Malvern Prep vs Roman Catholic

Malvern beats Roman Catholic 10-0, moves to 4-0 as Inter-Ac play nears

MALVERN -- Malvern had just 10 points Friday night, though it was enough, as they head into the bye week 4-0 on the season.

While Skyler Smith came back after leaving last week's win early, his hand/wrist still isn't 100 percent despite X-rays coming back negative -- as the Friars will definitely take advantage of the bye.

Malvern has been banged up not just in the quarterback room, as offensive linemen Kevin Miller, Liam Horan, and Dylan Kraiza have all seen the trainers room.

"We're totally banged up," head coach Dave Gueriera said after the win. "They need this extra time. Getting us healthy is paramount. And during the bye, we can also take an extended look at the last four games and see what we can work on"

Malvern beat Roman Catholic 10-0 Friday, with Gueriera admitting that it was "absolutely" too close for comfort -- but Malvern's defense held RC scoreless, and their 10 points was enough to get them by.

The Friars also didn't hold just the Cahillettes scoreless -- they held five-star wide receiver Tyseer Denmark scoreless. Denmark still had eight catches for 108 yards but were still kept out of the end zone.

Gueriera says the win wasn't exactly pretty.

"It was definitely an ugly win for us, something I was nervous about this week," Gueriera said. "We were coming off a huge win against Imhotep and getting everyone’s mentality to be hungry was a priority. Our defensive coordinator Joe Carr did a great job."

"I’m super impressed with our mentality. I feared this would be a letdown week. But this game proved we’re mentally strong and they bought in. Denmark is an incredible talent. He’s unbelievable and the fact that we kept him out of the end zone is unbelievable."

While it was a very uneventful second half, the first half had plenty of things of note.

Just as some were still finding a parking spot, Chris Smith took the opening kick return back 65 yards to set Malvern up in strong field position. It wasn't an ideal outcome for the Friars though, with them fumbling two plays later and giving the ball back to Roman.

The Cahillites had the same outcome on their opening drive, however, as they fumbled to give Malvern the ball back. Coincidentally, the two sides traded possessions of the same outcome once again -- both failing to convert on fourth down as the first quarter came to a close.

Malvern, who got the ball back, finally got on the board, as Jack Ploszay split the uprights to give Malvern a 3-0 lead.

Later in the half, Andrew Pellicciotta grabbed an interception at the Roman 43 and took it all the way back to the four-yard line. Yaahdir Nash then punched it in for six as the Friars took a 10-0 lead.

From there, it was a game of missed opportunities for Roman Catholic, as they missed several chances to get on the board and also had nine penalties for 77 yards. The Malvern defense stepped up when it had to.

With that, they'll get the much-needed bye week before they take on Capital Prep and the Delaware Military Academy in their final two games before Inter-Ac play -- if they go undefeated in Inter-Ac play like they did last season and take care of the next two games, it's not too early to start thinking about an undefeated season for the Friars.

Quinn Riley '25