Get ready for a St. Joe’s Prep-La Salle high school football showdown

The St. Joseph’s Prep-La Salle showdown at Franklin Field this Saturday (7:30 p.m.), the projected game of the year this season, took an unexpected turn last weekend when Roman Catholic beat La Salle, 39-36. The setback puts far greater stress on La Salle to win.

The Hawks appear to have rebounded from their 0-3 start, the first time the Prep started 0-3 since 2001, with shutout victories over Our Lady of Good Counsel (Md.) and Father Judge by a combined 82-0. La Salle has shown to have an explosive offense, averaging 35.4 points a game, although the Explorers’ defense was gashed for a season-high 39 points by the high-octane, no-huddle Cahillites offense, including an 81-yard kickoff return.

The Explorers are 4-1 and 0-1 in the Catholic League Red Division (large schools), while resurgent Prep, the three-time defending PIAA Class 6A champion, enters the game 2-3 and 1-0 in the Catholic Red.

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La Salle coach Brett Gordon challenged his team before the season. He warned the Explorers about the hype and noise on social media. This will be the first time in Gordon’s two-year tenure that the Explorers will face in-season adversity. La Salle went 10-0 before losing to the Hawks in last year’s Catholic League Class 6A championship. The defeat ended La Salle’s season. There was no chance to reflect collectively on the setback.

The time has arrived.

“This team needed a dose of reality and a wake-up call, because I fully expected the Roman game to be really tough,” Gordon said. “In order for us to decide what type of team we will be this year, we had to have something like that happen to us.”

Neil French, the former longtime Neshaminy defensive coordinator, has been calling the Explorers’ defense the last three games. Explorer defenders had hands on seven passes and did not intercept one. French will be trying to match defensive wits with Hawks defensive coordinator Shawn Stratz, a close friend of French’s.

After its stumbling start, the Prep enters the game with a mountain of confidence. If the Hawks get their running game going, relying on Khyan Billups, it could be a taxing night for the Explorers. That will be the key: La Salle’s ability to stop the run.

“I keep saying we haven’t proven anything yet, and what I want to see Saturday night is the most sense of urgency these guys have ever played with,” Gordon said. “High school kids are high school kids. I don’t know what Prep thinks of us after losing, but certainly their opinion of us has dropped down a few pegs by losing last Friday. It’s fair to say. I told our kids that. With all the hype surrounding this team, I don’t know what type of team we are. This team will have to decide what the answer is to that question.”

Some great matchups will feature the Prep’s Penn State-bound defensive lineman Alex Haskell going up against La Salle’s Notre Dame-bound bound offensive tackle Grayson McKeogh; St. Joe Prep’s game-changing junior cornerback Masiia Acrey on La Salle’s Notre Dame-bound receiver/defensive back Joey O’Brien; and Prep linebackers John Boggs and Brandon Lockley against La Salle’s Missouri-bound quarterback Gavin Sidwar.

La Salle has recently turned what had been a lopsided grudge match into a rivalry again, although the history doesn’t show it. Since the Nov. 21, 2015, Catholic League Red championship (won by La Salle, 29-28), the Hawks are 15-2 in the series, having outscored the Explorers by 598-246, winning by an average of 35-14 in that span. La Salle beat the Prep, 35-34, in quadruple overtime during the regular season last year but lost to the Hawks in the Catholic League Class 6A championship, 21-14.

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The return of Boggs, a junior middle linebacker, has been a big plus for the Prep. Boggs was hurt in the Hawks’ season opener against American Heritage, and has returned the last two games, allowing Lockley to roam more freely. Boggs calls the Prep’s defense.

“We played a tough nonleague schedule and our guys did a great job of competing,” said Hawks coach Tim Roken. “We really grew up in those couple of weeks. It’s been a recipe for us in helping prepare us for a tough Catholic League schedule. When you look at La Salle, Brett has done a great job getting those guys rolling, and they have a lot of seniors who come with a lot of experience on both sides of the ball. Brett will get them ready to play.”

Roman Catholic senior Ashdan Roberts beat La Salle, tying a career best with three touchdowns, scoring on two receptions and an 81-yard kickoff return. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior receiver had 225 all-purpose yards, 130 yards receiving, and 95 return yards. As a freshman, Roberts received scholarship offers from Penn State, Alabama, Pittsburgh, and Michigan. He had a limited role as a freshman and suffered a season-ending broken collarbone against Father Judge five games into the season and lost his junior season with a knee injury. This season, he also scored three touchdowns against Cardinal Newman (Fla.).

“Everyone knows Ash is incredibly talented, he just needed to stay healthy,” said Roman coach Rick Prete, who guided the Cahillites to their first PIAA Class 5A title game last season. “This is what we all knew about Ash.”

Roberts, who carries a 3.7 grade point average, says the La Salle victory adds a greater level of confidence for him and the team. The Cahillites were viewed as challengers to La Salle and St. Joe’s Prep for the Catholic League Red Division title. The La Salle victory redefines them.

“No one thought we could beat La Salle except us,” said Roberts, who is getting attention from Syracuse and Temple. “I missed all last year. It’s why I have more motivation this year. I was on the field when we lost [to Bishop McDevitt in the Class 5A state title game] last December. People are going to have a problem with our speed — and our quarterback [Semaj Beals]. We have five receivers that are able to get downfield, and I think we have the best receiving corps in the state. We knew we could beat La Salle, and it wasn’t our best game. We have a high standard, and we have a lot of missed plays and a couple of drops. We can’t have that.”

Beals just surpassed the 10,000-yard passing barrier, making him the first quarterback in city history to reach that mark. He completed 25 of 40 passes for 344 yards and five touchdowns against La Salle and has thrown for 10,046 yards in his four seasons.

“Ash is a great player and someone I trust. I have a lot of faith in him,” said Beals, who is bound for Akron. “I know everyone talks La Salle-Prep, but we’re a good team, too. This is our revenge tour from the state championship last year. Our offensive scheme is working. Our offensive line is working. Let people look down on us. They’ll see.”

Roman will play St. Joe’s Prep on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. at Widener.

With every defense designed to stop him, Haverford High tailback Liam Taylor continues to pile up insane numbers. The 5-10, 195-pounder rushed for 3,006 yards last season as a junior, breaking the single-season Delaware County record previously held by Interboro’s Abu Kamara (2,832). With 4,895 career rushing yards, Taylor is closing in on Kevin Jones, the former Cardinal O’Hara star and 2004 NFL first-round draft choice who is now a professor at his alma mater, Virginia Tech.

The grandson of former Springfield (Delco) coach Rick Taylor and the son of former Haverford star Eric Taylor is coming off a record-breaking 362-yard rushing performance with four touchdowns in the Fords’ 62-25 victory over Lower Merion last week.

Taylor and 5-1 Haverford face a huge test this Saturday at Springfield (6-0) in a fight for the Central League title. In six games, Taylor has rushed for 1,099 yards and 17 touchdowns against eight- and nine-man defensive fronts. He had 35 touchdowns last season and has 59 for his career, breaking every Haverford single-season and career record.

Taylor, who carries a 3.9 GPA and weighted 4.7 GPA, will not be playing football in college. His ideal school is Georgia. He knows each carry is one closer to his last.

“I want this season to last, and with me, football was never really my end goal in college,” said Taylor, who is a huge Herschel Walker fan. “I always wanted to experience the Southern life and it’s why I want to go to Georgia. It was never really my passion to play in college. I love playing high school football, but I never thought of anything beyond that. My head takes a beating, and my body could not take another four years. I’m a fourth-generation Haverford student-athlete and I will miss playing. My grandfather and my dad did not play college football.”

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Haverford beat traditional Central League powers Garnet Valley this season for the first time since 2015 and Strath Haven for the first time since 2019. Taylor played big roles in both victories — on defense.

“Liam tells me he has had such a great experience of playing football in high school, and he knows the reality, he has nothing else to prove,” said Fords coach Luke Dougherty. “He’s not a 4.4 kid, he’s not 6-foot-4. This is Liam’s last hurrah. Liam would be a success in college, but his perspective is almost a breath of fresh air — Liam plays football because he loves it.”