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La Salle blows by Harrisburg.

Tagged under: pfn

| August 24, 2024

Gavin Sidwar and Joey O’Brien combined for 152 yards on 9 passes garnering 2 touchdowns and Julian McFadden hauled in 2 td passes to lead the Explorers to a convincing  45-7 win over 2nd ranked Harrisburg.

The Explorers took advantage of several Cougar mistakes, including two botched punts giving them excellent field position. La Salle started the scoring first driving 65 yards on 8 plays. Sidwar got his first of five tds with a short pass to Julian McFadden. With the kick the Explorers had a fast 7-0 lead.

 

Harrisburg punted on their first possession but made a game of it early during their second possession thanks to an interception by D’antae Sheffey who returned the pick to the La Salle 35. Six plays later sophomore quarterback Mikal Shank found Jaylen Lewis for the score. The point after tied the game at 7.


That’s as close as the Cougars would get. Harrisburg appeared to make a stop on the next series, but a muffed punt was recovered by the Explorers and they quickly capitalized. Aidan Hatfield hit a 31 yard field goal to put La Salle up 10-7 with 9:43 remaining in the second quarter. After forcing a punt, the Explorers drove to the 27 where Sidwar hit running back Desmond Ortiz for a 27 yard td. Ortiz made a nifty move after the catch to spring himself free for the score and a 17-7 lead.

That’s where the score stayed at the halftime break. Harrisburg struggled all day to move the ball. Their first possession of the second half went nowhere and they were forced to punt. Two plays into the ensuing drive Sidwar found a wide open O’Brien for the 62 yard score. “We heard all the noise about how good they are, we had this circled on our calendar all summer” said Sidwar. O’Brien credited the La Salle line for allowing him to do what he did. “If the give Gaven the time, he’s got the weapon”.

Harrisburg fumbled on their next drive with La Salle again taking advantage of a Cougar miscue. Sidwar and O’Brien connected again, this for a 17 yard td.

We feel good about both sides of the ball. We have depth but the being really a new system the kids put in a lot of hard work to get ready for this first game” said new La Salle head coach Brett Gordon.

La Salle will face always powerful Malvern Prep next week while Harrisburg will look to regroup against crosstown rival Bishop McDevitt.

 

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