Preparing to play Haverford School’s football team is an unenviable task.
Find a way to shut down the quarterback and receivers? The running backs will do the job. Exploit something in the Fords’ secondary? The defensive front won’t give you time to make a throw. Pin the Fords deep in their own territory? The punter will boot one high and deep.
Jumpstarted by two early touchdowns Saturday afternoon, Haverford School remained undefeated by defeating visiting Germantown Academy, 42-14, in an Inter-Academic League contest. The victory raised the Fords’ record to 9-0 and overall winning streak to 18 dating back to last fall.
A victory at Episcopal Academy next Saturday would secure Haverford School with the Inter-Ac title and a perfect season, its first since Mike Mayock coached the Fords to consecutive 8-0 records in 1970 and 1971.
“This team is special,” said senior Dox Aitken, a standout safety, receiver, and punter. “We’re always ready to play.”
Despite being recognized as one of the best all-around players in the area, Aitken deflected his own personal glory.
“People step up,” he said. “It’s not one guy. It’s never one guy. We just play together.”
The Fords’ most recent cast of prime-time characters was plentiful on both sides of the ball. On defense, the Fords held the Patriots to 71-yards on the ground on 25 attempts. They also made four interceptions and scored a touchdown.
Micah Sims makes one of his three interceptions against Germantown Academy
But it was the offense that was most responsible for dropping the Patriots’ record to 7-2.
Junior quarterback Tommy Toal completed 19 of 29 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns, including a high, arching, magnificently placed toss to Aitken, who out-leaped a GA defender and raced untouched the rest of the way for a 54-yard touchdown halfway through the first quarter to give Haverford a 7-0 lead.
In typical fashion, Aitken credited Toal with the connection; later, Toal did the opposite.
“He put it in the perfect spot,” Aitken said. “All I had to do is go up and catch it.”
Toal’s recollection?
“My mindset is to give my receivers a chance to catch the ball,” Toal said. “Dox was one-and-one with the defender and he’s one of the best receivers in the state. It’s just about execution.”
Mike Murphy talks to his team after win over Germantown Academy - PSD Photo
Toal later connected with junior Malik Twyman on a 12-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter to give the Fords a 21-0 lead. Three minutes earlier, Twyman had scored on a four-yard touchdown run.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, Twyman was just getting started. He added a third touchdown on a one-yard run midway through the second quarter. On the previous play, Aitken (four catches for 100 yards) had engineered a sprawling, 27-yard completion.
Twyman scored his fourth touchdown with 3:32 remaining in the third quarter, a 15-yard bolt that increased the Fords’ lead to 35-14.
“He battled an ankle injury early in the season but is starting to hit his stride,” said Haverford School running backs coach Luke Dougherty. “He brings an awesome combination of power and speed.”
Dougherty was delighted to see Twyman excel as both a running back and receiver. In addition to 154 yards on 19 carries, Twyman added three catches for 19 yards.
“I'm happy for him because he's been working hard to put it all together,” Dougherty said.
For good measure, Haverford would add a sixth and final touchdown in nifty fashion. After making an interception at his own five, senior safety Keyveat Postell jaunted 95 yards to the end zone.
The pick was Haverford’s fourth, with the other three coming on thefts by Micah Sims. The senior cornerback’s first interception occurred with 3:41 left in the first quarter. Sims actually scored a touchdown on the play, but a penalty nullified the score and Haverford’s possession began at the Germantown Academy 45. The Fords eventually scored seven plays later.
Sims added an interception in both the third quarter and fourth; the latter was caught in the end zone and ruined the short-lived euphoria of a 33-yard pass from junior GA quarterback Kyle McCloskey to senior Mike Gilmore.
“That’s a first for me,” said Sims, about making multiple interceptions. “I tried to stay with the receiver and make a play. On one of them I was able to kind of read (the receiver’s) eyes so I knew where the ball was going.”
One of numerous two-way players for the Fords, Sims also caught three passes for 30 yards. Although he looked exhausted, Sims said he was “totally fine” and could have played another quarter or two.
“Coach (Matthew) Rosco is our strength and conditioning coach and does a great job of making sure we aren’t too tired,” Sims said. “Even when we’re tired, we have a lot of adrenaline to make sure we don’t let up.”
On 37 passes, McCloskey finished with 14 completions for 192 yards and two touchdowns. McCloskey was also the victim of numerous dropped passes.
Malik Twyman catches a touchdown pass from Tommy Toal.
“It comes down to execution,” said Germantown Academy coach Matt Dence. “After a play, good or bad, you have to put it behind you. We tell the kids to play for four quarters no matter what the situation is.
“We got down three scores. We told them that we can’t get all three back at once. Go one at a time.”
The Patriots trimmed their deficit to 21-7 midway through the second quarter on a 21-yard touchdown pass from McCloskey to freshman Jon Haynes. With 28 seconds left before halftime, McCloskey fired a 36-yard scoring strike to junior Santino Miriello.
In the end, however, it was too much Haverford School offense and too many Haverford School defense.
Yet again.
(John Knebels can be reached at jknebels@gmail.com.)