West Wins 35th-Annual Hero Bowl

CHESTER—There has always been something special about the Hero Bowl that elicits a little extra in the player’s effort. Maybe it’s a league rivalry thing, since the game is played predominantly between the two top leagues in the area, the Central League and Del-Val League. Maybe it’s a pride thing, since almost every player competing is playing high school football for the final time. Maybe it’s just for the sheer sake of winning, since most players in the game haven’t had that kind of fulfilling success with their regular high school team.

Whatever it is, there is always an edge to the Hero Bowl. And the 35th-Annual All-Star Hero Bowl, played at Widener University’s Leslie C. Quick Stadium to benefit the families of Delaware County fallen police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel, was no different than past games.

This year, it was the West that prevailed in commanding fashion, 37-21, over the East. The West, comprised of the Central League, Episcopal Academy and Haverford School, had a pair of MVPs in Ridley’s Shahaid Smith and Sam Dixon-Dugan, while a number of Patch-area players played significant roles in the West’s victory over the East, made up of seniors from the Del-Val League, in addition to players from Cardinal O’Hara, Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Carroll.

Springfield’s Matt Craig jumped-started a second-half West comeback with a 30-yard touchdown run, while Penncrest’s Nick Quintans, Radnor’s Greg DiCocco, ’s Kris Whiteside provided ample space on the offensive line for Craig to run and the West offense to churn up over 500 yards of total offense.

“The biggest thing for me in this game was to come out and have fun,” said Craig, whose 30-yard touchdown run in the third quarter sparked a 21-0 run by the West All-Stars that swayed the game in their favor. “I think the most important is that I got to play one last time with friends and my Springfield teammates. Maybe it will take some time to hit me that this was my last hurrah, my last high school game. I’ll just think back on this as a fun thing.”

It looked fun as the West bolted out to a 9-0 lead, thanks to a 15-yard touchdown pass from Garnet Valley’s Jake Helmes to Ridley’s Dion Shaw. A safety made it 9-0, then just that quickly, the East scored three-unanswered touchdowns before Smith scored on a 10-yard run to pull the West within 21-16 at halftime.

A big part of the West’s success was the offensive line play of Quintans, DiCocco and Whiteside, who pushed and blasted gaping holes for West tailbacks to run through, along with creating enough time for West quarterbacks to pass.

“It’s good to go out a winner,” said Quintans, who will continue his football career at Georgetown. “It’s really an awesome way to go out. We didn’t win that much my senior year at Penncrest, but there are a lot of great things I’ll remember and take away from playing high school football. I’ll certainly take this, what a way to go out, winning the Hero Bowl.”

The West controlled the second half of the game, shutting out the East and tallying three scores, starting with Craig’s 30-yard score.

“For me playing in a game like this, playing my last high school game, you have to get the most out of it,” said Whiteside, who will continue his football at Bloomsburg University. “There is a bond you create with these guys, and it was great to make new friends. I’ll definitely be hanging out with some of these guys. This game really brought us together.”

DiCocco started his high school career on Widener’s Quick Stadium, playing in the Blue & Gold All-Star grade-school game. The Radnor center’s football career had come full circle.

“It is funny, because we were just talking about that the other day, me and (Radnor teammate) Vinny (Caniglia) started here in eighth grade in the Blue & Gold game, and this is where we’ll be ending our high school careers,” said DiCocco, who’s headed to Valley Forge, with the intention of eventually playing at Navy. “The thing about this game is that there is a bond between us, because each one of us was leaders on our teams and we all know what it’s like to lead. We all have the same goal and that’s to win.”

Sidenote: West assistant coach Mike Amalfitano took a terrible spill in the first half when two players ran into him on the sideline. Amalfitano, a Haverford High assistant coach, was deemed OK, but was taken to a local hospital as a precautionary measure and diagnosed with a concussion. Haverford head coach Joe Gallagher said nothing serious has been diagnosed. Amalfitano was down for several minutes and a stretcher was called on to the field, before Amalfitano got up under his own power and watched the remainder of the first half from the bench with an ice pack on his neck.