ROSEMONT, Pa. — Harriton varsity football lost 0-35 against Radnor High School on Friday night.
During their first Central League matchup, the Rams were outmatched in almost every facet of the game. The offense entered the red zone once (the final drive), and the defense was not able to stop the Raiders’ running back, Kyle Tomczak.
Before the game, it was confirmed to HarritonTV that quarterback Spyros Esposito will not be returning to the field this season. Sophomore Joey Mena will remain the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future.
For a majority of the game, Harriton’s sideline was quiet, even before the game was out of reach–a stark contrast to last week.
Despite letting up five touchdowns, the defense had some excellent snaps. Matei Mistry had a PBU on a screen pass during the first drive. And Harriton forced multiple turnovers. Yet, the main issue was giving up large chunk plays to Radnor. During the first quarter, the Rams were able to force numerous third downs, but Radnor converted nearly all of them.
Harriton’s offense was littered with drops and underthrown balls. Mena looked flustered in the pocket if his first read was not open. This will need to be addressed before next week, when the Rams face a much more challenging opponent: Garnet Valley. Still, Mena flashed during a few snaps. He had a nice connection to Ben Krebbs, and had some key scrambles to keep drives alive.
Radnor’s secondary played exceptionally well, forcing multiple interceptions. Harriton’s receiver struggled to get open at times.
Special teams was solid, excluding a holding call on a significant kick return. Ryan Zheng forced a fumble on a punt in the first quarter, giving the Rams excellent field position.
As aforementioned, the Rams face the Garnet Valley Jaguars next week. This will be the first time they have met since 2018, when they beat Harriton 55-6. The team went 7-3 in the Central League last year, but has started off this year 0-2. The losses are from Coatesville and Haverford.
They will face off at Harriton next Friday at 7:00 P.M.. HarritonTV will be live-streaming the game on our YouTube channel. The A&S Media pregame show will begin at 6:30, hosted by Sam Ferenchick, Spyros Esposito and Tre Demarco.