by Jonathan Vander Lugt

Walking off the field following the Blue Devils’ rolling, 42-6 win against George Washington, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy head coach Rick Knox couldn’t have been more pleased with how his team played.

Yes, the Eagles were an inferior opponent, but that doesn’t take away the fact that SCH did exactly what it expected, and frankly, was supposed to do.

“Definitely,” Knox said. “That’s what we wanted out of our team today—to come out, jump on them right away. I saw a lot of positive things from different parts of the game, so I was excited.”

The Blue Devils did have a little bit of rust to shake out, though. After forcing a three-and-out on the game’s opening possession, George Washington attempted a fake punt on fourth-and-three from their own 27. It went about as well as you could imagine—a seven-yard loss—and gave SCH a prime opportunity to get the ball rolling.

Problem was, they couldn’t, at least not on that drive. Justin Telamaque took the drive’s opening carry for no gain, and a pair of errant Matt Rahill throws set the Blue Devils up with fourth-and-10. They went for it, and Rahill completed a nine-yard pass to Jack Cucinotta, but only after the ball caromed off of his initial target’s hands.

“In that first series, we didn’t execute,” Knox said. “My point to the team is that it’s always more about us than our opponent. That was a perfect example. I’m actually glad that happened, because we realized that you have to execute, or anyone can stop you.”

Rahill echoed Knox’s sentiment.

“We just weren’t in sync—it’s the first game of the season,” Rahill said. “But everyone calmed down and got the jitters out.”

Did they ever. On the third play of the next George Washington possession, the 5-foot-11, 295-pound Jimmy Burke snatched a fumble off the ground and rumbled 14 yards for the Blue Devils’ first score.

From there, the floodgates opened. Jordan Young reeled off a pair of runs for 66 yards in the next Blue Devil drive (capped by a 10-yard TD strike from Rahill to Cucinotta), before darting to a 44-yard score of his own early in the second.

In the meantime, the SCH defense kept the Eagles to just 22 yards following the fumble return. SCH scored in each of their next two drives before the half—on a 30-yard Rahill pass to Matt Hoffman and a seven-yard run by Justin Telamaque—to get the clock running for the game’s remainder.

“We didn’t expect anything less for today,” Rahill said. The senior finished with 88 yards and three touchdowns on 6-of-10 passing.

George Washington netted only 83 yards on offense throughout the day—55 of which came with SCH’s backups in late in the fourth. In addition to his 11-carry, 89-yard day on offense, Telamaque netted an interception that he returned for 24 yards, capping a stellar day on both sides of the ball for the senior.

“He played awesome,” Knox said of his senior running back. “I think he was our best player. He had some really nice tackles, and a great interception. We’re psyched about that.”

Young wasn’t too shabby himself—he dashed his way to 110 yards and a score on just three carries.

“They’re different backs—(Telamaque and Young)—but it’s great to have them in there,” Knox said. “They compliment each other really well and it’s tough for another team to gameplan against.”

Up next for the Blue Devils is what promises to be a much stiffer test. SCH will welcome Blue Mountain, a strong, physical, stereotypical coal-town team from Schuylkill Haven Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.

“We’ve got to continue to get in better shape,” Knox said. “More than anything, we need to build continuity. Like in that first drive—we can’t have that.”

“They have a lot of numbers, they’re extremely well-coached, and they’re extremely tough,” Knox said of his upcoming opponents. “They’re built off of their run game—old-school, wing-T motion kind of stuff. We have a real contrast in styles. So I’m excited to see that. They’ll be a physical, blue-collar team.”

Note: In the SCH football preview, the present author erroneously reported the Blue Devils’ roster numbers in the low-30s. The team’s final number is more robust: 45.