Five Storylines from Week 5 of Delco Football

Tagged under: District 1, pfn

Brendan Ricciardi | September 27, 2022

Abu Kamara in a Week 1 game vs Strath Haven (via Bob Quinn)

We are about halfway done the season for the majority of Delco Football teams, and we’ve started to get a pretty good idea of what each program is going to be like throughout the 2022 season.

Conference play is in full swing everywhere except for the Inter-Ac, and there are juicy storylines all around the county. 

The theme for the first part of this column can be summed into one word:

History. 

Kamara’s historic night leads Interboro over Oxford

After a tough lost to a very good Chester team last weekend, Interboro needed a spark to get back on track.

Enter Abu Kamara.

Not only did Kamara help Interboro take down Oxford 50-21, but he also broke the school record with 309 rushing yards on 33 carries. In addition to that, he found his way into the endzone four times on the evening.

Did I mention he also recorded an interception on defense?

Kamara got the evening started with two touchdown runs before the first quarter even ended, and that helped Interboro get out to an early 14-0 lead. That lead would grow to 29-7 by the half, and Kamara would add two more rushing touchdowns in the second half to put this game away.

Although this performance set the school record, this wasn’t the first time Kamara has lit up the box score.

In Week 2, he had 160 rushing yards and four touchdowns in a 48-7 win over Pottstown. In Week 3 against Upper Moreland, he ran for 270 yards and four touchdowns in a 37-7 win.

Clearly that number four on his jersey has inspired him for his third game this season with four touchdowns.

Interboro improved to 3-2 on the season with the win, and will be back in action next Friday night at 7:00 for a home non-conference matchup with Kennett. 

Harris breaks Chester’s single-season passing touchdown record in win over West Chester East

There really isn’t too much that you can say about Chester freshman quarterback Jalen Harris that hasn’t already been said, but we’ll go ahead and do our best.

Chester has played five games this season, won all five, and has five games remaining on their schedule.

Jalen Harris has already broken the Chester High School single-season touchdown record, throwing for his 20th touchdown pass in a 41-0 win over West Chester East. He gave his arm a bit of a break by running for three touchdowns as well.

Harris, once again a FRESHMAN, now has 1,191 yards passing, 20 passing touchdowns, and just one interception through five games.

Cymeer Brown caught four passes for 94 yards in the win, and Dominic Toy caught two passes for 67 yards and a touchdown. They’ve been Harris’s top targets all year, and Friday night wasn’t any different.

Chester also had good contributions from the run game as Nahree Melvin ran 12 times for 79 yards, and Jabree Davis ran 10 times for 61 yards and a touchdown.

The Chester defense once again shined, having their fourth shutout in five games this season. The Clippers have outscored their opponents a ludicrous 233-10 so far this season.

Chester now sits at 5-0 on the year and 1-0 in the Del Val league, and will be back in action Saturday morning at 11:00 AM as West Chester Henderson comes to town for a non-conference matchup.

Costigan’s legs help Conestoga give Marple Newtown first loss 

Marple Newtown came into this game sitting in first place in the Central League at 4-0, but Conestoga didn’t really seem to care.

Two of Conestoga’s three wins coming into this game were by one point, and they kept the trend going in a thrilling 28-27 win over Marple Newtown to send a message to the rest of the Central League that they are for real.

After Marple Newtown star Brian Box caught a 50-yard touchdown pass from David Bertoline just five minutes in, Bryce Beltrante took the ensuing kickoff to the house for Conestoga to tie it right back up.

After a bad punt for Marple Newtown, Conestoga QB Peter Costigan used his legs for a 20-yard touchdown run to take the lead. That wouldn’t be the last we see of Costigan running on the evening.

After a long run on a screen pass from Bryan Bogan into Conestoga territory, David Bertoline found Bogan wide open on 4th and 5 for a touchdown to tie the game back up at 14-14.

With just under three minutes left in the half, Peter Costigan once again used his athleticism to scramble for a seven-yard touchdown to put the Pioneers back in front 21-14 going into halftime.

It’s fairly typical in the Central League to see quarterbacks run for touchdowns, so seeing the 20 and 7 yard touchdowns from Peter Costigan isn’t anything out of the ordinary.

However, his 83-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was anything but ordinary.

Conestoga led 28-14 after Costigan’s third touchdown run of the game, but the contest was far from over. Brian Box cut the lead in half with a 33-yard touchdown run, his second touchdown of the game.

WIth just over seven minutes left in the game, David Bertoline showed he can move a little too as he ran for a 13-yard touchdown that would have tied the game, but Conestoga’s Jeremy Friend blocked the extra point to keep the Pioneers ahead 28-27.

After forcing a punt, Marple Newtown would take over at the Conestoga 44 yard line with two minutes left needing only a field goal to win. The Pioneers defense would make the play of the game they forced a Bertoline fumble and recovered it to end the ballgame.

Conestoga (4-1, 3-1) will be back in action next Friday night at Upper Darby, with the game time currently listed at 5:00. As for Marple Newtown (4-1, 3-1), they have a rivalry game coming up on the road at Springfield Friday night at 7:00. 

Bonner establishes themselves as the best PCL team in Delaware County

After taking care of business against Archbishop Carroll rather handily, Bonner got the chance to take on their other Delaware County conference rival in Cardinal O’Hara.

With Justin Shepherd once again getting the start at quarterback after his five touchdown performance against Carroll, he didn’t waste much time at all getting back in the box score with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Jalil Hall to get the scoring started.

Defense and special teams played a big part in setting up the Bonner offense as a Mylachi Williams interception set up a 50-yard touchdown run for Avery Hankey, and a blocked punt helped set up a 14-yard touchdown run from Isaiah Session.

Bonner jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the second quarter, and that gap would more or less stay the same for the rest of a game that Bonner would eventually take 49-21.

It seems like the Friars have found their answer at quarterback in Justin Shepherd, as he has taken this opportunity and ran with it the last two weeks. 

Bonner improves to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in the PCL with this win. They will be back in action for a home conference game against Archbishop Ryan next Friday night at 7:00.

As for Cardinal O’Hara, they fall to 0-5 on the season and 0-2 in the PCL in head coach Mike Ewing’s first season at the helm. They will also be back at home next Friday night for a home conference game against Neumann-Goretti. 

Episcopal shines in their own Friday Night Lights

Unfortunately, I was not able to find many statistics on this game, but it’s still pretty cool to see a Delaware County team take the field against a team from Texas.

Maybe it’s because I’m right in the middle of re-watching the television series “Friday Night Lights”, but there’s something about high school football down there and the atmosphere that they have that is just special.

On this Friday night, however, it was all Pennsylvania.

Episcopal hopped out to an early 21-0 lead, and never looked back as they took down All Saints by a score of 55-10 coming all the way from Fort Worth, Texas.

As mentioned, I really don’t have much more on game details besides the score, but I thought it was pretty cool to see something that you don’t get to see very often like this. Ridley got to travel to Florida to play earlier in the season, and I think it’s pretty cool to see teams try new challenges.

Episcopal now sits at 4-0 on the season and will host a non-conference matchup against New Jersey’s Blair Academy. They will have a week off following that before they begin Inter-Ac play at Germantown Academy. 

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews