Carey's Corner
FROM THE MALVERN ARCHIVES
A LOOK BACK
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
