Gionta Gets Career Win No. 100 Over Springfield

NEWTOWN SQUARE, PA – It was a wet and dreary night as Marple Newtown took on Springfield. It had been raining all day but that would not stop these two teams from clashing under the Friday night lights. Both teams were ready to play one another no matter what weather conditions were on the field. Marple Newtown was looking to win their second straight game of the season and continue their dominating performance they unveiled in game one.

The scoring started in the first quarter when Marple Newtown’s Kevin Johnson handed the ball off to Mario Dioguardi for a 14-yard touchdown run. This happened with 6:42 left in the first quarter. Springfield did respond with 5:09 left in the first quarter when Wally Rutecki threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Denzel Thompson. Rob Tumelty missed the point after for Springfield which gave Marple Newtown the 7-6 lead after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Marple Newtown controlled the shots by scoring two touchdowns. The first touchdown of the quarter was when Billy Weaverlingrecovered a fumble in the end zone with 9:35 left in the quarter. To close out the quarter, Kevin Johnson threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Matt Gregory with 18 seconds remaining.

Kevin Johnson had a great first half by throwing over 100 yards which is rarely seen in the Wing-T style offense. The coaches were giving Kevin Johnson the opportunity to air out his arm which surprised Springfield’s defense. It was a nice sight to see Marple Newtown mix it up on the play calling. It also showed opponents that they can throw the ball just as well as they can run the ball. The score at halftime put Marple Newtown up 21-6.

In the third and fourth quarters, Marple Newtown did a nice job in running and controlling the play clock. This was lead by the captain Kevin Johnsonand senior Carl Kasarsky. Their leadership on offense was huge for this Marple Newtown team. The only scoring of the second half was Adam Fender’s 36-yard field goal with 5:29 left in the third quarter. This put Marple Newtown up 24-6.

The defense was also a strong point for Marple Newtown. Brian Kelly was a force to be reckoned with, recording ten tackles on the night. He was around every time Springfield tried moving the ball. To close the fourth quarter,Ryan Furst had an 18-yard interception with 2:17 remaining to put the final seal on the game.

Marple Newtown had another great performance for the second straight week which puts them at 2-0 on this young season. Marple Newtown has outscored their opponents 55-6 over the past two weeks. Much of the credit has to be given to Head Coach Ray Gionta, who picked up his 100th career win on Friday night. This is an incredible milestone for any head coach to achieve.

Marple Newtown is looking forward to bringing this momentum they have going against their next opponent, Penncrest. The Tigers will visit the Lions on Thursday, September 17, 2009 for a 7 PM kick-off at Penncrest High School.