The Central League season is here. So is a scheduling headache.<\/p>\n
Harriton announced Monday that it is canceling its varsity campaign, leaving its nine Central League opponents scrambling to fill holes in their schedules.<\/p>\n
Radnor gets the first unwanted bye this week. And that is just the beginning of the mess.<\/p>\n
The late loss of a game is an inconvenience in a 10-game regular season. Few, if any, Central League teams will be lucky enough to find an opponent searching for a game the same week they are supposed to play Harriton.<\/p>\n
There is also the matter of District 1 playoff points. It remains unclear whether the scheduled games against Harriton will eventually count as forfeit victories, so that adds more uncertainty to an already suboptimal situation. (The District 1 seeding formula is based on average per game, not total points, so each team\u2019s average would be over nine instead of 10 games.)<\/p>\n
Harriton\u2019s decision was sound, based on concerns over player safety, low participation and the sustainability of maintaining a competitive program, according to a letter sent to families. The Rams had 43 players registered on JV and varsity. The school began the season with a 53-0 loss to Pottstown before the decision to cancel.<\/p>\n
The suspension comes after a months-long push by Harriton to find another solution. The Lower Merion School Board approved the formation of a cooperative between Harriton and Lower Merion\u2019s programs in May. The cooperative, however, is awaiting PIAA approval. PIAA rules allow schools to combine programs when circumstances such as low participation or a lack of success make it difficult to sustain a team.<\/p>\n
For now, Harriton has left the rest of the Central League in a bind. Radnor, which was slated to host the Rams Thursday night, is first. Next week, Garnet Valley was supposed to host its \u201cSalute to Service Night\u201d on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.<\/p>\n
The Lower Merion School Board\u2019s approval of a cooperative has given struggling programs a chance to join forces and build for the future. That\u2019s a good thing. But with PIAA approval still pending, the potential solution came too late.<\/p>\n
As Harriton principal Stu Warshawer and athletic director Shawn Albert wrote in a letter to parents and guardians: \u201cOur responsibility is to provide student-athletes with an experience that prioritizes their safety and well-being while also giving them meaningful opportunities to compete, develop and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a rundown of the Week 2 games to watch in Delco, the first of two weeks with a split Thursday schedule:<\/p>\n
Thursday
\nMarple Newtown at Springfield, 7<\/p>\n
It was a rough start for the rebuilding Tigers, who rotated a pair of first-year varsity quarterbacks, Tommy Diblasi and Nick Link, in a 23-7 home loss to Archbishop Carroll. Link went 7-for-13 for 61 yards, including a short touchdown pass to Robert Bales that pulled Marple within 9-7 late in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Jack Dreger led the Tigers\u2019 ground game with 36 yards on 16 carries.<\/p>\n
The Cougars, the reigning Central League and District 1 Class 5A champions, looked every bit the part in a 27-7 rout of Perkiomen Valley. All-Delco TJ Valletti rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns. Finn Delaney hauled in three passes for 73 yards and a touchdown from quarterback John Hopkins. Sebastian Simone paced the defense with 10 total tackles, including two sacks. Chase Christy, Mike DePetris and Bobby Valletti each came away with an interception.<\/p>\n
Strath Haven at Penncrest, 7<\/p>\n
The Panthers couldn\u2019t keep pace with Chester in a 22-10 loss. Jalen Starr caught four passes for 59 yards and a touchdown, while running back Landon Barlow piled up 132 yards on 23 carries.<\/p>\n
The Lions let a 15-point fourth-quarter lead slip away in a 22-21 loss to Sun Valley. Running backs Chase Callahan and Kevin Graham had big openers, with Callahan rushing for 128 yards and a touchdown and Graham accumulating 122 yards and two scores.<\/p>\n
Garnet Valley at Haverford, 7<\/p>\n
The Jaguars amassed 604 yards of total offense in a 63-34 slugfest win over Nazareth Area.<\/p>\n
Coltan Turner completed 7 of 9 passes for 236 yards and five touchdowns. Ethan Vaughn caught three passes for 127 yards and a touchdown. Luke Bernard led the ground attack with 148 yards and a score.<\/p>\n
The Fords rolled past Harry S. Truman, 42-13, in their opener.<\/p>\n
Friday
\nPottsgrove at Sun Valley, 7<\/p>\n
The Vanguards earned their first opening-night win in four years with their dramatic comeback against Penncrest.<\/p>\n
Zion Cauthorn\u2019s 68-yard touchdown catch from Shane Steinmetz cut the deficit to 21-20 late in the fourth quarter. Cauthorn then took a handoff on the ensuing two-point try and got into the end zone for the game-winning conversion. Steinmetz completed 7 of 11 passes for 106 yards.<\/p>\n
The Falcons opened the new campaign with a 28-14 win over Methacton. Quarterback Ryan Lucci showed off his dual-threat ability, rushing for 92 yards and two touchdowns while adding 79 yards and a score through the air.<\/p>\n
Saturday
\nBonner & Prendergast at Archbishop Ryan, 1<\/p>\n
The Friars got a quality road test last week, dropping a 24-20 decision to St. Augustine\u2019s Prep, the No. 9 team in New Jersey according to NJ.com.<\/p>\n
All-Delco quarterback Noel Campbell completed 10 of 22 passing attempts for 124 yards, while Mehki Martin rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown. Omarie Demercado added 63 rushing yards and a score. Musa Bradford and Tarif Nixon each caught two passes for 51 yards.<\/p>\n
The Raiders dropped a 16-13 overtime decision to Father Judge. Kazmaire Kelly went for131 yards on 10 carries and hauled in five passes for 45 yards. Kelly scored both Ryan touchdowns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Central League season is here. So is a scheduling headache. Harriton announced Monday that it is canceling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[212,305,183,185,184,186,725,28,726,210],"class_list":["post-281240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-delaware-county","tag-high-school-sports","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-pa-prep-live","tag-pennsylvania","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-dtd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}