GA's Trae Vance led the Explorers with 157 yards from scrimmage Saturday. The junior has now tallied 858 scrimmage yards (799 rushing, 59 receiving), good for third place in the league. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

by Jonathan Vander Lugt

Of all the games that happened elsewhere on Saturday – Purdue’s massive upset over Ohio State, Michigan’s rivalry win over Michigan State, or Temple’s win over the then-undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats – it was the contest at Germantown Academy that gave its fans the biggest treat.

The Patriots, needing a win to get their season back on the rails, came through with a wild 23-14 victory over Springside Chestnut Hill.

A week after both teams stumbled with a loss to start the Inter-Ac season, the Patriots went into the game’s final frame up 10-7. To set the stage, GA scored twice in a terrific third quarter as two long drives, capped by Trae Vance’s two-yard score and Nick Niemynski’s 28-yard field goal, erased a 7-0 SCH halftime deficit.

At the onset of the fourth, Springside Chestnut Hill was gaining yards in chunks as a response to Niemynski’s field goal. Aaron Angelos connected with Ke’Shawn Williams three times for 33 yards, and running back Aaron Rascoe rumbled 18 more down to the GA 34-yard line, where defender Jerry Griffen-Batchler closed in.

Normally, Rascoe – who has a 40-pound advantage over Griffen-Batchler – would either break through a tackle or succumb once other defenders got in on the action. His problem, though, is that Griffen-Batchler wasn’t trying to tackle him.

He tried – and succeeded – to rip the ball right out of Rascoe’s hands. What was a promising SCH drive was literally stolen from them.

GA did little to answer on the ensuing drive, but more hijinks ensued on the punt. Niemynski, also handling punting duties, had been a bit slow to get the kick off earlier in the game. GA head coach Matt Dence, a special teams coach by trade, lamented the fact on the sideline in the second quarter.

It’s as though he saw what was about to happen next: Josh Niebish blocked the punt, and Jack Gentile returned it about 40 yards to give Springside Chestnut Hill a lead. Luke Greenberg’s extra point made it 14-10 Blue Devils with 7:22 to play.

“A lot of teams would fold after a blocked punt like that,” Dence said. “We were resilient and different guys stepped up and made plays.”

Buoyed by a 40-yard connection from quarterback Matt Brittingham to Griffen-Batchler, GA marched right back down to the Blue Devil four-yard line. With second-and-goal, it looked like GA was about to take the lead back.

Then, Brittingham and Vance botched the handoff. SCH’s Nick Schrager fell on it, and the Patriots found their backs against the wall again.

The Blue Devils went three-and-out despite Williams’ heroic effort on his third-down reception, where the talented junior spun around or fought through what seemed like every GA defender for 11 yards to wind up just short. SCH punted away to their own 44-yard line.

Germantown Academy senior Matt Brittingham takes a snap on Saturday. Brittingham, performing in relief of the injured Jordan Longino, looked much more comfortable in his second week of play with 143 yards and the go-ahead score on 11-of-18 passing. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

With a full set of timeouts, Brittingham engineered a clutch scoring drive. From the Blue Devil 34, he hauled in a trick-play pass from Griffen-Batchler to turn a second-and-13 into a first-and-10. Two plays later, Brittingham lofted a perfect pass to Tayshaun Mack for six.

“We wanted to get a tall receiver out there with some advantage over their backs,” Dence said. “We’d been running the screen well enough that we could get them to cheat in a little bit, and Tayshaun got just enough leverage.”

“ put enough on that ball to get it up there for him,” Dence said, “and Tayshaun was able to haul it in.”

“It was a great ball,” said Mack. “We’ve been practicing that all week. It was a very difficult moment - we’ve had a lot of adversity and he stepped up and made a great throw.”

With 36.8 seconds left, the Patriots couldn’t quite rest easy. SCH still had two of its timeouts, and a penchant for racking up yards in a hurry.

Starting on their own 35-yard line, the Blue Devils tried a gadget play of their own: Angelos threw to Pat Elliott, who then pitched it off the Williams for a 15-yard gain. Angelos found Williams again for 15 more, and a quick spike stopped the clock with about 20 seconds left. After an incompletion, Angelos found Jack Gentile for 20 more yards down to the GA 15.

An incomplete pass on the next play forced the Blue Devils to attempt the field goal. Greenberg lined up from 32 yards away and loosed kick, only to see a GA hand swat it down. Griffen-Batchler scooped it up and ran it back for six more, bringing the game to its final margin.

“I was super proud of the kids,” said SCH head coach Rick Knox. “Obviously, there were some things we could have done better but that was a great football game and it’s a shame someone had to lose.”

“Our guys played their butts off. I hope they understand that I wasn’t mad at them – I can’t yell and scream after a game like this,” Knox said.

“All football teams are like a family,” he went on. “This is a tough moment where we have to stick together. That’s the only way you get through a game like this.”

Williams finished his outstanding day with 159 yards on a season-high 12 receptions. In fact, that total represents the most that has been tallied in a single game all season by an Inter-Ac receiver.

“To me, he’s the best receiver in the city and the stats are there to back it up,” Knox said. “He’s spectacular, he’s a great kid.”

Junior Ke'Shawn Williams has been terrific in 2018, and Saturday afternoon was no different. The Blue Devil standout tallied 159 yards on 12 catches, and now has 795 on the season, easily enough to lead the league. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

Rascoe was held to 68 yards on 11 carries, while Angelos threw for 197 yards on 15-of-26 passing. His one-yard run at the end of the first quarter proved to be SCH’s only offensive touchdown. SCH will look to end its Inter-Ac skid next week against Penn Charter.

For GA, which will travel to the Episcopal Academy next week, contributions came from up and down the roster. Vance ran 26 times for 107 yards (and caught four passes for 50 more), while Lacey Snowden added another 68 on 13 carries. Brittingham completed 11 of 18 passes for 143 yards and a score. None of Griffen-Batchler’s totals stood out, but he made plays in every facet of the game: passing, receiving and the aforementioned strip and blocked punt return.

“They handled the adversity better than I did,” Dence said. “They’re great kids, and every single one of them gave a great effort.”

Around the Area:

Penn Charter rebounded, while La Salle fell again.

The Explorers lost, 31-12, to Archbishop Wood to fall to 3-5 (2-2) on the season. Only quarterback Sean Daly stood out in La Salle’s pedestrian offensive outing (169 total yards) with 73 yards and two scores on 15 carries to go along with 90 yards through the air. The Explorers will take on Roman Catholic next week to conclude their regular season. With its week-seven win over Father Judge, La Salle has guaranteed itself the number two seed in the Philadelphia Catholic League’s class AAAAAA playoff, where they’ll face either Judge or Roman. The Explorers would have to win out through the PCL playoffs in order to avoid its first losing season since 2007.

Penn Charter, looking to rebound from its blowout loss to Malvern Prep the week before, performed well in its 41-14 win over the Haverford School. Edward Saydee got back on track – though he was still held out of the end zone – with 101 yards on 20 carries. Quarterback Kyle Jones was the game’s true standout, however, with eight carries, 89 yards and two scores on the ground to pair with 138 more yards and three scores on 8-of-12 passing. After some initial struggles, the junior is putting together a nice season despite Saydee’s shadow: 735 passing yards and six touchdowns on a 60 percent completion rate, along with 296 yards and eight more scores on the ground. The Quakers will head to Springside Chestnut Hill to play in an underrated rivalry game with the nearby Blue Devils.

Thanks to TedSilary.com for information used in this article.