Conestoga Hangs On Against Haverford High School, 22-20

John Vogan went up and down the sideline Friday night clapping his hands and letting his team know, “We’re still alive, we’re still alive.” The Conestoga head football coach was referring to the Pioneers’ chances of still attaining a place in the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA playoffs.

What gave the Pioneers a considerable boost was their hard-fought 22-20 victory over Haverford High School in a crucial Central League game for both teams.

Conestoga jumped to 6-3 overall with the victory, while Haverford fell to 5-4 and probably saw any faint chance of a playoff berth end with the loss.

“That Haverford (High School) was a physical team right there, but we are still alive in the (district playoff) picture,” said. “Most of the seniors on this team never played in a district [football] playoff game. We helped ourselves tonight by winning this, and I think we’ll help ourselves even more if we win our last two games.”

had a career game, throwing for 317 yards, completing 20 of 31 passes, and Pioneers’ receiver Davonte Carter also had a career game, catching 10 passes for 165 yards.

Haverford High countered with the running of quarterback Eddie Durkin and tailback Mike Clancy, who combined for close to 160 yards rushing and two
touchdowns.

Haverford High took an early 7-0 lead when Durkin scored on a 14-yard run. Conestoga answered when Viviano scored on a 1-yard sneak, but a two-point conversion failed, giving the Fords a brief 7-6 edge. That changed by the end of the first half when Viviano hit Andrew DeStefano with a 19-yard TD strike—giving Conestoga a 12-7 halftime advantage.

It looked as if Conestoga would take full control of the game when Viviano threw a 31-yard dart through two Haverford defenders that somehow found Carter for a touchdown, which gave the Pioneers a 19-7 lead with 6:02 left in the third quarter.

But Durkin and Mike Clancy grabbed the Fords and placed on them on their shoulders. They led Haverford on a time-consuming, 13-play, 62-yard drive that ended on the final play of the third quarter, when Durkin went crashing into the end from six yards out, pulling the Fords to within 19-14.

The rollercoaster theme of the game didn’t stop there. On Conestoga’s next possession, kicker Steve Shickel booted a 23-yard field goal that proved to be the winning difference. The scoring drive, however, was kept alive when Viviano hit DeStefano on a third-and-11 play from the Pioneers’ 35 with a 29-yard completion.

“You give up plays like that, those are the kinds of plays that kill you,” Haverford High coach Joe Gallagher said.

The Fords did answer—again. Clancy went swerving through the Conestoga defense for a 32-yard touchdown—but Dylan Hewitt’s lead into the end was thwarted by a handful of Pioneer defenders right at the goal line pylon with 6:00 left in the game.

That was it. Conestoga stopped Haverford’s last-gasp drive and remained alive. Haverford can now play playoff spoiler for some other playoff-bound team by trying to knock off Garnet Valley, which holds down first place in the Central League.