By Brian Carroll
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everybody would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.”
— Tom Hanks, as Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own
When the District 1-5A football playoff brackets were made official two Sundays ago, the Strath Haven Panthers and Garnet Valley Jaguars both had to be shaking their collective heads. Both suffered Week 10 defeats that cost them a shot for the top seed in the playoffs that not only would have guaranteed multiple home games throughout, but may have also avoided multiple Central League rematches with a realigned bracket. But in a very talented and tested 5A bracket in 2024, any of the eight teams remaining can make a strong case for a run to the district final and beyond. Thus, while some might call it bad luck that two teams who have won or shared 11 of the last 17 Central League championships are meeting in the second round, the hard truth this season is that every game this weekend will be difficult and the reward that much sweeter for the victor of this “Clash of the Titans” in the quarterfinals this Friday night.
After dropping their final two regular season games, the Jaguars rebounded in a big way last Friday with an opening round thrashing of Kennett, 43-7. Garnet Valley went back to their roots, with a run-heavy attack using six different ball-carriers through the first three quarters that wore down a smaller Kennett defense. #21 Luke Vaughn, #1 Luke O’Donoghue, #44 Paxton Hunt, #15 Anthony Gifford and #20 Nolan Carroll all found the end zone on the ground, while O’Donoghue connected with Caden Koehler three times on the evening, one being a 47-yard touchdown strike. Carroll (forced fumble and recovery) and Koehler (interception) also forced Kennett turnovers on the defensive side of the ball while #11 Mike Medici had a strong debut in the secondary, and #61 Massimo Iavarone and #66 Aiden Bendo were disruptive on the defensive line.
