PHILADELPHIA — Nothing was going to come between Dariel Jaquez and his first awarded game ball. The St. Joe’s Prep senior safety held it tight Saturday night at Penn’s historic Franklin Field, like it was a vital organ he could not part with.
Jacquez would know a thing or two of having a football fall from his fingertips, or bounce off his palms, or a batted pass dangling up in the air, only to dive for it and come inches of securing his first interception.
On Saturday night, for the first time, Jaquez came up with his first two career interceptions, and made what was the game-saving tackle in St. Joe Prep’s 12-7 victory over Inter-Ac power Malvern Prep.
The game went a little deeper than a victory. It was probably The Prep’s most significant victory in two years. The Hawks lost starting junior quarterback Max Rogers for what may be the season last week due to an upper body injury, and in stepped junior Nickee Holden, who completed 15 of 19 passes for 168 yards in his first varsity start, while the first of Jaquez’s two field goals led to one of two Colin Stoner field goals.
The Hawks (2-1) did it rushing for 13 yards. How twisted this is, St. Joe Prep’s leading rusher was senior offensive lineman Cayden Ohler, whose third-quarter fumble recovery was for 12 yards.
Quite frankly, not many thought the Hawks would take Malvern Prep, considering everything that swirling around St. Joe’s Prep.
“We knew that,” said Jaquez, who won PIAA Class 6A state titles his freshman and sophomore years at St. Joe’s Prep. “Coming into this year, my mindset was to help my teammates out as much as possible, and don’t doubt anyone on this team. I love it when everyone outside doubts us. We love proving everybody wrong.
“I’ve come close to having an interception and I had two tonight.”
Probably bigger than the interceptions was Jaquez tackling Malvern Prep’s LSU-bound wide receiver Cade Cooper after a 32-yard reception on the Hawks’ 45 with 31 seconds to play.
The Friars got no further than that, when starting quarterback Brayden Fallon went down on the penultimate play of the game for a 1-yard loss with 15 seconds left.
“At the end of the day, you have to cherish the victories, and we know we’re getting everyone’s best shot, but we walk off with a victory,” Hawks’ coach Tim Roken said. “You have to appreciate that. Offensively and defensively, we made some really good plays at certain times, and we just have to be more consistent with those things.”
Simply put, the difference was Jett Harrison. Everyone with a mile of Franklin Field knew he would be at the eye of the Hawks’ progress. The Ohio State commit caught a game-high 10 passes for 120 yards and he had something to do with each Hawks’ score.
St. Joe’s Prep totaled 180 yards of total offense—168 through the air. When Ohler rumbled and stumbled up the field with the fumble recovery, Malvern had held The Prep to minus-five yards rushing to that point.
Malvern Prep, however, did not fair much better. The Friars were flagged nine times for 77 yards, while St. Joe’s Prep survived to win despite 13 penalties for 95 yards—the most costly a game-threatening personal foul roughing-the-kicker call in Malvern’s end zone early in the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-21 play.
Malvern made its share of big mistakes, too, like offside calls and holding penalties during critical moments.
“We shot ourselves in the foot on offense tonight, and we definitely should have scored more than seven points,” Malvern Prep coach Dave Gueriera said. “This is what happens. It’s a long season and we can’t afford to keep making them. We had a great defensive effort. Unfortunately, we could not get out of our own way on offense.”
Stoner kicked field goals of 38 and 44 yards, and junior Ameen Williams ripped through the middle for a five-yard score with 9:04 to play in the third quarter, set up by a 38-yard Harrison reception.
“We do like the doubts,” St. Joe Prep’s Oregon-bound linebacker Brandon Lockley said. “We knew no one thought we could beat Malvern. We love the hate. Ee try to prove ourselves every game. I’d rather have games that are dogfights. A few things went wrong, and someone stepped up, like Ohler stepped up with the fumble recovery, and how Jaquez came up big.”
He has the game ball to prove it.
Scoring Summary
Malvern Prep (1-2) 0 0 7 0-7
St. Joe’s Prep (2-1) 0 6 6 0-12
2nd Quarter
SJP – Colin Stoner 38 FG, 10:11
SJP – Stoner 44 FG, 6:42
3rd Quarter
SJP – Ameen Williams 5 run (kick failed), 8:11
MP – Brayden Fallon 25 run (Jack Keegan kick), 4:14
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.