Sidwar LaSalle Sail Pass Episcopal Academy
Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News, Non-PIAA, pfn
Willie McGonigle | September 21, 2024
NEWTOWN SQUARE: Traditionally LaSalle College High School has been known for its Quarterback play. In January one of the greatest QBs in school history, Brett Gordon returned to the Explorers has head football coach. One of the additions that Gordon brought in was former Neshaminy Head Coach Mark Schmidt to coach the offensive line.
Perhaps no one was more excited about Gordon and Schmidt coming to the Explorers coaching staff than Jr QB Gavin Sidwar. With his offensive line doing their job making Sidwar comfortable in the pocket and giving him all the time he needed the Rutgers commit showed off his skills passing for 255 yards on 14 of 18 passing and 3 touchdowns to help the Explorers easily dispatch their host Episcopal Academy 48-3 in a Non-League contest Friday night.”
“The offensive line is great they work behind Coach Schmidt. Coach Schmidt is one of the best coaches I’ve ever been around.: Sidwar said of his offensive line adding “They are great they work together led by Center Seamus Pinkerton, everybody up-front just gets it going, they are the heart and soul of this team we go has far as they take us.”
When asked about the tradition of the QB position at LaSalle Sidwar responded saying “It’s an honor to be Quarterback at LaSalle with the tradition and everyone that has played here like Coach Gordon. And to play for him means a lot. He’s a great coach and guides me every day, I just listen to him and do what I can for the program and win games, be a leader.
After forcing the Churchmen to a three-and-out on the game-opening possession Sidwar and the Explorers wasted little time finding the endzone with a 5-play 40-yard that was capped by a one-yard touchdown run Dylan Clair.
On their second possession, the Explorers extended their lead to 14 with a one-yard touchdown run by Brian Christy.
In the second quarter, Sidwar’s arm did the damage throwing for all three of his touchdown passes. His first one came three plays after Spencer Schuh cut the Explorer lead down to 14-3 with his 33-yard field goal. Three plays later Sidwar connected with John Patrick Oates for a 57-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 21-3.
Sidwar needed only one play on the Explorers next possession to find Joey O’Brein for a 54-yard touchdown. He would later find Joshua Simmons for a 51-yard touchdown to make it 35-7 entering the locker room at halftime. In total Sidwar was 13-16 for 245 yards in the first half. His top target was Oates who snagged a team-high 7 passes for 115 yards.
In the second half, the Explorers added two more rushing touchdowns a 2-yarder by Clair and a 17-yarder by Michael Venango.
After the game a happy Gordon said “We really came in looking to be has balance as we could be on offense, I thought the offensive line did a great job in both the run game being physical and I think in pass protection they protected Gavin really well tonight.”
Gordon added that “Gavin has been a pleasure to work with since I met him for the first time in January, He’s very talented he’s very quick with his decision-making, very accurate. Really happy for him and was happy to see some of the guys step up and make plays down the field.
When asked about his team’s defensive effort on the night Gordon responded saying “We have a really good defense that we feel really good about. They work very hard Coach Dave Showers does a great job preparing them week to week. They were very prepared tonight swarming around the football and that’s the style and type of football we want to play it was great to see them come out and almost pitch a shutout tonight.
Next week the Explorers return to Delaware County when they travel to Cardinal O’Hara in their PCL Red Division opener. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm.
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