Horvath, Radnor line up rivalry triumph over Lower Merion

LOWER MERION >> A medal around his neck as game MVP for the second year in a row and a fresh snapback on his head, Jack Horvath wasn’t ready to talk about himself. Instead, the Radnor running back wanted to discuss the big guys in front of him.

“This line,” Horvath was saying Monday night at Harriton, “where do you even start?”

The accessory question is much easier: Where did Radnor’s 49-8 obliteration of Lower Merion start? With those big guys in the trenches, and Horvath was among the bevy of beneficiaries.

“This senior class, I’m just privileged to play with them,” the junior Horvath said. “They tore this team up, to be honest. It’s mostly their part.”

The Radnor line turned the 120th edition of one of America’s oldest high school football rivalries into an oddly-scheduled, lopsided affair by the end of three quarters. With six Raiders dashing for touchdowns — and 10 contributing to 412 yards on the ground and 450 of total offense — the common thread is a line that blew its adversaries out of the water. The linemen played the biggest role in the Raiders walking off with a fifth straight rivalry victory and a pair of trophies, including a pristine glass shield sponsored by the United States Marine Corps’ Greatest American Rivalries series.

Radnor (5-7, 4-5 Central League) carried the ball 56 times, only three stopped for loss or no gain. They saw Horvath (21 carries for 154 yards) and Naair Williams (14 for 108) crack the century mark. Horvath ran for the first two scores covering three and five yards. Williams punched in a score from nine yards to make the halftime score 21-0.

“It’s awesome,” center Matt Rigolizzo said. “Horvath and Naair, I’ve been blocking for two years. Jack just finds holes, and Naair runs over anyone in his path. That’s awesome.”

The lead ballooned to 28 points on the first snap of the third quarter when Zach Wade busted a 52-yard score. Ian Henkel added a seven-yard jet sweep to trigger the running clock at 6:33 of the third. Backup quarterback Sean Mullarkey scampered for a six-yard score, and fourth-string senior Alex Handen capped his career with a seven-yarder that was the cherry on top. All that success shines brightly on the guys opening up holes: Rigolizzo, Pat Lofton, Matt McCue, George May, Harrison Doane and Joe Riley, the latter of whom earned a scholarship through the USMC’s sponsorship of the game.

The prospect of continuing the history with Lower Merion (2-9, 1-8) helped cushion the blow of last week’s playoff ouster. The Raiders, who earned the 15th seed in the District 1 Class 5A playoffs, bowed out to No. 2 Academy Park, 44-17, Friday, then faced a quick turnaround for a rescheduled grudge match usually penciled into Week 11 between two programs sparingly in playoff position. That forced a paradox: As happy as Radnor was to renew acquaintance with LM, it would rather its playoff progress postponed the game another week or longer.

Ending with a victory is at least a sizeable consolation.

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