Springfield Falls Short Against Garnet Valley, 42-41, In a Classic

In the end, all Ryan Strain was able to do was pound his fist into the dirt. The senior quarterback had a season-best game, but it was his last pass that he couldn’t forget, and that last gasp the Cougars couldn’t convert.

In one of those rare build-ups where two great teams clash, and fireworks are expected, the Springfield-Garnet Valley Central League matchup Friday night proved every bit worth the billing. Garnet Valley skinned by with a 42-41 victory, ending Springfield’s undefeated streak this season when the Jaguars’ Mitch Rose intercepted a Strain with less than a minute to play.

Garnet Valley takes sole possession of first place with a 7-1 overall mark and 7-0 in the Central League, while Springfield falls to 7-1 overall and 6-1 in the league.

“Garnet Valley is a real good football team and we played them as hard as we could,” Springfield coach Tom Kline said. “We battled to the end and this game is the reason why I decided to stay here at Springfield and come back as head coach. We’ll be back. We came up one point short, so now we go back to work and we come back and get better.”

Garnet Valley answered a large first-half deficit with 28-straight unanswered points. The Jags were up 42-35, when Strain pulled off some late magic. With the ball at the Springfield 48, on a fourth-and-eight, he hit Eric Pollock for a 52-yard touchdown with 3:27 left to play. The extra-point sailed wide left, but Strain wasn’t done.

Springfield had one last chance to win. With the ball at the Cougars’ 23, Strain once again pulled an amazing play out of nowhere, when he connected with Warren Allen for a 25-yard reception, bringing the ball to the Cougars’ 48 with around a minute to play.

That’s when the magic ran out. Flushed from the pocket, Strain stepped back and threw a dart down the middle of the field, but a white No. 35 jersey emerged with the ball, and that closed it down for the Cougars.

“I think this game showed we can play with anyone,” said Strain, who threw for a season-best 234 yards, completing eight of 19 and three touchdowns. “Pressure doesn’t bother me, I don’t mind it. But I do think I have more composure than I did last year.”

Cougars’ linebacker Tyler Morrissey logged another fine game. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound senior was a sideline-to-sideline menace, tracking down Jags runners from behind. His tackle in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter gave Springfield a last shot at going ahead.

“We knew what they were going to do, and we knew what we had to do to win,” Morrissey said. “We lost by an extra-point, and I think we’re just as good as they are. We can battle and play with anyone.”

The teams combined for 56 points in the first half. It was the Cougars, however, that took a 35-21 lead into intermission. Springfield completely blindsided Garnet Valley with deception. A fake punt produced the first score of the game, when the Cougars’ Cameron Durham took off, almost untouched, for a 63-yard touchdown.

A running team throughout this season, Springfield’s passing game also had to come as a surprise to the Jaguars.

Strain was three of four for 136 yards and touchdown tosses of 22 and 65 yards. The Jags, meanwhile, struggled moving the ball in through the air in the first half. Jags’ quarterback Ryan Corkey threw two first-half interceptions, one an unlikely pick by defensive lineman John Ciurlino, which led to Strain’s TD to Eric Pollock, and Mike Dougherty’s interception helped create Barry Foster’s five-yard scoring run—and a 35-14 Springfield lead with 3:54 left in the second quarter.

By halftime, Durham had rushed for 111 yards on a mere seven carries—the big chunk coming on the fake punt. As a team, Springfield amassed 267 yards of total offense—getting there with great balance. The Cougars had 140 yards on the ground and Strain’s 136 yards passing. Durham finished with a team-high 119 yards rushing on 12 carries.