Delaware Valley football loses to Imhotep

Well folks, the Delaware Valley fun football ride is over with a loss to charter school Imhotep. Imhotep is very big, very fast, and powerful. They are loaded. Almost every player on the team would be the main star at any public school’s team. Their players only play offense, defense, or special teams. They have fresh legs on the field at all times. They also obviously studied how Delaware Valley dismantled Whitehall and prepared very well. Congratulations on your advancement on the state finals.

This writer initially picked Delaware Valley to win. Why? Because Delaware Valley’s prior game against a quality team, Whitehall, was a blowout, with a score of 56-27 for Delaware Valley. Imhotep’s prior game against a quality team was a squeaker. They sneaked by Roman Catholic by four points, 30-26, suggesting they were ripe for defeat... and that Delaware Valley was just the team to do it.

All year Ryder Machado has been the workhorse and bread and butter of this team. He is the breakaway runner who can give you 40-yard runs and runs up to 70 and 80 yards. He is good for three touchdowns every game and he scored five against Whitehall. Well, at the Imhotep game, he was injured very early on in the second quarter, meaning Delaware Valley lost its sure thing runner. He did play defense but no offense from that point on.

He is such a great player that even on an injured ankle he was still a defensive force to be reckoned with. On one play when an Imhotep speed merchant was making a breakaway monster gain and going in for a touchdown, Machado ran him down but went for the tackle about two seconds too soon. He caught him but couldn’t get his hands around him. About two seconds later, they would have been 10 yards closer to the end zone but then the Delaware Valley defense would have had a chance to prevent the score.

Machado is one extraordinarily talented kid.

Was Imhotep really a better football team? Well I think that Delaware Valley played better team football. Imhotep did not grind out scores with great team effort; they scored on big breakaway plays.

The killer in the game that hurt Delaware Valley was when they were driving and getting into scoring position and Aiden Black was called for a fumble. Watching the videos, it sure looks like he never had possession and it should have been an incomplete pass. The exact same play happened against Imhotep and it was called an incomplete pass. This bad call is what turned the tide in the game. Imhotep scored instead of Delaware Valley. It was demoralizing for sure.

Losing is always tough, but it’s even worse when it comes from these three avoidable situations: 1) a terrible call by the officials, 2) an injury to our superstar player, or 3) losing to a recruited super all-star team. Delaware Valley was up against all three.

So before we go into individual achievements, let me say this. Several states have successfully mitigated the unfair advantage of private schools that recruit players out of public schools then go on the defeat these public schools. It is like putting a super all-star team against these public schools. PIAA needs to separate them just like it has been done in other states. Public schools are getting screwed and they are sick of it and a clamor is rising about it. I for one will keep up the chant against it and I will also call out these bad calls by officials. I have seen too many of them, and too many that changed the completion of the games. Okay, mistakes will be made. We’re only human, but you can’t call identical plays differently, with one as a fumble and another as an incomplete pass. At least be consistent.

Ok now for the personal achievements. Logan Olsommer passed for 62 yards on nine of 19 attempts. Aiden Black caught for 46 yards. Justin Kalitsnik rushed for 40 yards.

Players of the game were: Everett Bell, Justin Kalitsnik, Aidan Black, and yes Ryder Machado, even playing injured and playing defense only.

For the year, Jayden Ramirez averages 34.1 receiving yards, Kalitsnik has 10.9 tackles and Black has 10.5 sacks. Machado ran for 1,611 yards, he scored 31 touchdowns and had eight interceptions.

It was a fabulous year and I still believe that if Machado had not been injured then Delaware Valley would have gone on to be state champs and would have been the team for the ages.

My final thoughts here. I’m going to be keeping my eye on Mike Luzzolino. If he manages to grow a few more inches and pack on a few more pounds he might just be the Ryder Machado of the future. We shall see.