H.S. Football: Garnet Valley dominant up front in bounce-back win over Conestoga

CONCORD — If ever there was a team poised for a bounce-back week, it was Garnet Valley. After running into the buzzsaw that is Strath Haven last weekend, the Jaguars were looking to get back on track by throttling Conestoga, which is exactly what happened amid Garnet Valley’s 35-7 victory “It was a big response that we needed after last week,” Jaguars coach Erik Van Wyk said. “It was mainly because of how they practiced this week.

They took responsibility and ownership of last week. The guys on the O-line and D-line really stepped up. If we can get those guys going like that, good things will happen.



” Garnet Valley relied on the boys in the trenches to set the tone. One of the major standouts was Massimo Iavarone, who made his presence felt on both sides of the ball. “Our coaches tell us to own the line of scrimmage and that’s what we wanted to prove we could do after last game,” Iavarone said.

“This means a lot to us because we changed our mentality at practice this week. Being able to play like we did tonight shows us that we can do what we think we are capable of.” Anthony Gifford scored the first touchdown of the game for the Jaguars (5-1 overall, 4-1 Central League), and his backfield mate, Gavin Rossello, added two more in the first half.

Those scoring runs were sandwiched around a 43-yard touchdown strike from Luke O’Donoghue to Caden Koehler. Rossello would go on to add another touchdown in the third quarter as well. Koehler was electric and nearly unstoppable for the Jags, while O’Donoghue was on-point in running the Garnet Valley offense.

“It was important to us to get off to a quick start after last week didn’t go our way,” said Gifford, who racked up 69 yards on the ground. “Once we get the run game going, we are really tough to stop. (Rossello) ran great.

Once he got to the outside no one could catch him. We had a good chemistry in the backfield.” Powering all of that was a rugged Jaguars offensive line, and defensively, Garnet Valley completely stifled Conestoga and never allowed the Pioneers to find any rhythm.

Pioneers quarterback Timmy Bruder was a handful to deal with at times, but the Jaguars’ line made life extremely difficult for ‘Stoga. Aidan Bendo, Reis Meiser (sack), Iavarone, Chase Britton, Erick Spadea and Drew Donaghy were among the Jaguars wreaking havoc, while Caden Olinger thwarted a Pioneers drive with a key interception. Conestoga would go on to score late in the fourth quarter on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Bruder to Jonah Brown, but that was as close as the Pioneers would get.

“There were two ways to respond to last week. We could have sulked and said the season was over or we could have said that wasn’t how we wanted it to go, there was a lot of the season left, and held our heads high,” Olinger said. “We got out to practice Monday and everyone was locked in.

” For Conestoga, it is back to the drawing board. One week after securing a win over Lower Merion, the Pioneers just did not have an enough to deal with Garnet Valley. “We know who Garnet Valley is.

They’re disciplined, they’re efficient. They’ve probably run that system since they were 10-years-old, but I was really proud of how my guys performed tonight,” Conestoga coach Scott Gee said. “For us, it’s a lot of the same stuff.

Penalties, little lapses in execution. We just have to find consistency and that comes with experience. “We’re getting there, but we played a great team.

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