Jon Rothberg isn’t a firm believer in morale victories. The head football coach is old-school when it comes to things like that. The only thing that matters is the final score—not coming close, but Rothberg can take solace in efforts like the Aces’ defensive performance against Conestoga on Thursday afternoon.
After a flat first half, Lower Merion actually hung with the powerful Pioneers, but it was a bad first half that the Aces could never recover from, losing 35-10 and dropping to 2-4 overall and 0-4 in the Central League. Conestoga improved to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in the league.
“I felt, as opposed to the last three league games, we put up a real fight today,” Rothberg said. “I’m encouraged with the way we played defense; we attacked and caused them some problems by putting pressure on them.”
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Two Aces stood out—Chris Daly, who had 13 tackles and Max Golden, who ran for 47 yards on six carries.
“We beat ourselves,” Golden said. “We hurt ourselves with dumb penalties and we killed ourselves. I think the fact that we’re a close team helps us maintain a good attitude.”
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Daly was all over the field.
“There was more opportunity, because Conestoga does throw the ball,” Daly said. “Other than the dumb penalties and the first quarter, I thought we played them evenly.”
Conestoga took a 28-3 lead into halftime and scored on four of its first five possessions. Pioneers’ senior tailback Adam Baynard had 93 yards rushing on just five carries, most coming on a 75-yard run late in the first half. The score could have been worse if Baynard didn’t fumble the ball away after the long run.
The Pioneers started well when Jake Carr intercepted a pass on the first play of the game. Four plays later, quarterback Joe Viviano hit Riley Pritchett with a 12-yard touchdown pass. Andrew DeStefano’s 40-yard punt return set Conestoga’s second score, a two-yard Viviano quarterback sneak.
Lower Merion, meanwhile, couldn’t muster much offense at all. The Aces didn’t achieve their first first down of the game until early in the second quarter. By then, they were trailing 21-0.
Viviano scored on a four-yard run with 4:30 left in the half. Lower Merion kicker Dan Moyer put the Aces’ only points on the board in the first half with a 31-yard field goal.
Ernest Pendleton added another late score Lower Merion when he rolled through Conestoga’s second-team defense for a 63-yard run barely touched. Pendleton finished with 82 yards on 11 carries, but had just 19 yards on 10 carries against the Conestoga first-team defense.
