Malvern Captures            Inter-Ac Title, 2007   On Nov. 10, in a battle of unbeatens, Malvern Prep defeated visiting Chestnut Hill Academy, 26-18, to finish 5-0 and claim its 19th championship (15 outright) under 30-year coach Gamp Pellegrini (right).   Click here for photos and here for the Malvern team page. Look below for the boxscore, starting lineups, game-by-game results,  Huck's website report and Ted's Daily News story.

HUCK'S REPORT ON THE TITLE GAME . . .

NOV. 10
INTER-AC
Malvern 26, Chestnut Hill 18
     I’d be remiss if I didn’t state that I felt a little cheated after today’s game. Yes, I witnessed a quality game played by a couple of top teams in our covering area. Yes, a league championship was on the line as well. And yes, the game wasn’t decided until the final moments. So, why I do I feel cheated you might ask? Well, for coverage purposes on our fabulous website I mostly stick to the Catholic League. Still, I do catch an occasional game involving an Inter-Ac or Pub team, and if not, I do my best to keep informed by reading up on these teams as much as possible. So, with that in mind, I was well aware of the rushing prowess of Blue Devil sr. RB/DB Rashad Campbell. To date I had never seen him play and today was going to be the first. However, Campbell, who suffered an Achilles injury last week, was not at 100% and practice time was limited this week. I didn’t necessarily notice a limp or anything, but I’m presuming that much needed explosiveness was missing. He did play, but it was obvious that Head Coach Rich Knox didn’t want to overuse him under these circumstances. Oh well, despite this, I was still treated to a hard-fought game and there is plenty to cover on that front. The fact that Chestnut Hill found themselves in such a pivotal game after only their second season back in the Inter-Ac is pretty impressive. Both teams entered the contest with unblemished records and on paper the Blue Devils may have been the more impressive team. Today, they started the game on a high note too, as sr. QB Mike Mattei took a direct snap and raced 42 yards on the game’s fifth play. A designed quarterback draw, Mattei pulled away from an early tackle-attempt to get free. The Friars would answer in kind on their first possession. The big play on the drive was a 46-yard pass play from sr. QB Ryan Nassib (Syracuse) to jr. WR Joe Price that brought the ball to the Blue Devil 5-yard line. Three plays later versatile jr. RB/DB Neil Willis scored on a 4-yard run on a toss to the left. Chestnut Hill’s next possession would end disastrously when in punt formation a center snap flew over Mattei’s head. By the time the ball was recovered thirty-one yards was lost and Malvern took over at the seven. Nassib would make it 13-7 on a 1-yard sneak moments later. For the remainder of the half the Blue Devils would have the better of the play, but would only muster three more points on a 37-yard field goal by soph. K Pat Connaghan. At the end of the half Connaghan would get another opportunity, but would pull the kick to the left from 42 yards. I will add that he had plenty of distance, just not enough accuracy. Leading 13-10 the Friars received the ball to start the second half. On the first play of the third quarter, a Nassib pass was picked off by soph. DB Ibraheim Campbell (Rashad’s younger brother) to give Chestnut Hill the ball at their 47-yard line. The Blue Devils would grab one first down, but then the Friars dug in to force a punt. Afterwards, they began their next series at the twelve. The Friars have been the class of this league for the most part recently because they always seem to make the play or complete a drive at just the right time. This next drive was one of those times! Early runs by Willis for 16 and 11 yards ignited things. Then, a 31-yard completion over the middle from Nassib to jr. RB James Connelly, with a roughing the passer penalty tacked on, brought the ball to the nine-yard line. It took the Friars all four downs, but Nassib calmly found Willis just inside the end zone for a 5-yard score to make it 20-10. The Blue Devils would regroup and led by the passing of Mattei, who was very solid in defeat marched to the Malvern 15-yard line. Faced with a second-and-four, I thought they tried a pair of high percentage pass plays on the next two downs, instead of opting for a safer play to grab a first down. Both throws misfired and again Connaghan was summoned, but again, he pulled the kick to the left on a 37-ayrd attempt. The Friars took over with 11:40 left and held the ball for sixteen plays. During this sequence legendary Friar Head Coach Gaspare “Gamp” Pellegrini unveiled a few signature calls that helped continue the drive. First, the Friars perfectly organized a little trickery in punt formation that forced the Blue Devils offsides. Later, he struck twice on a couple of counter plays to Willis that converted third downs and picked-up 15 and 12 yards respectively. To Chestnut Hill’s credit they dug in and stopped the Friars at the one on fourth down. However, in the process the Friars were able to exhaust 8:30 off the clock. Three plays later, while throwing from his end zone Mattei was picked-off by Willis, who returned it fifteen yards to the one. On the next play, Connelly roared in for the score. The extra-point failed, so the door was left open just a little with 2:43 left and the score 26-10. When the Blue Devils took over the wasted little time as Mattei connected with Campbell for 25 yards, impressive soph. WR Jon McAllister (Star baseball player) for 31 yards, and sr. WR/DB Mike Lonergan for a 9-yard touchdown on consecutive throws. The series only took 48 seconds and Mattei’s conversion pass to sr. TE Mike Wismer made it 26-18. With no timeouts left, the Blue Devils tried an onside-kick. The ball appeared to squirt free for a second, but Malvern’s jr. TE/DE Charles "CJ" Mooney did a good job of securing it. Chestnut Hill’s defense stiffened for three plays, but by the time the play whistle was blown on fourth down under 20 seconds appeared on the game clock. Ballgame! Malvern accumulated 158 of their 259 yards of offense on their two long second half possessions. Lending a helping hand in this were the boys in the trenches: jr. C Matt Devlin, G’s soph. Joe DiTrolio and jr. Mike McCorkle, and T’s jr. Robert Panchisin (6’1”, 270 lbs) and sr. Nick Busillo. The Friars have now won or shared six of the last nine Inter-Ac crowns. This was Gamp’s 19th I-A title as head coach, with four of them being shared. Willis was the unquestioned star for the Friars today. This kid is quick and can do many things well on a football field. He rushed for 98 yards on 23 totes and made 2 grabs for another 22 yards. He also added 29 yards on returns. Connelly added 46 yards on 15 rushes, as well as 47 yards on a trio of receptions. Nassib finished 7-for-13 for 119 yards. Defensively, sr. Mike McKee had a sack that forced a fumble, while mammoth jr. DT Sean Ferguson (6’4”, 350 lbs) made the recovery and added two TFL’s. Mooney led the Friars with five solo tackles. Sr. LB Philip Congialdi and sr. DB Chris Crowding each made four stops. Jr. DB Billy Conners had a 72-yard kickoff return and a total of 105 yards on two such returns. For Chestnut Hill, Mattei passed for 250 yards on 12-for-25 throwing. I like his pocket presence! He also displayed a strong arm and above average mobility (3 rushes for 47 yards). All but three of his completions went for 20 yards or more. His favorite target was McAllister, who made 6 catches for 140 yards. He often displayed good instincts after the catch to grab additional yardage. Lonergan (62 yards on 3 kickoff returns) had 56 yards on 3 receptions. He made a tremendous 20-yard catch over the middle in which he had to reach back some to secure the ball. Campbell managed just 39 yards on 11 carries. Yes, the injury slowed him up, but the Friar defense was often in the backfield when he accepted hand-offs too. I’m sure all of the Blue Devil faithful wanted to see him end his brilliant career at full strength. Still, he accomplished a ton and has much to be proud of!  His lone rush of significance came on a draw late in the first half when he notched 21 yards. Defensively, Lonergan also shined and frequently packed a wallop from his safety position. He finished with 9 tackles, including 8 solos. I was very impressed with this kid! Sr. LB Sean Goldstein hustled for nine stops. Despite his injury Campbell made 8 tackles. Also active for the Blue Devils in the tackling area were: Jr. DB Alex Logue (8), jr. LB Matt Flannery (6), sr. LB Henry Gilbert (5), and sr. DT Juan Gaskins (5). Strong crowd on hand for this contest, but it was hard to get a read one exactly how many. Currently, Malvern stands as just one of two undefeated city teams (Also, Bok). Their unbeaten status will be seriously tested when they tangle with St. Joe’s Prep on Thanksgiving. Should be a whale of a game!