SJ Prep rallies to defeat Malvern Prep

WHEN HE SAID he'd experienced "a little bit of an uh-oh feeling," Eric Medes probably was grossly understating the case.

After all, St. Joseph's Prep had blown leads - two even "comfortable" - in its previous three Thanksgiving meetings with Malvern Prep and had been smoked by Roman Catholic, 45-17, in a Catholic AAAA semifinal back on Nov. 5 after building a 17-7 pad.

So, what happened Thursday at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High, after Malvern charged in front, 14-0?

Major turnings of tables! The Hawks prevailed, 30-14!

Malvern, the outright Inter-Ac League champion, still leads on Thanksgiving, 3-2, and overall, 4-2.

"Sometimes this season, if things started going wrong, we'd get down," said Medes, a 6-2, 225-pound senior who's bound for Harvard. "When you're in a hole, the whole team has to stay positive. Anything else is not going to be productive.

"We kept a positive attitude. It was like we became carefree. It was, 'Hey, we're still out here playing and we're going to enjoy it.' "

Medes (rhymes with needs) served coach Gabe Infante at fullback, tight end (roughly half and half) and middle linebacker.

On defense, he made six catches for 67 yards, posted a 3-yard run on a fourth-and-1 play that led to a crucial third-quarter touchdown (which he followed with a conversion run) and blocked like his usual madman self. On defense, four of his five tackles were solos.

Medes' performance was watched by eight relatives. Well, the first half, anyway.

"Some of them had to leave to eat Thanksgiving dinner at various places," he said, laughing. "That was OK. I didn't think some of them were even going to be there. I saw them when I was running onto the field before the game. Glad they could come."

Senior quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg had an interesting outing. In all, he threw three interceptions, and Joe Carlini returned one of his three personal picks (two vs. Mornhinweg, another off a trick play) for a 39-yard TD.

Yet, Mornhinweg wound up having a hand, or feet, in all four scores. He passed 19-for-32 for 225 yards and three TDs, two to Jim Hurley (8-109) and one to Vince Moffett, and dashed 25 yards for the last TD (en route to 14 carries for 66 yards).

"Once we got going," Medes said, "we kept our foot on the gas."

Pete Siki and frosh John Reid posted interceptions for the Prep, while Dan Sherry made seven solo tackles, and one of Todd Jones' two sacks resulted in a safety.

For Malvern, Joe Nilan opened the scoring with a 39-yard run, Shawn Wilson turned 11 carries into 82 yards, and Sam Schmucker (nine tackles) had the non-Carlini pilfer. Also, Ed Morris numbered eight solos among 12 stops and recovered a fumble; Nilan had eight among nine; and Carlini added eight overall. The tackling numbers were outrageous, because the Hawks ran 82 official plays.

Medes, who lives in Mount Laurel, N.J., and boasts a 3.85 GPA, chose Harvard over Penn and Princeton. Villanova, Fordham, Boston College and Maryland also showed varying amounts of interest.

"I first heard from Harvard last February or March," he said. "They said they were interested in me and wanted to see a game film. I went up there for a summer camp, and they said they wanted me. I wasn't quite ready to commit, but maybe 6 to 7 weeks into the season, I heard from [coach Tim Murphy] I'd been approved as a 'likely.' I was ready. I just have to maintain my grades and social record through the rest of the school year."

His Harvard position will be linebacker. Major? Who knows?

"It could be economics, business or engineering," he said.

Or maybe creative writing, based on how he categorized yesterday's win.

"It was truly," Eric Medes said, "a cherry on the sundae."