From the Malvern Archives
MALVERN GOES STREAKING
December 2020
From the Malvern Archives
MALVERN GOES STREAKING
December 2020
Have you ever had a time in your life where you are just on a roll? Everything seems to be breaking the right way and you’re just feeling really good? Well, Malvern Prep football has been on that exact roll on quite a few occasions.
Malvern entered the Inter-Ac in 1950 and became the conference’s co-champion under Mike Mayock in 1959 and 1962. The Friars barely missed titles in 1951,1960 and 1961. They were again co-champs in 1969. It wasn’t until 1972 that the Friars finally won their first outright IA championship under Jack “Shark” McGuinn. A key win in the title run was a hard fought 13-10 victory over the Patriots of Germantown Academy. In 1973, they started a bit slow out of the gate, going 2-1-1 in their non- league schedule. MP opened up their IA season against a talented GA squad looking for revenge. The Patriots returned the 1972 favor and came away with a tough 15-8 win.
Then, it happened…
Malvern Prep went streaking. The Friars recovered from the loss and went on to win their three remaining IA games in 1973. And then they won, and won, and won, and won some more. From 1974 through 1980, the boys in blue won an incredible seven IA titles in a row while compiling an unrivaled 28-0 record. Penn Charter has the league record with 12 titles in a row from 1913 through 1924. “Shark” won the titles in 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977. (www.tedsilary.com). Gamper took it the rest of the way. Malvern came close to making it eight in a row in 1981. They won their 1st three against Haverford School 27-0, Germantown Academy 10-0 and Penn Charter 10-7. The streak came to an end with an 13-6 loss to Episcopal. If you’re keeping a running tally, that is 34 games in a row without an IA loss. In 25 of the 34 games, Malvern recorded 14 shutouts and another 11 games where they gave up one touchdown or less. Defense, defense, defense.
If you wanted to play the “if pigs had wings” game, IF Malvern beat GA on the front end in 1973 and IF they beat EA on the back end in 1981 they would have won 10 straight titles (1972 to 1981). If you disregard that theory, in these same 10 years the Friars went 39-2 with 8 outright titles. Nice job!
STREAKING PART 2
While the IA title run was happening, the Friars actually manufactured a streak within a streak. Malvern won their last 4 games of 1973 -- beating Penn Charter 13-7, Episcopal 62-18, Haverford 27-0 and St. Joe’s Prep 33-19 on Thanksgiving. In 1974, Malvern recorded their 2nd undefeated season in three years under Coach McGuinn by going a perfect 10-0. Over that span, they outscored their opponents by a combined 261-79 margin. In 1975, they opened with a 13-13 tie to Woodrow Wilson and then proceeded to run the table the rest of the way with a 9-0 mark. Unfortunately, the Friars opened the 1976 season with a 28-8 loss to Cardinal O’Hara,, but still finished a solid 7-2-1 on the year. The unbeaten streak spanned 2 ½ seasons, where they went 23-0-1. The Friars offense cranked out a productive 27 points-per- game during that stretch of dominance.
ONE LAST STREAK
Good things usually happen in 3’s, right? Or wait, is that bad things? Well for the Friars, it was definitely a good thing. The Blue started the 1994 with a very uncommon 2-3 start. The losses were by 8, 14 and 5 points so you knew the coaches and the players were on the right track. They turned things around to win the Inter Ac outright at 4-0 while finishing the season with a 7-3-1 record. Their tie was a 12-12 contest on Thanksgiving with Archbishop Carroll. The season of 1995 proved to be another banner year for the Malvern football program, as the squad became the 2nd team under Gamp and the 4th overall to finish undefeated. They avenged losses to Downingtown and Loyola (MD) from the previous year, were perfect in the Inter Ac, and finished the season with a commanding 40-7 win over Carroll on Thanksgiving. The extension of the streak into 1996 was short lived with an opening win against Valley Forge followed by a streak-snapping loss to West Chester Henderson. During this span of games, the Friars were 16-0-1 with two IA titles
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT STREAKING WAS OVER, THERE WAS ONE MORE
Good things usually happen in 4’s, right? The Friars were not done streaking. And the story isn’t quite over yet, either. Streak No. 4 started in 2016 and ended during the 2019 season. And just like streak No. 1, those pesky Churchmen from Episcopal were the spoilers. In 2016, Malvern opened the season with a crazy back and forth 37-34 loss against EA. From there, the Friars went on their roll – winning the last four league games of 2016. They followed with back-to-back Inter-Ac titles in 2017 and 2018 while going 5-0 in both seasons. Things were looking good as the Friars started 2019 with wins over GA 33-21 and a last-man-standing 49-44 win over Penn Charter at Quigley Field. The IA streak stood at a robust 16 games in a row until the Episcopal game. EA QB Marcus McDaniel had a great game, accounting for 272 yards of offense as the Churchmen emerged with a 29-27 victory.
You’d think Episcopal has had their way with the Friars over the years considering how much they’ve been mentioned in these streaks. Give credit where credit is due: EA has had some really good teams/players, and many of these contests have been hard fought. However, when it comes to the series’ overall record, MP stands tall with 49 wins, 18 losses and 3 ties in 70 years. Not too shabby.
More to come……………
12.14.20
From the Malvern Archives
CHUNKY PLAYERS
November 2020
From the Malvern Archives
CHUNKY PLAYERS
November 2020
I have recently seen a new phrase pop up in football lingo. Remember when successful plays that generated anything above 30 yards used to be called big gains? Now, they are simply called “chunk plays”.
That got me thinking about certain Malvern players who made significant offensive contributions to their teams to continue growing the legacy of MP football. You can imagine in a successful program like Malvern Prep, there might be quite a few players to highlight. But in order to look at it from another perspective, let’s take a dive into which former Friars gained the most “chunks.” I came up with a category called “Chunky Players”. First off, it has nothing to do with their weight. Call it a badge of honor, a well-earned title. The following players statistically accumulated large amounts of real estate on any given play. Stats are pulled from 1982 on, courtesy of Ted Silary (www.tedsilary.com)
As with any article, if any alum has stats from before 1982 please send to me at Rcarey5171@aol.com. I am trying my best to research and backfill years before 1982.
Math errors are not intentional.
Below are the rushers, receivers and passers who I would call Malvern Prep’s chunkiest players. List is based on the leading rusher, receiver or quarterback in that year.
RUSHERS BY YEAR- 8 YARD AVERAGE OR MORE
HONORABLE MENTION CHUNKERS- 7 YARDS PER CARRY
RECEIVERS BY YEAR- 20 YARDS PER CATCH OR MORE
HONORABLE MENTION CHUNKERS-17/18/19 YARDS PER CATCH
QUARTERBACKS BY YEAR- 20 YARDS PER COMPLETION OR MORE
HONORABLE MENTION CHUNKERS- 17/18/19 YARDS PER COMPLETION
OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST
Talk about a list of talented Malvern football players. From top to bottom, there is ample firepower to cause any Defensive Coordinator some immense headaches. Regarding the QBs, all of them played for Gamp except Alex. And as anyone who followed the “Gamper Years” knows , the legendary coach was not exactly an air it out, throw the ball on every down kind of guy. He was a run-first offensive play caller who embodied the often-used football phrase, “use the run to set up the pass”. When Joe Sells (OC) and Gamp decided to pull the trigger and throw, it usually did huge damage on the defensive side. It helps your game plan significantly when your QB can turn around and hand the ball off to players like Toby, Chris, Mike, Troy, James and Lonnie, et al.
Mike Ryan threw the ball 171 times his junior year in 1998. He threw the ball 42x less his senior year but generated just 19 less yards. Main reason for the difference? Mike Ambrose. Mike had 149 carries his junior year in 1998. He carried the ball 56 more times his senior year and went from 609 yards to 1,351. Gamp’s thought was that if he could run the ball effectively, he was not going to throw. If defenses attempted to sneak up and stop the run, that’s when they found themselves in trouble. When you look at the yards-per-catch ratios of the top receivers, you can understand why 20 yards is a really, really meaningful chunk of yards
Dan Onorato is the only Gamp QB to throw the ball more than 30 times in a game. Don’t forget Gamp was at MP from 1978 to 2008. Just let that stat sink in. Only once in Gamp’s MP career, spanning 313 games, did he throw the ball more than 30 times. Dan’s 35 throws actually came in a 42-30 loss to very talented GA team in 2003. It was one of the few times MP scored 30 points and lost which, asa matter of record,has happened only 5 times since 1950.
Hats off to the runners, receivers and quarterbacks who routinely covered large amounts of real estate with every touch and contributed to the success of the Malvern Prep football program. “Chunky Players” who excelled behind all the big fatties up front.
As I continue to dig into articles and stats, it truly is amazing how many very good football players have come through the program. Every year there seems to be new players who step up, stand out and become CHUNK PLAYERS!
Special shout out. Its not what you know but who you know. I now have someone who can help me make these stories look more professional. Thanks to my former player Chris Mueller. He will be pitching in on future articles.
More to come……………
11.16.20
From the Malvern Archives
BY THE NUMBERS
October 2020
From the Malvern Archives
BY THE NUMBERS
October 2020
I wrote an article titled “30 for 30” which highlighted teams that averaged 30 points a game in a season. That is some decent scoring. So is 40 points in a game. Since 1950 (www.tedsilary.com) MP has reached 30 points in a game 94 times and 40 points almost as many times at 85. 40 points means your team scores six or 7 times in the game. However, reaching 50 and even 60 points in a game is what I would call rarified air. In a total of 820 games, (yes, I did review the scores of them all) it has only happened 14 times. That is less than 2% of all games. I think it could have happened more if the MP coaches were game stat stuffers when the game was in hand, but thankfully they were not. Because it happened so infrequently, here is the list of games. Hoping it brings back some memories for guys on these teams. Kudos to the 2008 team who hit the number 3 times. Big congrats go out to the 1951 and 1954 teams who walloped The Saints. “Back in the day” teams were certainly not spread, air it out, up tempo, throw the ball a ton kind of teams. Scoring 50 in the 50’s took some doing! If anyone has any additional information on the 1951 and 1954 games please send to Rcarey5171@aol.com.
50 POINT OUTBURST
60 POINT OUTBURST
OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST
The 1972 win over the Prep sealed Malvern’s first undefeated season. In the game Mike Cappelletti scored four times and Carl Friedel caught three TD passes.
MP is 19-6 all-time versus CHA in League play. All 6 losses came prior to 1969. After leaving the league for football in 1973 CHA loaded up with some stud players and came back into the league in 2006. From 2006 to 2012 there were many tightly fought contests between Malvern and the Hillers. The average score was 20-10. Three of the seven games were decided by 2 points or less. In the six years from 2013 to 2018 there must have been something in the water. MP scored 60 points once, 50 points once and hit the 40 mark 4 times. The average score was 48-28. Things came back to normality in 2019 with a 28-7 win.
In an incredible 14 year stretch from 1995 to 2008 MP averaged almost 43 points a game versus Haverford School. The only time they didn’t hit at least 30 points was a 1999, 28-6 win. They hit the 40 mark 7 times and 50 twice. In the 2002 game 7 different players scored with TJ Cascio getting 2.
MP spread the wealth with six guys hitting paydirt in 2011 against Penn Wood. Eric Purnell and Joe Nilan led the way with two each. Dan Riordan added a defensive pick 6 to the barrage of offense.
In the 2008 trifecta deluge of points, Billy Conners accounted for 7 TDs- 4 run and 3 pass, Neil Willis 7 scores, James Connelly 5 rushing TDs and Joe Price catching all 3 of Conners’ TDs.
MP throttled EA in 1973. All 9 scores were rushing TDs. Joe Sheridan led the way with runs of 51, 12 and 2 yards. Brian Maguire hit paydirt twice on runs of 31 and 14 yards. Ironically the score was 26-18 at half. The locker room speech by Coach McGuinn must have been a good one as the Friars came out and scored 36 unanswered points.
And last, but certainly not least, was the Friars 63-50 win over CHA in 2013. So much to talk about in this game so let’s get started. The 113 points set a record for the highest scoring game in City League History (Public, Catholic and Inter-Ac leagues). Counting return yards both teams combined for an astounding 1,312 yards and 16 TDs. And if you can believe it, both teams punted twice. Malvern led 7-6 after the 1st quarter. The first score of the game did not come until there was 1:12 left on the clock. Then the floodgates opened. CHA led at half 28-27. Malvern outscored the Hillers 36-22 in the 2nd half to pull away. The Friars led 57-35 at the end of 3rd and 63-35 late. Malvern pulled their starters and CHA tacked on the last two scores.
Some game, huh? That is not even the best part of the story. The story is Troy Gallen. There is a set up to this, so hang in there. The previous week Troy rushed 25 times for a SCHOOL RECORD 372 yards and 5 TDs in a 49-21 win against Episcopal. Most guys would be happy with that and would call it a season, right? In the CHA game Troy ONLY rushed 18 times for 333 yards and 6 TDs. His TD runs were 65,69,13,22,5 and 15 yards. His average per carry was an amazing 18.5 yards. What is more amazing was that average was second on the team that day. Matt Brown carried 3 times for 104 yards or 34.6 yards per touch. Matt scored on runs of 89 and 21 yards. The teams’ lone completed pass that day happened to be a 49-yard scoring toss from Alex Hornibrook to Hunter Paulus. Of course, it had to be for a TD! When you rush for 442 yards a team really doesn’t need to throw. Go Big Fatties up front! Now to complete the Troy Gallen story. The following week he rushed 31 times for 225 yards and caught 3 passes for 90 yards against St. Joe Prep. The 3-game total of 955 yards rushing is a City record. If you truly want to be entertained, YouTube Troy’s senior highlight film. It was an incredible 3 game stretch of excellence and a great year for Troy.
And lastly, I would be remiss, if I did not mention kicking. For the Friars Jon Dollfus kicked 7 extra points in the CHA game. This would be the fourth time on the year that Jon kicked 7 extra points in a game. He also managed 6 extra points in two other games. If you wonder why Jon was so busy in 2013, the team averaged 36 points a game.
Malvern rarely gets involved in shoot-outs but this was one for the history books.
More to come……………
10.13.20
From the Malvern Archives
SIMPLY THE BEST
September 2020
From the Malvern Archives
SIMPLY THE BEST
September 2020
Malvern has been in the Inter-Ac since 1950. Ted Silary has listed the MVPs since 1969 (www.tedsilary.com). I would like to add to the MP list any player who was an MVP from 1950 to 1968. I have to believe a Malvern Friar or two won the MVP during those years. My guess is during the Mayock years? Your help is appreciated. Please send any information to Rcarey5171@aol.com so I can update the archive and recognize all of Malvern’s best.
I have been around Malvern Prep since 1969. I have played with, coached and watched many players who wore the Silver and Blue helmet. Over the years there has be an amazing amount of talent that has walked onto that field and “Defended the M”. These players were All Inter-Ac, All-City, All-Main Line, All-State and many other All-Teams. However only a select few have been recognized as the top player in the Inter-Ac league. To quote the line in the Tina Turner song,” Simply the best, better than all the rest”.
Here is the list of Malvern’s best
OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST
As you can see, the best player award/MVP is like the Heisman, it usually goes to a skill guy- RB or QB. Special shout out to big fatties Herb Beck and Steve Galczenski who were 2 of only 3 linemen (Kyle Chaffin PC the other) to ever receive the award (1969 through 2019). Since 1969, a total of 51 years, MP has had a player or players in the top spot in 26 of those years. Co-MVPs happened 11 times and tri-MVPs once. Speaking of co-MVPS, it has only happened three times when two players from the same team were recognized as the best. Congrats Derek and Gal (also Penn Charter in 1993 and 1998). Only 5 times has a player been named in back to back years. MP has three in Pat Van Horn, Mike Augsberger, and Keith Maguire. The other two were John Haldeman in 1970 and 1971 and Dox Aitken in 2014 and 2015, both of Haverford School. I played against Haldeman and watched Aitken. Both were excellent football players who played lacrosse in college. There have been many quality players come through the IA over the years. To win the award two times is quite an accomplishment. Congrats Friars
As a quick aside, Mike Mayock’s (2008 Gamper team) dad won the award in 1975 for Haverford. The player breakdown looks like this- 24 players from MP, 13 from PC, 8 from GA, 6 from EA and 3 from CHA.
In 1991 Brian Gallagher was co-MVP with Dave Stilley of Haverford School. If you had both of those guys in the same backfield I would feel very confident you would never, and I mean never, have needed to throw the ball. That would be a coach’s dream. Brian has the MP school record for carries in a season at 277. He ground out 1,266 yards on those carries. Good for 7th all-time at MP. Stilley was only one of eight IA players to reach the 3000 yds career mark (Chris Downs leads the list). In 1991 he rushed 307 times for 1476 yards. Combined, these two runners had 2,742 yards on 584 carries. Throw in 26 TDs and is it any wonder that the QB would have just turned around and handed it to one of them?
Mike Cappelletti was also All State in Lacrosse. Unlike Billy Conners Mike played football in college at Penn State instead of lacrosse like Billy did at Duke. In keeping with the multi-sport theme not only were David Orr, Ryan Polley and Bill Lockhart MVPs in football they were also All-City in baseball.
Derek and Chris Downs made the 40 year All Inter-Ac team and the 50 year All City team. I know Chris Downs name pops up multiple times. Seriously, how could it not? Not only was Chris an MVP of the IA his senior year, he was also named the best player in the Inter-Ac from the decade of the 90’s.
Ian Mitchell proved he was no one year wonder. He went on to re-write multiple league and school records at Dickinson College. He added Dickinson’s offensive MVP in 2007, 2008 and 2009 to his IA MVP.
Keith Maguire must be a pretty good athlete and MVP worthy when you have a highlight catch actually show up on ESPN Top 10. I do not think that even happens in my dreams!..... And what a catch it was. It was the kind of highlight that you rewind multiple times to convince yourself what you saw really happened.
Ryan Nassib was another, in a line of multi-sport Friar athletes, who went on to star at Syracuse and then get drafted by the New York Giants.
Dan Onorato was selected at linebacker his senior year in 2003. That year he was also Malvern’s starting QB and threw for 1,526 yards. At the time it was a school record. Currently that season yardage put him right behind Alex Hornibrook and Drew Gunther on the all time list.
I am sure you have heard the phrase it is not the X’s and the O’s but the Jimmies and the Joes. Malvern’s success has been the result of both. Excellent coaches calling the plays and many “Jimmies and Joes” executing them. It is no wonder why MP has consistently remained one of the top high school programs in Southeast Pennsylvania.
More to come……………
09.14.20
From the Malvern Archives
BEAT THE SPREAD
August 2020
From the Malvern Archives
BEAT THE SPREAD
August 2020
The previous two articles highlighted the highest scoring offenses and the stingiest defenses. What if we compared and combined those averages to see which teams top the list of widest margins of victory? Or to put it another way, who “Beat the Spread”. I am sure you have lost sleep, wondering which teams? Once again from 1950 to 2019 (www.tedsilary.com) who topped the list? The criteria to make the list was a spread of 20 points or more. Why did I pick 20? No real formula. Its 3 touchdowns. That is a pretty good margin of victory.
From the top
OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST
Just missing, in the 18/19 point “Beat the Spread” range, were 1974,1979,1986,1987,1997,1999, 2011,2018. That is not too shabby either. If you score points and you shut down the other team, it proves your program is probably going to win a ton of football games. In these 8 years Malvern was 75-5 with 5 undefeated teams. The 1974 and 2018 teams were also undefeated. Combine the teams in the 18-19 margin of victory and the record is 149-13. 16 times in 48 years (1972 to 2019) a Malvern team has beaten their opponents by an average of at least 3 TDs. Malvern Prep has had 8 undefeated teams (1975 had 1 tie) so the “Beat the Spread” is a good indicator for a great year.
Hope I didn’t miss anyone but a BIG shout out the teams of 1980 and 2001 who made all 3 lists- TD Club, 30 for 30 and Beat the Spread. The 1972,1995,2005,2006,2008 and 2015 squads hit the mark in 2 out of 3 categories.
It is said defense wins championships but when you score early and often, offense can win championships too.
This is the conclusion of the 3-part series. There were many MP teams that were highlighted in this series. Consistently good teams are the foundation of good programs. That is Malvern Prep Football
More to come……………
08.14.20
From the Malvern Archives
30 for 30 CLUB
July 2020
From the Malvern Archives
30 for 30 CLUB
July 2020
Malvern has played some great defense over the years, courtesy of some great players and coaches. But what about their offense??? Same coaches and players. I do not know of any coach who doesn’t find a game easier to coach when their offense is scoring TDs early and often. Using the same records from 1950 to the present (www.tedsilary.com) I looked for teams that averaged at least 30 points a game, about 1 TD a quarter. 30 is a nice, robust number, right? I know teams of today are more up tempo than teams of the past. I would estimate that teams average around 10 possessions a game. Scoring 4 out of every 10 possessions forces the other team to outscore you in order to win the game. With Malvern’s reputation for playing solid defense, the possibility of a shootout type of game was few and far between.
Below are the teams that averaged 30 points or better in a season, record and number of times that team hit at least 30 points in a game. You might see a familiar last name pop up a few times
Just missing the 30 for 30 club were teams that averaged at least 28 points a game
1972- Shark McGuinn
1986, 2007- Gamp Pellegrini
2011- Kevin Pellegrini
2014, 2016- Aaron Brady
OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST
The above 11 teams were a combined 103-10. Wow. The 6 teams that just missed were a combined 54-8. Three teams had a mercy rule averages of at least 35 points a game. Gamp’s 2005 was legit good. They went 10-1 losing to Valley Forge Military Academy. VFMA had a roster sprinkled with, let’s just say, older players. I do not have the quote 100% but after the game, in a way only Gamp could speak, he stated “that was the best college team he had ever coached against in a high school game”. What is incredible about the 424 points and 42.4 average of the 2008 team is that in more than half the games the 1st team did not play past half time. What is more incredible is the only time they didn’t score 30 points was an 18-0 shutout of CHA. Go figure. Of the 17 teams cited above MP won the league title outright 12 times and was a co-champ once. The 2013 team was involved in a rare shootout against CHA. Final score 63-50. In this game, prolific passer Alex Hornibrook only had to air it out 4 times. The Friars ground game took care of the rest and rolled up 457 yards rushing. Go my big fatties up front! Troy Gallen chewed up 333 of them. The 63 points in a game is a MP record. Just missing the record was the 1973 team that put up 62 points in a win over Episcopal.
Lastly, if my math is correct these 18 teams were a combined 157-18 with 13 titles. That is a healthy legacy.
More to come……………
07.28.20
From the Malvern Archives
THE TOUCHDOWN CLUB (1st in a series of 3)
June 2020
From the Malvern Archives
THE TOUCHDOWN CLUB (1st in a series of 3)
June 2020
Over the years Malvern has had the reputation of not only consistently fielding excellent teams but more specifically excellent defensive squads.
I researched the records (Ted Silary) from 1950 (first year in the Inter Ac) through 2019 and have come up with “The Touchdown Club”. These are teams that gave up a touchdown or less for the entire season. For the sake of a definition, the scoring average had to be between 7.0 to 7.9. My apologies to those teams before 1950 as the information is incomplete. This is the list, starting from the lowest average. team records, number of shutouts and the head coach:
Just missing The Touchdown Club were the teams of
1951, 1955- Stab Javie
1961, 1962-Mike Mayock,
1970- Shark McGuinn
OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST
These eleven teams were 84-11-3. The 1954 team lost their 3 games by the scores of 12-6, 14-7 and 14-7. Their tie game was 7-7. The 1960, 1961 and 1962 teams were coached by Mike Mayock. In the 6 degrees of separation category, Mike’s grandson played on Gamp’s undefeated IA championship team in 2008. Both Mike Mayock and Jim Auch, Jr. had great success at other IA schools. Mike coached at The Haverford School and Jim Auch, Jr. at Haverford School and Episcopal. Coach Mayock won back to back titles in 1970 and 1971 at HS. Both teams being undefeated. I had the “pleasure” of playing against both of those Haverford School teams and can attest to the fact that they were well coached, very good football teams. Because it was so long ago their success sometimes gets forgotten. They would certainly be in my discussion of any ranking of all- time great IA teams. Coach Auch I believe (if someone knows different let me know) is the only coach to win titles at 3 Inter-Ac schools. He was the coach at Haverford School before Mike Mayock. Coach Auch tied for a title in 1968 at Haverford. At EA he strung together a 3-peat in 1981, 1982 and 1983. The 1972 MP team only gave up 4 TDs all year. Lastly the 1972, 1979 and the 1985 teams only had one opponent all year reach double figures in a game.
Defense wins championships and produces great teams. Malvern Prep is a great example.
More to come……………
06.23.20
From the Malvern Archives
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
May 2020
From the Malvern Archives
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
May 2020
With the advent of the PIAA playoff system, the tradition of Thanksgiving Day games has slowly been eliminated. PIAA playoff games are usually scheduled for the Friday or Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. This makes playing a TG game virtually impossible. It is disappointing that many traditional rivalries have fallen by the wayside. Historically the Inter-Ac has not had games on their schedule that included a Turkey Day battle. The exception would be Malvern Prep.
Would it surprise you to know that over the years the Friars have played 34 times on Thanksgiving? The first game was 1959 with a win over St. Matthews. However, it took the Friars until 1973 to renew a Turkey Day tradition with a 33-19 win over the Hawks of St. Joes. From 1973 to 2016 the Friars played 33 times. Tradition held strong as MP compiled an overall record of 27-6-1. Their lone tie, 12-12, was to Archbishop Carroll in 1994. In addition to St. Matthew, Malvern has played Carroll 17 times, St. Joe Prep 9 times, Monsignor Bonner 4 times, Cardinal O’Hara 2 times and Avalon from Maryland, once. The records against these Catholic League foes were as follows, Carrol 13-3-1, the Prep 6-3, Bonner 4-0 and O’Hara 2-0. Pretty impressive. Their final game in 2016 was a 30-8 win versus The Avalon School of Maryland.
As you might expect, Malvern’s offense and defense did their job. Over the 34 game span MP averaged 22.5 points while only giving up 12.9. The defense gave up a TD or less in 15 of the 34 contests. This also included 7 shutouts. Offensively, the Friars hit the 30 point mark 13 times with a high of 48 against Bonner in 1980. The top 3 offensive performers were as follows….
RUSHING
Chris Downs- 308 yards- Carroll 1997
Troy Gallen- 250 yards- SJP 2013
Rob Levan- 171 yards- Carroll 1988
PASSING
Billy Conners- 268 yards- SJP 2008
Drew Gunther- 222 yards- Avalon School 2016
Pat Van Horn- 177 yards- O’Hara 1978
Receiving
Joe Price-172 yards-SJP 2008
Ryan Edginton- 121 yards- Carroll 1998
Rich Jones – 99 yards-O’Hara 1978
All these top performances contributed to a Friar victory.
Probably one of the more exciting games recent history was in 2008. It turned out to be Gamp Pellegrini’s last game and certainly one his most exciting wins. I was in attendance and can attest that it was one of the most memorable high school games I have ever watched. Before a packed house and I mean packed house at Villanova stadium, Malvern overcame a 21-0 hole and a 21-7 half time deficit to beat Catholic League power St. Joe Prep, 34-27. If you like offense you would have loved this game. The teams combined for 847 yards of offense and 1,016 yards, if you included returns. The winning score came on a Billy Conners to Joe Price 27 yard TD pass with 37 seconds left on the clock.
Speaking of Billy Conners, he had a game for the ages. Hard to believe with this performance his main sport was lacrosse (Duke). Take a moment to appreciate these stats. For the game, Billy Conners
In addition to Conners, the other offensive stars were Rob McCabe 5 catches for 64 yards and rushers Neil Willis 11-42 yards and James Connelly 13-87 yards. Last but certainly not least, was Price catching 7 balls for 172 yards and 3 clutch TDs.
And since I was a lineman all my life, you don’t compile 440 yards of offense without the big fatties up front. Shout out to Matt Devlin, Dave Umile, Mike McCorkle, Joe DiTroilio, Bobby Panchisin and CJ Mooney at TE.
Great game and a great way to end your high school career. Turkey always tastes better after a win.
More to come……………
05.24.20
From the Malvern Archives
MALVERN BATTLES CHESTNUT HILL FOR THE IA TITLE
May 2020
From the Malvern Archives
MALVERN BATTLES CHESTNUT HILL FOR THE IA TITLE
May 2020
Recently, Ted Silary posted on his website the remarkable feat of Cedric Madden from CHA. In 2011 Madden, at one point, scored 16 consecutive TDs for CHA, He scored 23 of CHA’s 25 rushing touchdowns and 24 of CHA’s total of 27 TDs that year. CHA and Madden had an excellent year in 2011. Overall, they were 7-3 and 4-1 in the Inter-Ac.
Coming into the championship game vs Malvern, CHA and Madden were on a roll. They were 7-2, having beaten all the other IA schools. Madden led the way with 1418yds on 221 carries and 144 of the teams’ 181 points. His per game averages were 23 carries for 148 yards (6.4 yds a carry) and close to 3TDs. CHA, who was averaging close to 21 points a game was confident coming into the game and were positioned for their 1st outright title. MP was also coming into the game just as strong. After giving up 21 points in an opening weekend, one point loss to Delco power Ridley, the Friars quickly hit their stride and went 8-0 with 4 IA wins. In that stretch the Malvern defense only gave up 51 points. The winner of this game would be the outright IA champs.
Final score MP 23- CHA 0.
Cedric Madden finished with 17 carries for 68 yards and no TDs, well below his normal game production. On the day the Malvern defense came up big again not only holding down Madden but also the Hillers. CHA had 121 total yards of offense on 40 plays. This marked the 4th time the Friars pitched a shutout in the 9 game win streak. QB Billy Ford led the offense with a rushing and passing TD. The championship was Kevin Pellegrini’s 1st outright title, having shared the IA crown with Chestnut Hill and Haverford in 2009. Kevin’s title came 33 years after his dad, the legendary “Gamp” Pellegrini won his 1st outright title in 1978.
More to come……………
05.3.20
