Malvern Prep Football 1979 Team Page

FINAL RECORD

8-2 overall, 4-0 league

260 PF, 145 PA

POST SEASON RECOGNITION

ALL INTER-AC OFFENSE

Pat Horn MVP

1st Team Offense

George Twardy OL, John Bradford OL, Rich Jones Rec, Paul Phelan RB

1st Team Defense

Craig O’Brien DL, Steve O’Brien DL, Joe “Trooper” Sullivan LB, Mike Civitella DB

DAILY NEWS ALL-CITY

1ST Team Offense

Rich Jones, Rec, Pat Van Horn QB,

1st Team Defense

Craig O’Brien DL

2nd Team Offense

George Twardy OL, Paul Phelan RB

2nd Team Defense

Mike Civitella DB

3rd Team Defense

Steve O’Brien DL

Honorable Mention

Trooper Sullivan LB

AP SCHOLASTIC ALL-STATE

3rd Team

Craig O’Brien DL

Honorable Mention

Rich Joes Rec, Pat Van Horn QB,

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The Gamper’s 1st year. Only 30 more years to go!!

Gamp had to wait to game 2 to get his first MP win. Malvern scored the 1st 3 times they had the ball. A Trooper Sullivan FG, a Van Horn run and a Van Horn to Rich Jones pass had the Friars up 17-0 at half. The 1st score ate up over 7 minutes of the 1st Q. All 17 points came from 19 plays… all runs. The D held Carroll to 0 yards at half. Trooper had a very active day with 97 yards on 15 carries, 1 FG, 3 extra points and a fumble recovery. Rich Jones had 7 catches 143 yards. 4 catches from Van Horn and 3 catches from the Carroll QB (that would be interceptions). The fatties up front paved the way for 329 total yards.

Down 12-0 t St. Marks at half. No worries. Gamper told they squad at half they were going to win. And they did. In a next man up scenario Mike Burke, subbing for an injured Trooper Sullivan hit two extra points to guarantee the margin of victory.

Gamp had his IA debut against Haverford School. The Fords scored 1st and MP responded with 37 straight for a very convincing win. On the day the Malvern defense stopped Haverford momentum five times by picking off 5 passes

Trooper Sullivan was at it again with 2 TD runs and 2 extra points. Jim Marino added two on a 15 and 10 yard run. Paul Phelan closed it out with a 1 yard run. On the day the big skill up front did it again with 277 yards rushing. Phelan had 96 yds and Marino 83 yds.

GA was a back and forth battle. MP was up 19-6 at half but GA bounced back on top 23-19 end of the 3rd Q. Never say die Friars shut it down in the 4th with a Van Horn and Phelan TD run. Pat Van Horn did the damage through the air with 127 yards. Paul Phelan did the damage everywhere else. He had 16 carries for139 rushing yards, 2 catches for 72 yards, 2 returns for 55 yards, 1 interception… oh, AND 3 TDs. Yeah a pretty good day!

When the newspaper gives a shout out to the bigs upfront I am more than happy to pass along the shout out. Against Penn Chater the Friars had 352 yards on a ball controlling 72 plays. Kudos to George Twardy, John Whalen, Jim Martini, John Bradford, John O’Leary and TE John Betz for paving the way. The backfield triple teamed the Quakers with Phelan getting 110 yards, Marino 65 and Civitella 42. The defense contributed ANOTHER 2 picks to stymie Penn Charter drives.

Episcopal for the title! Gamp’s first of many. Prognosticators said that the Penn Charter game was for the title but the Friars still had one more to win. Leave no doubt. Phelan got 18, Trooper got 10 and Civitella finished the Churchmen off. MP 34 EA 8. This would mark Malvern’s 5th title in a row. The streak continues.

MP finished Gamp’s 1st year off in style with a 34-6 thrashing of Catholic bigwig O’Hara. O’Hara was ranked #2 in Ted Silary’s City Top 10. With Malvern ranked #1 many thought this would be a battle for local bragging rights. Familiar names led the way as Van Horn threw two to Jones and Marino. Phelan pounded out 2 TDs on 20 carries and 110 yards.99 of the 110 passing yards went to clutch receiver Rich Jones. And last but not least, how about 4 MORE INTERCEPTIONS BY THE DEFENSE- Sullivan, O”Connor, Phelan and Jones with the thefts. Bragging rights to MP.

Final thoughts. Gamp goes 8-2 in his 1st year, wins the Inter-Ac title, wins his last seven, and rolls both Penn Charter and O’Hara by a combined score of 69-20. O’Hara went on to play for the Catholic League Southern Division title. Penn Charter finished 7th in Silary’s City Top Ten. They were supposed to be close games. Not a bad start. Maybe Gamp will stay around a few years?

Best I could research and document was that the defense had 15 picks on the year (maybe had more?). I will hold onto that number and see how it compares to others years that are documented.

Pat Van Horn becomes the 1st Malvern player to win back to back MVPs and he won’t be the last. All in all, a pretty lofty accomplishment ( Malvern History Inter-Ac MVPS 1969- Present)