For nearly six decades, Inter-Academic League play has ended the same way for Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s football team: with a loss to Malvern Preparatory School. They haven’t beaten the Friars since 1966, not even en route to an Inter-Ac title in 2009.

Rick Knox ’92 has lived through that drought, both as a player and coach. On Nov. 10, on his home field, he watched the drought end during an overtime thriller in front of a packed crowd that included former players, friends, and members of the SCH community who had lived through decades of close calls.

“There are so many people from [SCH] who have been around here a long time that haven’t seen that,” Knox said about his team’s 21-20 victory. “They did it. Nobody can ever take that away from them.”

In the past two seasons, SCH has met Malvern for a chance at an Inter-Ac title, but both times has suffered crushing defeats. In 2023, they lost 17-7, and in 2024, they lost 35-0.

Even with the pressure, Knox had emphasized treating the game like any other. “[We] aren’t trying to put too much more emphasis on it,” Knox said in an interview with student-run Gametime Sports. “We’ve been doing this for 11 weeks… it’s the same as it’s been every other week.”

The seniors treated the moment differently. “It’s bittersweet,” said senior linebacker Johnny Nosal. Senior lineman Kyle Cameron told his teammates to “Play like you’re a kid out there.”

With a packed student section behind them, the Friars quieted things, punching the Blue Devils in the mouth on a four-minute, seven-play drive that ended in a touchdown for senior running back Zeke Bates, though they failed a two-point conversion.

On the Devils’ opening drive, they had to quickly punt it away, and for a moment, everyone assumed it’d be a repeat of past seasons. The stuffed student section went silent. The cowbells stopped ringing. Fortunately, a Colin McFadden fourth-down stop kept the Devils alive.

Enter the senior celebrating his 19th birthday: Aaron Clark. The Buffalo commit caught a screen pass on the right side, juked past a defender, and won the footrace down the sideline for a 75-yard touchdown.

On Malvern’s very next snap, junior cornerback Isaiah Moore forced a fumble, which gave SCH the ball in Malvern territory, and a quick three points off the kick from junior James Brennan Rothschild.

The sequence repeated again in the second quarter: senior Malvern quarterback Jackson Melconian scrambled on first down, and this time senior linebacker Harry Kull punched the ball out, giving SCH the ball on their own 10. Rothschild then punched in a chip shot field goal after the Devils burned six minutes off the clock, sending SCH into the half up 13-6.

SCH held the momentum, the energy, and the crowd behind them, holding things scoreless throughout the third quarter. But one play is all it takes to swing the momentum, and it was a 12-yard touchdown pass to junior Jack Schuster that tied the game up for the Friars.

Possession switched hands, and fans waited with bated breath. Malvern was driving, and once again, the Devils needed a miracle. This time, one emerged from the linebacking core. His name was Johnny Nosal.

On first down, the senior helped contain a QB keeper. On second, he broke up a pass across the middle. And on third, Nosal wrapped around the line, sacking Melconian to set up a 4th and 13.

“I knew I had to get one,” said Nosal during a postgame interview. “Get the big sack…at least this game.”

Senior quarterback Liam Zelman, a Holy Cross commit, orchestrated a drive to lead SCH back into scoring position, setting up Rothschild for a game-winning field goal, with just two seconds left on the clock. The raucous Devils’ crowd quieted. It was a good snap, a clean hold -- and a kick that was ultimately batted at the line.

This game was going to overtime.

Melconian found senior wideout Jackson Ford for a Friars touchdown on the first play of overtime. SCH’s offense, which had been sluggish all game, now had to score on one of the best defenses in the state.

The question was who the ball would go to. Sophomore standout William Howard had struggled on the ground. They’d likely expect a run with Zelman, since the senior quarterback had driven SCH downfield numerous times. Clark, while great, had yet to contribute in the red zone as much as he had the year before.

But Coach Knox has always stuck to his guns. Zelman had carried them this far, and the Devils relied on his legs one more time. He took the snap on a QB keeper, and the blue sea of his linemen parted, opening a path for a wide-open touchdown.

“I got to give it to [my blockers],” Zelman said. “They made an amazing hole up the middle. I didn’t even get touched, I walked through there. It was a thing of beauty.”

“It was a no-brainer,” Knox said when asked about the call. “When we scored, there was no doubt in my mind that we were going for two, to try and win it right there, especially as the underdog.”

Zelman snapped, placed the ball firmly in the stomach of Howard, and then quickly ripped the ball away from him. The Friars had sold out to stop the run, and sitting there, eyes locked with his quarterback, was Clark, alone in the endzone. “I don’t think my heart’s ever dropped to my stomach like that,” Zelman said postgame. “He was wide open.”

The perfect pass led Clark forward, and Clark said, “I gotta go get that.” On his 19th birthday, the wideout elevated, pulling down the catch and securing not just the two-point conversion, but a share of the Inter-Ac title.

In a postgame interview with Gametime Sports, Clark said that “I had more than just a team relying on me: I had a community. I had a whole lotta people counting on that one catch, so I had to make it happen for everybody here.”

Like a tsunami, Devils fans and players rushed the field. Players celebrated, seniors who had been there through both the lows of their freshman season, and now the new highs of this moment.

“Words can’t describe it. These people have been family to me ever since I came here two years ago, and the beginning of my junior year,” said Zelman postgame. “It’s just an amazing feeling to win with everyone and be so welcomed.”