New PIAA rule lets these Holy Ghost Prep students play football with their hometown schools

Last October, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA), the governing body of high school sports in the state, initiated a policy that would allow students attending faith-based private schools to play sports for their home public school district, if the faith-based private school they attend does not offer a particular sport that their home school district does.

Holy Ghost Prep, the newly minted member of the Philadelphia Catholic League this sports season, does not have a football program. So the new PIAA policy allows students to play football for their home school districts. Three HGP students have made that move: freshmen Connor Gear and Brennan McDonough, who both play for Bensalem High School, and senior Andy Lynch, who has made an immediate impact for Lower Moreland High as a two-way starter in his first year of playing football.

McDonough, who is 5-foot-11, 190-pounds, is a starting outside linebacker and a backup running back on varsity. Gear, at 5-8, 130-pounds, is the backup junior varsity quarterback. Lynch, at 6-3, 210 pounds, is a starting defensive tackle and tight end for a 4-1 Lower Moreland team that is ranked No. 4 in District 1 Class 4A.

It is a unique situation for the trio, more so for Lynch, who never played organized tackle football before this fall.

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“I always thought about playing football,” said Lynch, who attended school in Lower Moreland district until eighth grade and is the manager of the HGP basketball team. “I was at my friend Cole’s house last November when my friend’s dad [Mike Zalewski], who is Lower Moreland’s offensive line coach suggested I try out. In early January, I started working out with the team once I found out this new [PIAA] rule was passed. We’re winning games, it’s pretty cool. Once I knew I was playing, I started lifting every day. I had a lot of learning to do. I’m still learning. ... It’s been a great experience, reuniting with the guys I grew up with.”

Lynch reshaped his frame and had to be shown how to put on football pads for the first time in August. He’s learned fast. He has three sacks in four games (Lower Moreland beat Jenkintown by forfeit when Jenkintown ended its season due to low participation).

“Andy has been amazing,” Gregorio said. “He’s been doing an unbelievable job. He works hard. He is so raw, I think he could play at another level. He’s very athletic. He has one catch for 16 yards. We’re doing well and Andy has been a big part of that. We beat Tennent a few weeks back, which is the first time we’ve beaten a Suburban One team in decades.”

Gear and McDonough represent the future of a Suburban One League team that has struggled. Bensalem has not had a winning record since going 6-5 in 2004. Gear and McDonough are hoping to change that. The Owls have had a couple of years in 2024 and 2025 when they went 5-5. Bensalem is 1-4 this season.

“We’re in games,” said McDonough, whose father picks him up every day at 2:30 p.m. from HGP to Bensalem for 2:45 p.m. practice. “We should be 3-2. The mental aspect has been the biggest adjustment, being a freshman and starting on defense. Time management has been good. I get home at 6:30 every night. It is like going to two schools. I know everyone on my team, because I grew up with all these guys.”

Gear played football until the fifth grade before giving it up. Once he heard about the new PIAA rule, he wanted to try football again.

“It’s been an adjustment, learning all the plays and getting them in, but right now, I’m sitting in a good spot,” Gear said. “I’m also reading defenses, which is a challenge for me. I truly do like football. I jumped on the chance to play again. What I like most is how the coaches push us. The guys at Bensalem are really surprised that I go to Holy Ghost and I play for Bensalem. I tell them I love the game. The plan is to continue doing this the next three years.”

Pennridge is riding a special motivation this season. The Rams are coming off a record-setting 2025 year when they won 13 games for the first time in program history, finishing 13-2 overall and reaching the PIAA District Class 6A championship before losing 21-14 to North Penn. Instead of taking their district silver medals home, the Rams hung them up in the school weight room, tangible reminders of just how close they came to capturing their first district championship.

For the second-straight year, the Rams have started 5-0. but this year, they only have 11 seniors. Pennridge coach Kyle Beller has done an impressive job of keeping the Rams on top after graduating a core group, including starting quarterback Noah Keating to Marist.

The Rams seem to be even better than they were a year ago, when they beat North Penn during the regular season for the first time since October 2012.

Only two years ago, the Rams were 4-7.

“No one expects to start a season 5-0, and the teams we beat were district playoff teams,” said Beller, who is in his fourth season. “We had a young team coming in, and this is a credit to the guys of playing to the standard of what we want.”

Junior Aiden Tetkowski has taken over at quarterback and junior Trevor Picciotti, the nephew of former CB West great Dustin Picciotti, is the Rams’ bull, rushing for 509 yards on 93 carries and averaging 101.8 yards rushing a game. Senior wide receiver Sean Leuthe averages 15.5 yards a catch, while senior linebacker Brody Blomgren and junior linebacker Blake Landherr lead the team in tackles.

Beller did not mention last year’s success to this team, even though the Rams are a combined 18-2 over these last two years, the best record in District 1 Class 6A.

“The message was to trust our process. We spoke about playing to our standard and playing with grit,” Beller said. “A lot of freshmen and sophomores got playing time last year. The biggest surprise of this group has been learning to grow up faster. The senior group that graduated did take a lot of lumps (going 7-15 their sophomore and junior years). It’s why we won a lot of close games last year. This group is very even keeled. They just keep playing.”

Right now, it’s a Pennridge team that looks like it could keep playing into deep November.

Great Valley was a combined 6-14 over the previous two years. The Patriots may be one of the biggest surprises in the area this season, beginning 5-0 and rising to a No. 3 rank in PIAA District 1 Class 5A. The team has been buoyed by the play of 5-10, 185-pound junior tailback Beau Kosmalski, who has scored 17 times, including two five-touchdown games this season, and rushed for 933 yards overall.

Patriots coach Gary Phillips is in his second year of his second stint at Great Valley and 19th overall, after his previous tenure from 1992-2010.

“I knew the kids and what they could be this year,” Phillips said. “What we focused on was the weight room. They bought in. We started lifting a week after the season ended last year. They worked and worked, and the kids invested into it. Across the board we added 10 to 20 pounds of weight to each player’s lift. It’s reduced injuries, added size, and we have a small number of seniors. This junior class played as sophomores and gained valuable experience. I put in the defense last year and the kids know it. They move faster. The real leap has come on offense.

“Beau is just different.”

Kosmalski already holds the Great Valley single-season and career rushing touchdown records (32). Last year he rushed for 945 yards in 10 games. He is just 13 yards from exceeding that this year on a team with 10 seniors on a 45-man roster. Great Valley may be small in numbers, though, large up front with Alan Johnson, a 6-2, 250-pound junior center, 6-3, 290-pound junior right tackle Dean Hickman, who has fully recovered from a broken leg last fall, and 6-2, 270 senior right guard Najee Dorsey.

Another victory by Great Valley, which will host West Chester Henderson at 7 p.m. on Friday night, would equal the combined number of victories the Pats had the previous two years.

Kosmalski distinctly remembers the down years. He still lugs the bricks from those 3-7 seasons.

“The culture here has changed, and everyone knows it,” said Kosmalski, who is 15 pounds heavier than he was last year and is getting Ivy League attention. “Everyone is committed. When everyone wants it, it’s unbelievable. And everyone on this team wants to win. We have a bunch of guys on this team who want to be physically dominant. I’ll admit it, we have a chip on our shoulders. There was a lot of chirping on social media at us last year, a lot of teams laughed at us; not so much this year. We feel we can beat any team we face.”