For nearly six decades, Inter-Ac play has ended the same way for SCH: With a loss to Malvern Prep. They haven’t beaten the Friars since 1966, not even en route to an Inter-Ac title in 2009.
Rick Knox ’92 has lived through that drought, both as a player and coach. On Saturday, on his home field, he watched the drought end during an overtime thriller in front of a packed crowd that included former players, friends, and members of the SCH community who had lived through decades of close calls.
“There are so many people from [SCH] who have been around here a long time that haven’t seen that,” Knox said about his team’s 21-20 victory. “They did it. Nobody can ever take that away from them.”
In the past two seasons, SCH has managed to meet Malvern for a chance at an Inter-Ac title, but both times have suffered crushing defeats. In 2023, they lost 17-7, and in 2024, they lost 35-0.
But for the first six weeks of the season, it seemed like SCH wouldn’t even get a chance to shoot for a title. At 2-4 after a loss to EA, things looked grim. Yet, despite that, SCH turned things around with a three-game winning streak, taking down Haverford, PC, and GA, entering into a home matchup with Malvern looking to finally score that elusive victory.
Even with the pressure, Knox had emphasized treating the game like any other. “[We] aren’t trying to put too much more emphasis on it,” Knox said in an interview with Gametime Sports. “We’ve been doing this for 11 weeks…it’s the same as it’s been every other week.”
The seniors treated the moment differently. “It’s bittersweet,” said senior linebacker Johnny Nosal. Senior lineman Kyle Cameron told his teammates to “Play like you’re a kid out there.”
“This is what you dreamed about. Let’s just have fun out there. Let’s forget all about the championship. It’s just another game. Let’s play our brand of football.”
With a packed student section behind them, the Friars quieted things, punching the Devils in the mouth on a four-minute, seven-play drive that ended in a touchdown for senior running back Zeke Bates, though they failed a two-point conversion.
On the Devils’ opening drive, they had to quickly punt it away, and for a moment, everyone assumed it’d be a repeat of past seasons. The stuffed student section went silent. The cowbells stopped ringing. Fortunately, a Colin McFadden 4th down stop kept the Devils alive.
Enter the senior celebrating his 19th birthday: Aaron Clark. The Buffalo commit caught a screen pass on the right side, juked past a defender, and won the footrace down the sideline for a 75-yard touchdown.
On Malvern’s very next snap, junior cornerback Isaiah Moore forced a fumble, which gave SCH the ball in Malvern territory, and a quick three points off the kick from junior James Brennan Rothschild.
The sequence repeated again in the second quarter: senior Malvern quarterback Jackson Melconian scrambled on first down, and this time senior linebacker Harry Kull punched the ball out, giving SCH the ball on their own ten. Rothschild then punched in a chip shot field goal after the Devils burned six minutes off the clock, sending SCH into the half up 13-6.
SCH held the momentum, the energy, and the crowd behind them, holding things scoreless throughout the third quarter. But one play is all it takes to swing the momentum, and it was a 12-yard touchdown pass to junior Jack Schuster that tied the game up for the Friars
The crowd was silenced again. Flashbacks of the 2023 championship game came back to fans, where the game fell away from the Devils in the closing minutes. Possession switched hands, and fans waited with bated breath. Malvern was driving, and once again, the Devils needed a miracle. This time, one emerged from the linebacking core. His name was Johnny Nosal.
On first down, the senior helped contain a QB keeper. On second, he broke up a pass across the middle. And on third, Nosal wrapped around the line, sacking Melconian to set up a 4th and 13.
“I knew I had to get one,” said Nosal during a postgame interview. “Get the big sack…at least this game.” With that, there was still life for the Devils.
Senior quarterback Liam Zelman, a Holy Cross commit, orchestrated a drive to lead SCH back into scoring position, setting up Rothschild for a game-winning field goal, with just two seconds left on the clock. The ruckus Devils’ crowd quieted for the first time. Fans waited with bated breath. It was a good snap, a clean hold, and a kick that was ultimately batted at the line.
This game was going to overtime.
Instantly, the hearts of hundreds of Blue Devils fans sank. While the Devils had seemingly dominated the game so far, they’d been held scoreless for quite some time, and in a red zone shootout, where both teams get attempts to score, fans wondered if the Devils could go the distance.
Those concerns seemed well-founded, as Melconian found senior wideout Jackson Ford for a Friars touchdown on the first play of overtime. SCH’s offense, which had been sluggish all game, now had to score on one of the best defenses in the state.
The question was who the ball would go to. Sophomore standout William Howard had struggled on the ground. They’d likely expect a run with Zelman, since the senior quarterback had driven SCH downfield numerous times. Clark, while great, had yet to contribute in the red zone as much as he had the year before.
But Coach Knox has always stuck to his guns, regardless of the situation. Zelman had carried them this far, and the Devils relied on his legs one more time. He took the snap on a QB keeper, and the blue sea of his linemen parted, opening a path for a wide-open touchdown.
“I got to give it to [my blockers],” said Zelman. “They made an amazing hole up the middle. I didn’t even get touched, I walked through there. It was a thing of beauty.”
And that brings us back to Knox. The Blue Devils’ head coach, looking to secure something that hadn’t been done in nearly six decades: a win over Malvern. And while many might debate their choice, Knox didn’t wait.
“It was a no-brainer,” Knox said when asked about the call. “When we scored, there was no doubt in my mind that we were going for two, to try and win it right there, especially as the underdog.”
X-Over, B-Line. Just like the choice to go for two, there was no hesitation on the play call either. The Devils walked to the line, coming out with two extra blockers. Clark motioned to the left side, then back into the backfield. It looked like it would be an obvious run. Malvern crowded the line.
Zelman snapped, placed the ball firmly in the stomach of Howard, and then quickly ripped the ball away from him. The Friars had sold out to stop the run, and sitting there, eyes locked with his quarterback, was Clark, alone in the endzone. “I don’t think my heart’s ever dropped to my stomach like that,” Zelman said postgame. “He was wide open.”
The perfect pass led Clark forward, and Clark said, “I gotta go get that.” On his 19th birthday, the wideout elevated, pulling down the catch and securing not just the two-point conversion, but a share of the Inter-Ac title.
In a postgame interview with Gametime Sports, Clark commented that “I had more than just a team relying on me: I had a community. I had a whole lotta people counting on that one catch, so I had to make it happen for everybody here.”
Like a tsunami, Devils fans and players rushed the field. Players celebrated, seniors who had been there through both the lows of their freshman season, and now the new highs of this moment.
“From freshman year to now, we’ve been getting closer and closer every single year,” senior guard Brian Dougherty commented. “We knew this one was our last chance. We got to end it on top…and I couldn’t be any more thankful.”
The game before, SCH knocked off Haverford for the first time since 2019. Zelman considered it his favorite win. Exactly a week later, surrounded by the 14 men he considered his brothers, and basking in a victory that no SCH football player had seen for 59 years, that had changed.
“Words can’t describe it. These people have been family to me ever since I came here two years ago, and the beginning of my junior year,” stated Zelman postgame. “It’s just an amazing feeling to win with everyone and be so welcomed.”
Tamara H | Nov 11, 2025 at 11:19 am
Roman you captured the energy in this historic win perfectly. We were at the edge of our seats in real-time and you captured the play-by-play like we were re-living it all over again. Great job!