GA offensive coordinator Greg Isdaner (left) gives instructions to quarterback Kyle McCloskey (center) and wide receiver Khalil Ashley-Darrah. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

by Jonathan Vander Lugt

A 7-3 high school football season, usually, is good enough.

In the PIAA, 7-3 with a decent strength of schedule will usually get you a spot in the bottom of the state bracket. Nothing extremely noteworthy, but memorable for players nonetheless.

For Germantown Academy, 2015’s 7-3 record meant, in part, progress. It was only the third time in the past 12 seasons that the Pats finished above the .500 mark on the year (2006 and 2013 being the other two), and represented a step in the right direction for a football program that had been moribund for the better part of the decade-and-a-half preceding it.

Even still, 2015 left more to be desired. The Patriots rolled to a 7-0 start, beating the Episcopal and Springside Chestnut Hill Academies in their first two Inter-Ac games before imploding for its last three. GA lost to Malvern Prep, the Haverford School, and Penn Charter by a combined 83 points, putting a sour end to what had initially been a promising year.

“We played three really good teams that did a great job against us,” GA head coach Matt Dence said.

Based on the scores, that goes without saying.

“We got banged up at the wrong times,” Dence said. “But that’s not an excuse—it happens to everyone… But usually, if you’re the healthiest team and the talent’s similar, you have the best chance to be successful.”

Germantown Academy’s injuries were mainly those afflicting quarterback Kyle McCloskey—who had a cast on his non-throwing hand for half the year—and the cavalcade of maladies that lead back K.J. Cartwright had to deal with.

This year, though, they’re back and healthy, and Dence is going to be a little more careful about keeping his team intact in the early part of the year.

“We’ve got to be more mindful of how we’re giving out reps as we’re going along,” he said. “Especially in the first five. Obviously we want to win them, but we need to be healthy for the last five.”

This year marks the fifth of Dence’s tenure, one that has seen him lead the Patriots to a 20-19 record since 2012. Based on the way he was bouncing around practice last Saturday, it seems like this one might be the one he’s been the most excited for.

After all, he’s got his third-year starting quarterback (McCloskey), who’s bound for Division-I ball at Villanova, another D-I commit leading the defense (Pat McGettigan, who’s going to Penn), and sophomore Jon Haynes, who at receiver has the potential to be one of the most dynamic players in the conference.

“We have the most kids we’ve ever had out for football,” he said. “We’ve done more stuff in the summer that we’ve done before, we’re as big as we’ve ever been, and I think we’re as talented as we’ve ever been. The commitment level is high.”

McCloskey, a southpaw, committed himself by putting 15 pounds of weight on in the off-season in order to better handle the rigors of a full season. Additionally, the fact that he’s got his college choice squared away has taken away a large amount of stress.

“It’s been awesome,” he said. “Last year, there was a big weight on my shoulders during the recruiting process.

“This year, all my mind is focused on is the team. It’s on winning as many games in the league as possible. I think I’ve been playing my best football.”

McCloskey stands at about 6-foot-4-inches, well above his pocket. He’s an end-to-end athletic monster on the basketball court in the winter, and that talent translates well onto the football field. In addition to his left wing, he’s agile enough to elude rushers, fast enough to deal damage with his legs, and strong enough to power through defenders. Like Dence, his primary goal is to not stumble again in Inter-Ac play.

“It’s not how we start the season,” he said, “it’s how we finish. We lost a couple of games in the third and fourth quarters.”

“Conditioning will be a big part of it,” he went on. The Pats will have a couple of weeks to square that away before they take on Father Judge in their first regular-season contest on Sept. 3. “I think that we’re a lot smarter, we work a lot harder, and overall, just a better team this year. Hopefully we can come out with a hot startand have a good finish too.”