By Greg Pecko, MNFB.com
September 12, 2008
The Marple Newtown Tigers (0-3) fought hard Friday night in their 41-13 loss to the Garnet Valley Jaguars (3-0). The Tigers put on tough inspired performance and several players played hard from whistle to whistle, like Senior tailback Phil Graziano who carried the load for the Tigers’ ground game. Graziano also had a huge kick return on special teams in the first quarter when he ran down to the Jaguars’ 33 yard line, for total return of 67 yards.
The Tigers were able to shut the Jaguars offense down in the second half of the game, keeping Garnet Valley off the board in both the 3rd and 4th quarters of the game. The Tigers defense fought very hard, including tough performances by Seniors Steve Reynolds, Kyle Itri and Joe Carini. Junior Tevin Gilbert recorded his first sack of the season.
The Tigers were put on the board by Sophomore tailback Mario Dioguardi in the 3rd quarter on a 5 yard scamper for the Tigers first touchdown. Dioguardi had several keys runs in the 7 play 60 plus yard drive that set the Tigers up for the touchdown.
Junior quarterback Kevin Johnson added on 6 more points in the latter half of the 4th quarter when he pushed his way through the pile on a 1 yard quarterback sneak. The touchdown was setup by a Steve DeMaria punt block that was returned to the Jaguars goal line and gave the Tigers a huge boost. DeMaria’s block and scamper capped off a solid evening for the special teams unit that had blocked an extra point attempt (Kevan Strigle) earlier in the game and had several punt and kick returns. Junior kickerAdam Fender added his first career extra point and boomed a kickoff into the end zone for a touchback.
The Tigers return home next week to face the Haverford Fords at 7 pm at Harry Harvey Field.