Boon, Boyle lead Unionville in romp over Garnet, 37-13

Explosive offense, speed bury neighboring rivals

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Unionville senior running back Brandon Boon (29) with fullback Bryce McManus (44) leading the way hits the line, Friday night. Boon rushed for 222 yards and a pair of TD in Unionville’s 37-13 win over Garnet Valley. Jim Gill Photo.

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times

EAST MARLBOROUGH — If Friday night is any indication of things to come, the 2015 Unionville High School football team may be one of those special teams that come along very rarely.

The Indians dismantled a tough and talented Garnet Valley squad, 37-13, thoroughly dominating all areas — outside of the kicking game, which figures to be a work in progress — and showing explosive speed and a defense able to contain one of the area’s top option offenses.

“What a great effort by our kids in every phase of the game,” Unionville head coach Pat Clark said. “We got explosive plays, (Tyler) Marmo hit a big play, Brandon Boon was phenomenal tonight, (Elan) Nash broke up everything in the secondary, (Brendan) Boyle handled the team well and up front, we played well on both sides of the line of scrimmage.”

Boon, a senior running back, all but put on a clinic, rushing for 222 yards (more than 300 all purpose yards) and scoring a pair of touchdowns. He was nearly unstoppable on the ground and for good measure, was deadly in the kick return game. Boon, Clark said, is just one of a number of explosive weapons the Indians have — and can spread the field with.

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Unionville’s defense led by linebackers Dylan Rappucci, Laz Kirifiedes and Trevor Gardiner were able to bottle up Garnet Valley’s explosive triple option offense all night. Jim Gill Photo.

“We’ve got four or five guys, if we get the field spread out and get one on ones, I like our one-on-ones,” Clark said.

For Boyle, a senior quarterback, the win was the culmination of more than a month of hard work by he and his teammates — when opening whistle blew, they were more than ready.

“This is a huge win for us,” Boyle said. “We’ve been preparing for last month non-stop. We’ve had some guys banged up, but kept fighting and fighting. We were totally prepared for this game.”

The Indians (1-0) started early and explosively and never let up, overpowering a Jaguars’ team that typically gives them fits with their triple option offense.

Despite some preseason suggestions that the graduation of strong-armed QB Alex Pechin would mean a bit more sedate, ball-control offense in 2015, Unionville started off with a bang and the hits just kept coming.

Boyle hit Marmo for a 68-yard TD pass, as Marmo just flat out ran the Garnet defense — a burst of speed that hinted at much more to come the rest of the evening.

The Jags struck back quickly, with Garnet QB Matt Hamby pitching the ball to Jacob Buttermore for a four-yard score. Initially, the contest looked a typical Unionville-Garnet Valley game — back and forth and often not decided until the final plays of the game.

The Indians, though, had other ideas.

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Unionville quarterback Brendan Boyle about to uncork a 68-yard pass to Tyler Marmo for the first score of the game. Jim Gill Photo.

Boyle scored on a 22-yard run, set up by a 47-yard run by Boon and the Indians were quickly up 12-6. Then Boon raced 62 yards with a punt return for another score and quickly it was 18-6. Before half time, set up by a Boon 48-yard run, Boyle scored again from nine yards out to give Unionville a 24-6 lead at the half.

Boon all but put the game away with a 91-yard TD run up the left side in the third quarter, giving Unionville complete command of the game and a 31-6 lead.

The Jags managed a late score with Hamby connecting with Bobby Clayton for a 25-yard score, to cut the deficit to 31-13 in the fourth quarter.

The Indians sealed the deal with another late score, a 1-yard scoring run by Boon, to cap the scoring at 37-13.

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