SCH senior passer Aaron Angeles scans the GA defense in last Friday's scrimmage. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

by Jonathan Vander Lugt

Last Friday night, Springside Chestnut Hill head coach Rick Knox left his team’s tri-scrimmage against Germantown Academy and Wyoming Seminary Prep in a good mood.

“It wasn't perfect, but we did a lot of good things,” Knox said. “Definitely a positive step forward. You put in all this work all summer and you want that first scrimmage to be a positive one.”

On their very first drive, senior quarterback Aaron Angelos connected on a deep pass to Ke'Shawn Williams for about 40 yards, and found his junior wideout again a few plays later for a score.

“You want to see what the guys are going to put forward,” Knox said. “You work three months for a scrimmage – obviously you put a base in for the whole season – but you want to see positive plays.”

“Defensively, we have a few more questions marks but I like how we stood up against two big offensive lines and held up pretty well,” Knox said. “One of our Achilles heels has always been giving up big plays and as far as I recall, we didn't do that today.”

After what he considered a good showing, Knox's expectations are high, especially considering the steps the Blue Devils took last season.

SCH won its first Inter-Ac game since 2014, and finished with its first winning record (6-4) since the same year. Most of the offensive skill position players are returning – Angelos has a full year with the program under his belt, and his favorite target, first-team All Inter-Ac reciever Pat Elliott, will return. In addition, Williams (who suffered a season-ending injury prior to league play last year) figures to be healthy all year.

SCH junior Ke'Shawn Williams (15) hauls in a big gain early in Friday's scrimmage. Williams went down for the year prior to league play last season, and figures to be a big weapon for coach Rick Knox and his staff. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

The talent that he shows on the hardwood (where he was an all-conference selection) was readily apparent on the gridiron before he got hurt last season and it looks like he hasn't missed a beat.

“Everybody wants to have an explosive receiver like him,” Knox said. “Having Pat Elliott on the other side is a huge help too. There have been times where we've had one really good receiver and our opponent could roll their coverage and take him away, but that's not the case this year.”

Returning with the passing-game trio are running backs Aaron Rascoe (who finished with 346 yards in just five games last season) and Rob Gentile (pronounced jen-tilly).

“We've got to have a good run game too – and I think Rob Gentile had a great game today,” Knox said. Gentile is a bruiser with deceptive top-end speed. “Aaron Rascoe is really good too – I like what they're going to bring.”

Angelos himself was a second-team All Inter-Ac selection, despite not receiving consistent playing time until the season's fifth game due to a protracted quarterback battle with now-graduated Jack Elliott.

He finished with a 57 percent completion percentage (a pretty good mark for high-school), and 1355 yards to go with 10 scores through the air and three more on the ground.

“Any time a quarterback comes back and knows the system, you can hit the ground running right away,” Knox said. “There's teaching, don't get me wrong, but it's more about fine-tuning his knowledge rather than learning plays.”

Running back Rob Gentile (pronounced jen-tilly) cuts around a Patriot defender Friday. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

“He's been a quarterback his whole life and this is what he's working for. He's a senior and we're going to expect a lot out him,” Knox went on. “We don't need him to be perfect, but we expect him to do really well. I think he understands that and showed some of it today.”

Above all, Knox just wants his team to be in every game that it plays. He doesn't want to see the 2015 and 2016 Blue Devils that went a combined 0-10 in league play. He’ll get his first look at the team in game action Friday night at Father Judge.

“The biggest lesson was that it wasn't about Xs and Os,” Knox said. “It was that after winning a pair of Inter-Ac games and hanging close in others, we feel like we can be in every game. Being in the mix for the Inter-Ac is a reality.”

He went on, “We've got a chance to have a really good year.”