La Salle wins PCL Red Division Championship in win over Archbishop Wood 20-0 @LaSalle_Sports @WoodFootball

Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News

Will Ryan | October 31, 2021

Picture captured by Kim Supko

For the first time since 2015, the La Salle College High School Explorers are PCL Football Champions. Back in 2015, there were three PCL champions, 2A, 3A, and 4A. Now there are just two champions, one for the Red Division and one of the Blue Division. The Explorers claim the Red Division, while Neumann-Goretti captured the hubcap in the Blue Division. A 20-0 win over Archbishop Wood today sealed the deal on what was a special regular season for the Explorers.

McFadden, #6, returns Wharton’s errant throw up the sideline in the 4th quarter.

“Defense wins championships”. The cliché is the perfect way to describe how La Salle was able to secure the Philadelphia Catholic League hubcap. The Explorers had three interceptions on Saturday, the first of which came from Del Jackson, who made a great grab on a Trey Holsman misfire. The second interception, by Kelby Hampton, came at the end of the first half. The final interception of the day was picked off by Sean McFadden, on the play directly after McFadden sacked QB Mekhi Wharton for a 10+ yard loss.

It was not just the defense that led the Explorers to their victory though. Ryan Moore had a very successful day for the Explorers, in his first game since October 9th. Moore was sidelined in the previous week’s matchup vs. the Father Judge Crusaders with a minor injury, but it looked like he never skipped a beat. Moore put the Explorers on the board Saturday when he was lined up in the Wildcat and followed the blocks of Deane Leader and EJ Wentz for a touchdown, capitalizing on good field position. Moore then capped off the Explorers day with a highlight reel worthy play in the 4th quarter. Moore was lined up as the Wildcat QB for the Explorers with Sam Brown to his right. He took the snap, put the ball in the belly of Brown, and then pulled it back and made a sharp cut up the middle to around 18 yard line, where he juked to the outside. He then made another man miss at the 12. A foot race ensued and Moore was up for the challenge. He dove for the pylon and the ball crossed the plane comfortably. Unofficially, Moore ended with 30 rushing yards on just 3 attempts.

Moore races toward the pylon in the 2nd half.

Sam Brown also had quite a bit of success on the ground, unofficially racking up his 6th 100 yard game on the season. A big contributor to that total was his 65 yard TD carry on the first play of the 2nd half. Brown is closing in on a 1,000 rushing yard season and is one of La Salle’s most decorated backs in the rich history of Explorer Football.

What’s next for these two programs?

Archbishop Wood will take on St. Joe’s Prep at 7pm on Friday, November 5th. More to come on the location as information flows in this week.

La Salle will participate in yet another Saturday game, their 6th of the year, at Springfield High School against Roman Catholic. Kickoff will be at 1pm. More information to follow.

Special thanks to Kim Supko for the photos! Click here to view her website.

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