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Haverford Grinds It Out in Victory Over Garnet Valley

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| August 30, 2025

CONCORDVILLE: There’s a popular saying that the best defense is a good offense. For the Haverford Fords, their game plan entering Friday night’s Central League at Garnet Valley was to control the clock and keep the Jaguars’ offense off the field. In the first hal,f it was mission accomplished for the Fords has they ran 30 plays compared to 17 the Jaguars ran on their way to a convincing 22-7 victory for the Fords at Moe DeFrank Stadium.

Right from the start the Fords with Emmet Gillespie, Brendan Walker, Oliver Clune, Joe McGinley and Rocco Kelleher paving the way the Fords set the tone for the night piecing together an 18 play 60 yard drive that ate up over 10 minutes of clock and featured 3 fourth down conversions and 12 carries by Liam Taylor who of the his 13 carry of the drive powered his way into the endzone to give the Fords the 7-0 lead. Taylor finished the game with 124 yards on 33 carries. As a team, the Fords rushed for 267 yards on 51 plays

“We talked all week, the game plan was we can’t give Garnet Valley a chance. They do such a great job on offense that if you give them a million plays, they had five minutes of possession in the first half, that’s what we wanted to see.”

When asked about the fourth-down conversion, Taylor said, “Fourth down is just another play for us to gain another 3-4 yards, we’ve got dudes to do it we go for it on fourth down, no need to punt.”

Once the Jaguars finally got possession of the ball, they showed that they have a potent run game as well, going 77 yards on 12 plays with Paxon Hunt bulldozing his way in from a yard out to tie things up at 7.

But, the Fords responded with the ensuing drive going 58 yards on 10 plays before Adam Kilpatrick found the endzone from a yard out. On the extra point, Peter Manaras had trouble controlling the snap, but to picked the ball up and found Bobby Menear in the endzone for the two-point conversion, putting the Fords up 15-7.

With several of the Fords players going both ways, the Jaguars appeared poised to be putting together another scoring drive on their second drive of the game, but Gillespie came up with a strip sack and Kelleher fell on it, giving the Fords possession at the Jaguars’ 35. Eight plays later, the Fords again found the endzone with Manaras taking it in from a yard out, giving the Fords the 22-7 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, the Fords had their chances to extend their lead, but on the first drive of the half, the Fords lost a fumble and Brandon Scanlan fell on it for the Jaguars; however, the Jaguars couldn’t capitalize on the mistake.

In the fourth quarter, the Fords drove down to the Jaguars’ 1 before the Jags’ defense tightened up and forced a huge turnover on downs. With under a minute to play, the Fords once again reached the Jaguars 1 1-yard line before electing to go into victory formation.

The win gave the Fords a bit of revenge as the Jaguars were the Fords’ lone blemish in the Central League last season and marked their first victory over them in at least a decade. The Fords will look to remain undefeated on the season when they travel to Penncrest on Friday night. The Jaguars find themselves in unfamiliar territory, looking for their first win of the season when they travel to Harriton for a 7 pm kickoff on Friday.

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