Raiders produce the right
numbers on Thanksgiving

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Tax time isn’t for another five months, but nobody would have blamed the Archbishop Ryan football team for writing off the 2007 version of its annual Thanksgiving game against George Washington High.
After all, in a way, the Raiders had to write off their entire season as injuries and a lack of depth added up to plenty of red in the win-loss department.
But Ryan chose to adopt a different view of the balance sheet. The Raiders counted defeats not as depreciation of their proud tradition, but rather as investments for the future of the program.
Last Thursday, against the Public League champion Eagles, the Raiders started reaping the dividends. They overcame an early two-touchdown deficit to stomp Washington, 26-14, and finish their difficult season with back-to-back wins.
It was Ryan’s third straight win against the Eagles. Overall, Ryan leads the series, 24-8-1.
The Raiders finished the campaign much as they began it. In August and early September, they knocked off last year’s PIAA semifinalist Pennsbury and defending Catholic League Blue champ Archbishop Wood.
But a slew of injuries against rival Father Judge in Week Four and six consecutive losses followed. A late-season rout over struggling Monsignor Bonner made Ryan’s record look a bit better, but it was far from stellar at 3-7 entering the Washington game on Thanksgiving.
"We knew we definitely weren’t as bad as our record showed," said senior co-captain Nick Ferdinand, whose three-yard touchdown reception late in the first half shifted the momentum to Ryan’s favor.
"Players got hurt, and we weren’t making the kind of plays we needed to," the wide receiver said. "We knew we could go into the (Washington) game and, you know, compete. Being the last game for the seniors, and we do have a lot of seniors, it was a big game. Mentally, I guess we stepped it up."
Ryan’s veterans used a lot of support from the underclassmen to get the job done.
Junior quarterback Rus Slawter had missed the Raiders’ two previous games with injury, but returned in midseason form as he completed 12 of 15 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. It was Slawter’s fifth straight game with at least 100 passing yards.
The quarterback ended the season with 1,095 yards and seven touchdowns through the air.
Ferdinand caught six of Slawter’s passes for 69 yards and the score, a three-yarder that cut Washington’s 14-0 lead in half and helped the Raiders forget about their own early miscues.
"We stayed with it and didn’t give up," Ryan head coach Glen Galeone said. "We were moving the ball (early) and could have scored more. But we made a lot of mistakes — three off-sides and a fumble. Then we settled down."
"We had to respond after they scored the two touchdowns," Ferdinand said. "Our line was blocking great, and Rus gave me an opportunity to make a play."
Another youngster, sophomore Mark Golic, led the way in the second half as Ryan’s running game took control. The Raiders marched 65 yards in 13 plays to start the second half. Senior co-captain Chris Wilk’s one-yard touchdown run made the score 14-13.
Later in the quarter, Golic’s 33-yard option pass to Slawter set up the running back’s three-yard touchdown run that gave Washington a 19-14 lead.
Golic rushed for 122 yards in the game on 21 carries to surpass the century mark for the first time in his career. The performance followed his 91-yard effort against Bonner and would seem to have established him as the Raiders’ feature back of the future. He finished the year with a team-high 404 rushing yards.
"Mark Golic had a great game running the ball," Galeone said.
The run enabled the Raiders to clinch victory in the final minutes as senior Jimmy Weitzel scored on a nine-yard jaunt following an interception by senior co-captain Erik Silenok.
Silenok’s turnover capped a strong defensive performance by the Raiders, who limited Washington (11-2) to 126 yards on the ground and 177 overall.
With District 11 champion Parkland looming on the schedule in this weekend’s PIAA quarterfinals, the Eagles did not use leading rusher James Johnson, but they had three other proven ball-carriers available. Only sophomore Kesson Christopher had a productive day, with seven runs for 77 yards.
Co-captain Devon Wallace broke loose on a 25-yard run to open the scoring. He finished the day with 39 yards. Quarterback Clinton Granger added a one-yard sneak later in the first quarter.
"We knew what we needed to do to stop them," said Ferdinand, who started on defense as a safety. "We had to contain them and read our keys and we’d be fine. They had three real good running backs who were fast. Our defensive ends played real well."
As a group, they finally proved how good they could’ve been.
"I knew we could have competed a lot better than we did this year. If we were healthy, we could’ve competed against (a lot of teams)," Ferdinand said. "We had to show (Washington). We had to prove to them really who’s the better team." ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com