Joseph Santoliquito: Penncrest takes another run at Garnet Valley in Class AAAA playoffs

But Penncrest coach Paul Graham never gave up hope his team would make the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA playoffs. Closing the season with a three-game winning streak made it possible, ending with a 7-3 overall record. It's the second time in school history Penncrest has made the District 1 playoffs in football.

Friday night's opening-round game at 7 o'clock comes with an added bonus: Penncrest gets a chance to avenge one of its previous losses when the Lions visit Garnet Valley, Central League co-champion, which beat the Lions, 28-27, on Sept. 25 in a game Penncrest came back to lead after trailing 14-0.

Penncrest will look again to its high-octane offense, while Garnet Valley may be playing its best football at the most important time of the year, giving up a stingy 5.7 points per game in its last four contests.

Other playoff games involving Delco teams (all games are hosted by the higher-seeded team and will take place on Friday night at 7 o'clock):

CLASS AAAA

* No. 10 Council Rock South (8-2) at No. 7 Ridley (9-1). The Green Raiders host a team that's on a three-game winning streak and averaging 33 points a game over that span. However, the combined record of those three teams is 9-21. Rock South has one quality victory, beating Abington, 41-38. Ridley's defense will be tested against the high-powered a offense, led by junior quarterback Billy Fleming. The Green Raiders have posted four shutouts this season.

Class AAA

* No. 7 Academy Park (7-3) at No. 2 Interboro (10-0). This is the first time Academy Park is in the playoffs since 2000, and the Knights have the unenviable task of opening with 12-time Del Val League champion Interboro, which is coming off its most impressive victory this season, 20-13, over Glen Mills last Friday. The Bucs easily handled Academy Park the first time these Del Val rivals met on Oct. 9, winning 23-6. Interboro has held opponents to seven points or less seven times this season and is giving up an average of nine points per game.

* No. 6 Marple Newtown (7-3) at No. 3 Owen J. Roberts (9-1). Marple Newtown would have liked to enter the playoffs on a high note, but the Tigers suffered a 24-20 loss to Radnor last Friday. The Tigers can be explosive. Scoring 30 points or more four times this year, Marple Newtown has outscored its opponents, 244-110. But Owen J. Roberts has possibly the most dangerous tailback Marple Newtown will see this season in junior Ryan Brumfield, who's rushed for 2,013 yards and 31 touchdowns. The Tigers will counter with junior tailback Ryan Duffy, who's rushing for an average of 92.4 yards, and senior quarterback Kevin Johnson.

Learning to win

 

Tom Ryan is in his third year as head coach at Radnor, and it appears this season could be a breakthrough for the program, which came into 2009 with only two winning seasons in the last 24 years. The Red Raiders will try to make it three winning seasons in 25 years, when they host Lower Merion Saturday at 1 p.m., in the oldest continuous high school rivalry in the nation.

To reach this point, Radnor had to overcome a 20-10 deficit with 4 minutes, 23 seconds to play to beat Marple Newtown, 24-20, last Friday and move to 5-5 overall.

"Beating a playoff-bound team like Marple Newtown, at their place, coming back from 10 points is definitely the biggest victory in my time here," said Ryan, a head coach for the first time after serving as an assistant coach at West Chester University and at his alma mater, Upper Darby High School. "I see the Marple Newtown victory as something that could turn a corner here. The kids are learning how to win, which is something I've been trying to instill since I took the program over."

When Radnor hosts Lower Merion, it will mark the 113th meeting between the schools, with Radnor carrying a 10-game winning streak. The Red Raiders also have one of the best all-around players in the area in senior Derrick Adger, who has five interceptions.

And if you want a little something extra special, Radnor each year puts on one of the best pre-game pep rallies the Friday afternoon before the Lower Merion game. It's a rock concert with a football theme.

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