Aces Fall to Rams in Football Season Opener

With hurricane Earl looming, the Lower Merion Aces and the Harriton Rams kicked off the 2010 football season with a battle for township supremacy. Unfortunately for the Aces, some thunder and lightening showed up early.

Behind the power of Spencer Reid (son of Philadelphia Eagle's head coach Andy Reid) and the agility of Mike Allen, Harriton rolled past Lower Merion by a score of 28-6.

Harriton, hungry to avenge last season's 22-0 loss, came out swinging. Reid got the scoring started with a TD at the 9:18 mark of the first quarter, then three minutes later, following a failed onside kick and an Aces' punt, added to the Rams' lead with a 67-yard TD rush. Then, after an encouraging but unfruitful Aces possession, Harriton took over on downs and drove to the 42 on the strength of some tough running by Reid, before taking a commanding, and ultimately insurmountable, 22-0 lead by way of a beautifully thrown jump-ball to Allen.

The Aces showed some signs of life later in the second quarter when they intercepted an errant Harriton throw – prompting an exuberant "this is Lower Merion football!" bellow from the sidelines – and moved into the red zone with a nifty pass by Junior quarterback Desmond Ellis. It was all for naught though, as the Aces fumbled on the next play and Harriton's Allen returned it for a touchdown. Though a late blocking in the back call nullified the score, the damage was done, the Aces chance to put the outcome in doubt passed.

"We didn't tackle on defense, and offensively we didn't execute up front or in the back," said Aces coach Jon Rothberg, before adding that his teams shortcomings were not for lack of effort.

"There was plenty of effort. We played hard out there," Rothberg said.

The effort began to pay off in the second half, where the teams played to a 6-6 draw. Harriton tight end Ryan Kelly hauled in a TD reception in the third quarter to extend the lead to 28-0, but the Aces answered back, finally getting on the board with 46 seconds remaining in the fourth.

Despite – or possibly in response to – the pressure he was under from the Harriton front seven, Ellis began to find some luck with his legs in the second half, particularly on the Aces lone scoring drive. After a few chain-moving scrambles, he was able to connect with a flanker on a short pass to put his team on the scoreboard. However, the ensuing extra point clanked off the cross-bar. For Lower Merion, it was just one of those days.

Notes and anecdotes

– Andy Reid was in attendance, watching son Spencer, and had high praise for Harriton.

"They're doing well, playing very good football. Coach Barr came back, and he does a very nice job for them. They all look good." When asked if he saw any guards on the field who could start for the Birds he said "no."

– The game does not count in league standings. The Central League is broken into two six team divisions based on school size. Each team plays each of the teams in its division each year, then four from the other division. Harriton and Lower Merion, in separate divisions within the conference, were slated to miss one another this year before some 11th hour schedule maneuvering ensured the rivalry would continue uninterrupted, albeit as a non-league game.

– See our photo gallery of the game for more coverage of the Aces first foray onto the gridiron this season.