Malvern Prep Football 1976 Team Page

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1976 marked the 3rd year in a row the Friars played 10 games. And what a 10 games it was. O’Hara, Carroll St. Marks, Salesianum and Penn Charter wall all Top 20 teams in the tri-state area. O’Hara went 9-2. Carroll went 10-1-1 and won the Southern Division of the Catholic League with a 42-0 win over St. Joe Prep. Penn Charter was rated a top 10 team when they played Malvern and only lost one other game that year. Both Sallies and St. Marks were top teams in the state of Delaware. This schedule was a meat grinder and the Friars persevered through it all.

John O’Sullivan blocked punt and a 45 yard scoop and score led to the 1st TD against Carroll. 2 picks and a fumble recovery helped the MP defense keep Carroll in check.

Shaw, Shrader and Liberatore did the damage in the 35-0 rout of Nether Providence. Al Shrader pounded out 153 yards on 20 carries

Pierce Keating was an efficient 3-4 for 75 yards and 2 TDs against a very good St. Marks team. Maguire and Onorato were on the receiving end of the tosses. Lou Colameco led the staunch D with 3 sacks on the day.

In a down to the wire squeaker, the Friars outlasted the Fords of Haverford 8-0. Redding from Keating and Maguire from Keating on the 2 pointer was all that was needed. The Friars defense held Haverford’s best running back to 17 carries and 44 yards. Malvern countered with 64 rush yards from Shaw and 56 from Al Shrader.

Pierce Keating was at it again against Peddie. This game he did it 4 times by hitting his favorite receivers Maguire and Onorato with 2 TDs each.

GA marked the 4th game in a row that Pierce threw for a TD. This game he accounted for both TDs while Sull added the all important extra points. Pierce threw to Maguire for one and ran for the other in a 14-0 win.

Penn Charter rolled in undefeated and rolled out with one loss. Charter was ranked #1 in the area at game time. In this contest that decided the Inter-Ac, it was the defense that did the job. A Gerry Novak pick six gave the Friars the early score. Steve Redding’s 60 yard run and Sull’s kick were the difference. Star of the game was Tony Liberatore’s 4 picks, three that counted and the 4th one that didn’t. The 4th one was the most important one as Tony picked off Penn Charter’s 2 point conversion to preserve the win and the title.

Pierce Keating accounted for 4 TDs in the blowout win over EA. Two passes to Maguire and 2 TD runs were his contribution to the rout. Special teams got the Friars on the board with a blocked punt score by Eric Seber. The game was over by halftime with a 34-0 score. On the day Don Jones had 120 yards rushing which was more than the -8 yards that EA had.

End of the season Dunkel’s state rankings had Carroll 6th, Sallies 9th O’Hara 14th and Penn Charter 20th. Malvern sat at 18. That is one tough schedule

Main Line Times stated that Tony Liberatore had 9 interceptions on the season.

These seniors graduated having won 3 Inter-Ac titles in a row They won the title their senior year by shutting out two of four league opponents and only giving up 20 points in 4 games. Over their 3 year career they compiled a record of 23-2-2. Not a bad run