by Jonathan Vander Lugt

Two weeks ago, Germantown Academy got shellacked by Father Judge.

Though the Pats made a few plays here and there, the Crusaders, in all facets, wound up being the better team. It left a mark on GA—a 35-14 loss to open the season is never a good wakeup call.

Kyle McCloskey’s performance was poor, leading to much of the team’s struggles. The Villanova-bound signal caller was looking forward to putting that performance behind him last week in a tilt with Bishop McDevitt, but Mother Nature had other plans.

The sizzling September heat—not a phrase that’s usually uttered—ended that hope. Football is exhausting in 60-degree weather, let alone the humid 90-degree slog the end of that week brought. It wasn’t going to be safe to run the kids out, so Germantown Academy had another week to let the loss simmer.

That could not have been a worse recipe for Neumann-Goretti Saturday, where McCloskey and his cohorts whooped the Saints, 44-0.

“I felt good today. I came in with a chip on my shoulder because, as a quarterback, I have to play better than I did,” McCloskey said. “I’m happy that I could come with a little bit of anger and toughness, start strong, and not really make any mistakes.”

He did have one incompletion, but that was really the only thing he did that could have been called a mistake. The southpaw needed only four passes to tally 162 yards—all to Mike Reilly—for a score to go with a two-yard run for six.

“I think the offensive line did a really nice job protecting him, the running backs did a really good job in blitz pickup, the receivers felt good about the route concepts, and Kyle put it on the money,” said GA head coach Matt Dence. “He’s a plus athlete. He’s got to work on a few things, like stepping up in the pocket to avoid pressure, rather than moving left-to-right, and he did a really good job of that today.”

McCloskey’s two-yarder was the game’s first score, and the passing touchdown, a 55-yard strike to Reilly, was the second. The monster day from Reilly came on the heels of a solid one against Judge (he caught three balls for 73 yards and a score), and the junior wideout seems to be developing a quick rapport with his QB.

“We had a really good thing going,” McCloskey said. “I give him all the credit—he’s really worked hard this off-season. He didn’t really get a chance last year, but this year he’s been one of our best players by far.”

Reilly’s been doing it on defense too. His interception on the game’s first drive set the Patriots up with good field position and from there, he and McCloskey took off.

“He’s played both ways, and been strong on both sides,” McCloskey said. “We had a good connection in the off-season and preseason, and we’re building on it right now. I’m excited about that too.”

Elsewhere for the Pats, K.J. Cartwright had a nice day. The back, finally healthy after a spate of nagging injuries limited him late last year, rushed for 40 yards and a pair of scores on 10 carries. His 60-yard return on a kickoff following a safety was certainly the highlight of his day, and head coach Matt Dence is understandably excited to have him back.

“We had him healthy early last year, and I think we’ve been more careful this year,” Dence said. “We’ve also got two other quality backs, and maybe another—Don Ganges is really starting to step up—but Nick Picariello and Jimmy Dolan are two quality backs.

“It’s a tough position to go in and grind out 35 carries in a game and expect to be healthy. In this day and age, that’s not happening. When you have a couple guys that you can do some things with, it makes it easier.”

The defense, by and large, could do little wrong—five interceptions testifies to that. Next week brings a matchup against the Academy of the New Church (Bryn Athyn), an independent team whose matchups against private schools—particularly those in close geographic proximity like Germantown Academy—serve as their marquee games.

Hopefully for the Pats, they can keep rolling off of Saturday’s momentum.

“We got our confidence back, and got some of the young guys in,” Reilly said. “We came together.”