Gordon, in his second year as Explorers’ head coach, challenged his team during the week leading up to the game to see who they are—a state-championship caliber team or a glossy underachieving pretender.
La Salle led from start to finish in a 31-20 victory that featured a pyrotechnical, offensive explosion that saw the teams combine for 699 yards of total offense—355 yards for La Salle and 344 for St. Joe’s Prep—before 15,000 at Penn’s historic Franklin Field.
La Salle’s Missouri-bound Gavin Sidwar completed 20 of 35 for 325 yards and four touchdowns, while the Hawks’ Charlie Foulke threw for 306 yards, completing 23 of 41 passes and three touchdown passes, with one interception.
The stars played like stars.
The Explorers’ Notre Dame-bound Joey O’Brien caught eight passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns, and the Prep’s Jett Harrison was phenomenal, catching a game-high 14 passes for 190 yards and all three Prep touchdowns.
This was a game La Salle (4-1, 1-1 Catholic League Red Division) needed much more than the Hawks (2-4, 1-1). The Explorers were coming off a 39-36 loss to Roman Catholic last week and a loss to the Prep could have zapped the confidence level of this team, since the two will meet again for the Catholic League 6A championship on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. at Villanova Stadium.
Gordon wanted to know where his team was.
“We needed that Roman loss to wake us up,” he said. “I was more focused this week to see how we responded to what happened last week (from the Roman loss). To see how we came out with purpose, and we competed, that was really the thing. Would we compete against that team?
“That’s what I will take out of this game, also knowing there is a lot of things we have to fix, like the penalties (11 for 105 yards). We scored 31 points and still left a lot out there. The intestinal fortitude of this team was answered tonight. Now, we have to put that together with the execution piece.
“The guts of the team showed up.”
The Explorers received great support from the supporting cast. Temple-bound tight end/defensive end JP Oates had a sack and huge 29-yard reception down the middle of the field between two Hawks’ defenders on a third-and-nine play at the La Salle 25. On the next play, Sidwar hit O’Brien for their second touchdown connection, giving La Salle a 31-13 lead with 10:17 to play.
Jimmy Mahoney’s night did not start well for the Explorers. He dropped two passes—one a certain touchdown, though rebounded well with an interception off a deflected pass in the last minute of the half that resulted in a Chris Heck 32-yard field goal at a 17-0 La Salle halftime lead.
Mahoney later came through with a 37-yard touchdown reception, catching a short pass, and making a darting move for a 24-7 Explorers’ lead.
“I think it was the guys believing in me, picking me up and showing faith in me,” Mahoney said. “This group trusts one another.”
La Salle defensive tackle Jemel Williams was a one-man wrecking crew, with three tackles for losses and a sack in the closing minutes of the game. Desmond Ortiz picked up a blitzing linebacker on Sidwar’s eight-yard touchdown pass to Owen Johnson with 2:28 left in the half. And Johnson made an adjustment on an underthrown pass for a 46-yard reception on a third-and-13 from the La Salle seven with six minutes to play, chewing more valuable time off the clock.
“We were tired of hearing the soft comments all week, and everyone questioning our toughness,” Oates said. “I was hearing Prep was going to dominate us, and we were a soft team. We had to prove them wrong.”
Here’s the frightening part: La Salle did not play that well. The talented Hawks had something to do with that, but the Explorers had the two Mahoney drops (which he more than made for), an O’Brien dropped interception (which he more than made up for), and pile of self-inflicted wounds from false start and holding penalties.
La Salle took the opening drive to the Prep nine, but stymied itself with a holding call and missed field goal.
The Hawks did not help themselves, either. Their three turnovers were translated into 10 La Salle points, and they gave up a third-and-9 and third-and-13 deep in their territory, made possible by great plays by Oates and Johnson, despite Prep defenders being there.
“You can’t make mistakes against really good programs, which is something we learned early this year,” Hawks coach Tim Roken said. “We have to go back to work and fix those things. We had time of possession, turnovers, third downs, all those things played a big factor into the outcome.
“But I like how our guys fought. And they continued to fight. I’m happy about that. We have to go back to work with a really good program in Roman. It’s not by a lack of effort, it’s execution. We didn’t execute the way we wanted.”
Now it’s Prep that may be facing its gut-check moment of the season, facing a very fast Roman Catholic team on Friday at 7 p.m. at Widener.
For La Salle, they answered a big question, “We’re not the soft team everyone was saying we were,” Sidwar said, laughing. “We’re not happy, though. We didn’t play to our fullest capabilities. We had missed throws, missed assignments, and I’m proud the way we came back. We needed to get back on track. We knew what this game meant. We needed the Roman loss. We had to get punched in the mouth, and came back with an edge I’ve never seen here before.”
Scoring Summary
La Salle (5-1/1-1 Catholic League Red) 0 17 7 7-31
St. Joseph’s Prep (2-4/1-1 Catholic League Red) 0 0 13 7-20
2nd Quarter
L – Joey O’Brien 6 pass from Gavin Sidwar (Chris Heck kick), 10:24
L – Owen Johnson 8 pass from Sidwar (Heck kick), 2:28
L – Heck 32 FG, 06
3rd Quarter
SJP – Jett Harrison 12 pass from Charlie Foulke (Luke Cochrane kick), 5:09
L – Jimmy Mahoney 37 pass from Sidwar (Heck kick), 4:05
SJP – Harrison 17 pass from Foulke (kick failed), 1:14
4th Quarter
L – O’Brien 46 pass from Sidwar (Heck kick), 10:17
SJP – Harrison 35 pass from Foulke (Cochrane kick), 9:28
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.
One Response
Great article, though, John-Patrick (J.P.) Oates’ name was misspelled as “Gates” multiple times.