ERDENHEIM, PA – It may have been senior day for Bishop McDevitt, but it was the Eagles of Conwell-Egan who went home celebrating after their 42-14 win to secure their first PCL title in 48 years.

“When you have a young team you have to build,” said Conwell-Egan head coach, Jack Techtmann. “Towards the middle of last year, we started to get more disciplined, a lot of the guys started to grow up, they got use to varsity football. We sort of saw this coming over the middle of the Summer, during 7-on-7’s, we were playing really well, kids were doing good things, so it wasn’t a surprising thing to us.”

This title has been seven years in the making, ever since Techtmann first took over as head coach at Conwell-Egan. Although they have only been there for part of the journey, Techtmann’s players know exactly how far this program has come.

Those who started the journey but were forced to pass their baton on to a younger generation are now proud to see their hard work reach its culmination.

“I’ve heard from so many different alumni during this run, about how great it is and how proud they are,” said Techtmann. “Guys that are in college now are texting me saying, ‘We walk around with our chests out.’ And to me that’s what matters the most. The guys that have been here, they’re part of our program. The guys who were here seven years ago, who took their lumps.”

Even to someone who joined the team late last season, like senior lineman Tom Burns, who transferred from Notre Dame (Lawrenceville, NJ) for the final two games of last season, their growth as a group was evident.

“I think we’re glued together a lot more now. We’re all tight, we’re all brothers and we just work hard for a common goal,” said Burns.

After beating West Catholic last week to take sole possession of the blue division, Egan was dealing with a fair share of injuries; including Burns, who started at offensive tackle with a torn tendon in his middle finger and a broken ring finger. Winning despite their injuries really just goes to show how far the Eagles have come from just a season ago.

The Eagles managed to get ahead of McDevitt in a big way early on, taking the 21-0 lead with ten minutes still remaining in the second quarter. A dominant first half by senior wide receiver Terome Mitchell, who scored on touchdown runs of 32 and 73-yards on back-to-back drives, helped Egan get out to the early lead while Garwo was being contained by the Lancer’s defense.

“Terome, like I’ve always said, he’s been a monster,” said Garwo. “I’ve learned a lot from him, we’re really close, so we just get each other better every week at practice and we break down film together and we talk so much on the field so, if they’re going to key on me, they’ve got to get Rome, Dajuan Harris, they’ve got to get Alex Goldsby, so you’ve got to pick your poison.”

“If (Garwo) is slow, then it’s like, alright I’ve got to pick it up and I’ve got to get him going because if I get going, I know he’ll get going and we just counter act each other and go off of each other and we’ll work and do big things like today,” said Mitchell.

To give credit to McDevitt, the Lancers tried their best to play spoiler for Egan. After scoring on their last possession of the first half, McDevitt got the ball to open the third. On first down, McDevitt junior quarterback Lonnie Rice dropped back and took a shot from the defense as he threw the ball. The ball floated in the air, seemingly forever, until it finally fell into the arms of McDevitt’s Jon Luke Peaker, who then made a man miss and put on the after burners to score a 65-yard touchdown on the opening play of the third quarter cutting Egan's lead down to just seven. 

“I don’t know how many superlatives I can throw out there at this point, (Garwo) is the leader of this team, he took this game over,” said Techtmann. “We’ve got a nice counter balance between with Alex (Goldsby) and Tre (Mitchell) and Dajuan (Harris), but Patrick is the true leader. He wanted this as much as anybody in this school and he made sure it happened. When they were coming back, he just finished it.”

The Eagles were thrilled to be bringing the hardware back to Conwell-Egan for the second time in school history because it serves as a symbol of their hard work and everything they’ve been through to be where they are now.

“Together we’ve built such great chemistry and I think that’s what’s been getting us over the hump,” said Garwo. “It’s not always the talent. We have really good talent, we know that, but the chemistry, all the hard times we went through, that what’s getting us through now.”

“Coach Techtmann is a great man, our whole coaching staff cares so much for the players and we had to give them something back,” said Garwo. “We always try our hardest every week, play for each other and that includes the coaches. We’re all in this together.”

Conwell Egan will now look to earn their first undefeated season in school history as they take on Cardinal O’Hara at home this Saturday.