good and the special teams were very impressive. Both quarterbacks made some terrific throws and only a few plays decided the game.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews