OCEAN CITY, NJ — Fans circled the fences surrounding Ocean City High School’s Carey Stadium two and sometimes three deep on Friday night. The star power demanded it. The sidelines were filled with high school paparazzi looking to capture key moments, and vacationing alums looking to see just how good their alma maters are.
On one side was La Salle’s Notre Dame-bound tandem, 6-4, 190-pound wide receiver/safety Joey O’Brien, and 6-foot-8, 285-pound left tackle Grayson McKeogh, along with Missouri-bound quarterback Gavin Sidwar.
On the other side was Malvern Prep, and its arsenal of Division I athletes, starting with Minnesota-bound 5-10, 220-pound power back Ezekiel Bates, and 6-1, 190-pound senior quarterback Jackson Melconian, headed to Vanderbilt for baseball, and the Friars’ own Notre Dame pair, Danny Riely and Dylan Novak, who will both be Fighting Irish on the lacrosse team.
The headliners did what they were supposed to do, with O’Brien hauling in three touchdowns on five catches for 123 yards, and Bates scoring twice while rushing for 79 yards. The teams themselves combined to score 11 times on 22 drives and combined for an amazing 821 yards of total offense.
It was fastbreak football—with the winning difference provided by two players who had no real definition entering this season—one a junior varsity player looking to make a mark his senior year, and the other a sophomore, just looking make a difference.
They both did.
La Salle’s Jimmy Mahoney’s 96-yard touchdown kickoff return got the Explorers going, and Owen Johnson’s 98-yard third-quarter TD kickoff return kept La Salle on top. The pair provided the difference in a game filled with explosive plays.
Mahoney, a senior, scored his first varsity touchdown and it could not have come at a better time, answering Malvern Prep’s opening score by taking a kickoff on the left side of the field, going right and catching the corner then zipping up the home sideline almost untouched. Two quarters later, Johnson scored on the same kickoff return.
For the speedy Mahoney, generously listed at 5-foot-8, 160 pounds, the game and score carried special significance. He had toiled on the Explorers’ junior varsity the previous two years, though when he got his chance to shine on the varsity stage, he did. He made crucial plays throughout the game. He came up with the biggest play on a 14-yard reception on a third-and-12 at the Malvern Prep 16, which led to Ahzir Nelson’s three-yard game-winning score in the game’s final minutes. It was also Mahoney that followed the Nelson TD with the special teams tackle on the ensuing kickoff.
“I didn’t play at all last year,” he said. “That was my first varsity touchdown. I never scored a touchdown over 90 yards before. I knew I would have a big role this year. The coaches believed in me and I definitely thought about leaving (for Upper Dublin), but La Salle is a great place and I decided to stay. I’m happy I did.
“We thought we could blow their doors off, but Malvern Prep is a really good team.”
Johnson had his share of problems early. Explorers’ coach Brett Grodon sternly reminded the 5-11, 180-pound sophomore about getting up field and “no tip-toeing” out of bounds early in the game. Johnson responded well. He had three catches for 17 yards, though no play was bigger than his third-quarter 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, which gave La Salle a 35-28 lead with 3:46 left in the third quarter.
Gordon has been high on Johnson this season, looking at him to take advantage of the double-teaming O’Brien will receive every game this season.
“I knew when I turned the corner on the kickoff return I had it,” Johnson said. “It’s the first time I ever returned a kickoff on the varsity level. This game did get a little scary. It was very important we won this game. We definitely should have played better than this. We had some rough bumps on defense.”
The Explorers did. Malvern Prep chewed up 539 yards of total offense—333 through the air, with Melconian connecting on 18 of 29 passes and two touchdowns.
“Our kids are hyper competitive and there is a standard here, so with the exception of special teams, we’re going to have to clean some things up defensively,” Gordon said. “Even offensively, we were not very good in the first half. We were very inconsistent with a lot of things we wanted to do. We as a coaching staff realize this is two games in a row where we have not played nearly to our capabilities. We also played two very good teams—Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Malvern Prep is excellent.
“(Malvern Prep) Coach (Dave) Gueriera does a great job. I didn’t expect the final score to be 42-35. We had to fight through some adversity. We needed a late drive. And we’re going to rely on kids like Jimmy and Owen. Jimmy is a great kid who was a wildcard for us on our depth chart. He spent time in the weight room and he has come up with two or three of the biggest plays this season. We’re going to need Owen and Jimmy to continue making plays. Owen’s talent is undeniable. I want the best version of him. It’s why I coach him hard. I just have to remind myself he’s a sophomore.”
If La Salle is the No. 1 team in Pennsylvania, Malvern made a strong case for No. 2.
“Our whole team played unbelievable and this is tough,” Gueriera said. “Our game No. 1 and it was their game No. 2 and it showed. La Salle is a great team, but we had guys all over the field. We had good performances everywhere, and what I love is La Salle is a heck of a football team and we were down and came back, we were down and came back.
“I’m upset we lost, but I am really looking forward to playing nine more games with this team. The mistakes we made are fixable. We didn’t do a good job of squeezing down on special teams.”
But the Friars did a good job of squeezing possibly the best team in the state for four quarters.
Scoring Summary
La Salle (2-0) 14 7 14 7-42
Malvern Prep (0-1) 7 14 7 7-35
1st Quarter
MP – Zeke Bates 31 run (Ian Gopez kick), 1:52
L – Jimmy Mahoney 96 kickoff return (Chris Heck kick), 1:38
L – Joey O’Brien 36 pass from Gavin Sidwar (Heck kick), :26
2nd Quarter
MP – Danny Riely 32 pass from Jackson Melconian (Gopez kick), 11:28
L – O’Brien 12 pass from Sidwar (Heck kick), 8:38
MP – Dylan Novak 17 pass from Melconian (Gopez kick), 6:39
3rd Quarter
L – O’Brien 10 pass from Sidwar (Heck kick), 9:32
MP – Bates 1 run (Gopez kick), 4:01
L – Owen Johnson 98 kickoff return (Heck kick), 3:46
4th Quarter
MP – Bates 1 run (Gopez kick), 6:36
L – Ahzir Nelson 3 run (Heck kick), 1:50
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. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.
3 Responses
The worst refereed game I ever witnessed and all my years watching college and high school football. I think refs need to get new glasses and learn to do their job a lot better otherwise great game both teams were very competitive. probably one of the best high school games I’ve ever witnessed
Excellent reporting ! I attended the game Friday night and was dazzled by each team’s resilience and competitiveness.
Probably, the most entertaining football game I ever witnessed. In my opinion, the Referees missed calling some huge interference plays against LaSalle at different points of the game.
Stats are wrong
Johnson dropped the football before having both feet in endzone. Ref gave him the touchdown. Everyone & commentators saw it. Refs ignored many flags that should have been thrown on Lasalle.
You are not allowed to hit players from behind- commenters noted & no one said anything. Very sad there was preferential treatment shown on field. Go back & watch the tape.