Great Valley’s Beau Kosmalski
MALVERN, PA — It was eight years ago, and 16-year-old Beau Kosmalski vividly remembers. He was around eight, and a little too afraid to play football, fearful he would get hit and get hurt. He even told his father that was it, he was not going to play football again after grade school.
Something happened along the way. The first time he ever touched the ball, he ran the wrong direction on a play—and scored a touchdown. It’s when he fell in love with being a running back.
Kosmalski now has something more unforgettable to place in his mental log book—with the type of game that stretches the limits of the imagination not only for the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Great Valley junior tailback, but for anyone who witnessed what he did Friday night when the Patriots hosted Archbishop Wood.
Kosmalski splattered every single-game school rushing record in a night, running for 406 yards on 32 carries and scoring three touchdowns in a dazzling performance that translated into a 34-27 Great Valley victory.
The Patriots are 9-0 for the first time since 2004, while Wood fell to 6-3, despite strong games from Dandre Webb, who rushed for 219 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries, and quarterback John Drakeley, who scored once.
But it was Kosmalski who ruled the field. He had 200 yards by halftime on 20 carries and 206 yards rushing on 12 carries in the second half. He averaged 12.6 yards a carry, and entered the game needing 232 yards to break the school’s single-season rushing mark held by Jim McDevitt over 12 games in 1978, when he ran for 1,839 yards and 23 touchdowns. Kosmalski established a new mark midway through the third quarter on a five-yard run.
He ended the game not only breaking the single-season record but the school single-game record for yards rushing in a game. The 406-yard performance brought him to 2,014 yards rushing this season and 30 touchdowns—in nine games—in his resonating season.
Kosmalski was first to admit he had considerable help along the way. Tackles Dean Hickman and Nick Langston, guards Najee Dorsey and Emmanuel Buitrago, center Alan Johnson and receivers Sonny Baldino and Cooper Callahan each played significant roles in springing Kosmalski loose the entire game.
“Without those guys, I go nowhere,” Kosmalski said. “There were times I wasn’t touched until I was around 10 yards downfield. But I still can’t believe this. I think my best attribute by far is my vision. I had gaps to run through everywhere.
“Teams can’t figure out our offense. This game was a battle. This is the best team we played.”
Football was a second sport to Kosmalski, a standout wrestler. He followed his younger brother Dean to the football field.
“I remember it, I remember it well,” Beau said, laughing, recalling his first experiences. “I was around eight and too afraid to get hit. I told my dad I wouldn’t play in high school. The first time I ever touched the ball, it was against Spring-Ford and I ran 68 yards for a touchdown. I remember bouncing the ball outside for a touchdown and the coach yelling at me because I didn’t follow the play. I loved being a running back ever since. It was eight ago, and I still remember it.
“I thought tonight I had a good night, maybe around 200 yards, maybe upper 200s. I never thought about 400 yards. I can’t really wrap my head around this.”
He had runs of 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 23, 29, 34, and 52 yards. Of his 32 carries, 14 were for double-figure yardage. After a slow start in which his first three carries amounted to eight yards, he broke loose for a 21-yard carry, giving him 29 yards, then doubled that on the next play with a 29-yard run.
He was a swirling human tornado.
The thought that he was once afraid to play football could have fooled anyone at Great Valley’s stadium.
“That kid is next level,” Wood coach Brian Goettner said about Kosmalski. “That kid is special. We knew we had to stop him and we didn’t. His vision is special. You can see that in the way he cuts back.”
Wood was exceptional, even in defeat. The Vikings kept fighting back each time Great Valley took a lead. The teams were deadlocked at 27-27 when Great Valley’s Andrew Stanley unfurled a perfect pass down the middle to a wide-open Callahan for a 43-yard touchdown and 34-27 lead with 11:10 to play.
What didn’t help the Vikings was getting flagged seven times for 65 yards in penalties, which included a Webb touchdown called back in the first half on a holding call and had an extra point blocked by Dean Kosmalski.
“Those points matter in close games like this,” said Goettner, whose team is a Class 3A program and will be a problem for any 3A team in the state by the way it played Great Valley. “Great Valley is a great football team. I’ll be following them throughout the playoffs. But for us, this was a great way to prepare for the postseason. We battled, but it’s two weeks with close games that we lost (in the last 30 seconds to West Catholic last week).”
Buoyed by Kosmalski and head coach Gary Phillips, this season has been a resurrection for the Great Valley program.
The Patriots were a combined 6-14 over the previous two years. A month ago, they were one of the biggest surprises in the area, beginning 5-0 and ranked No. 3 in PIAA District 1 Class 5A.
Great Valley is no longer a surprise.
The team that chewed through a very talented Wood team and proved to be capable of beating any Class 5A team in eastern Pennsylvania.
Phillips, who is in his second year of his second stint at Great Valley and 19th overall, has been the catalyst behind the resurgence.
He set new high bars on the culture structure. He slowly built a young team that had taken more than its share of lumps over the last years into a viable PIAA District 1 Class 5A championship contender.
“Beau is having games like this against quality teams like Wood, which was excellent, and he did this against Kennett and Unionville,” Phillips said. “What happened tonight was a credit to the offensive line, and Baldino and Callahan were great blocking down field. It’s complete efforts like that that make nights like this. A lot of it was Beau, but he would be the first to tell you, the guys up front had a lot to do with it.”
The way this season is shaping up, more special things may be ahead for Kosmalski and the Patriots.
One thing is certain, Great Valley solidified its role as a formidable threat to play beyond November.
Scoring Summary
Archbishop Wood (6-3) 7 6 14 0-27
Great Valley (9-0) 7 10 10 7-34
1st Quarter
AW – Dandre Webb 17 run (Trevor Homnick kick), 4:26
GV – Beau Kosmalski 16 run (Ryan Wilsher kick), 4:26
2nd Quarter
AW – John Drakeley 1 run (kick failed), 11:00
GV – Kosmalski 4 run (Wilsher kick), 8:06
GV – Wilsher 22 FG, :00
3rd Quarter
GV– Wilsher 30 FG, 7:14
AW – Webb 6 run (Homnick kick), 3:03
GV – Kosmalski 23 run (Wilsher kick), :31
AW – Webb 74 run (Homnick kick), 09.2
4th Quarter
GV – Cooper Callahan 43 pass from Andrew Stanley (Wilsher kick), 11:10
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.