La Salle coasts to District 12 championship

After helping keep dynamic George Washington tailback Hakeem Sillman under wraps for a little more than two quarters, senior defensive ends Matt Maginnis and Tyler Kern happily gave way to La Salle's reserves.

"Our entire game plan was pretty much focused on stopping him," said the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Maginnis, who doubles as an offensive tackle. "To us, their passing game wasn't that threatening."

The Explorers jumped on the Eagles with two early scores, repeatedly bottled up Sillman at or near the point of attack, and easily earned their third consecutive PIAA District 12 Class AAAA football title with a 41-7 romp Saturday at Northeast.

"We treated this as just another game," Kern said. "We wanted to come out strong, get the early lead, and finish things off. That's what we did."

Maginnis and the 6-foot, 220-pound Kern forced Sillman to the middle, where rotating tackles David Losier, Andrew Carlone, and Dan Wasylenko were waiting to pounce. A linebacking corps that included Sean Burke and John Palermo also benefited.

Sillman, who came in with more than 1,600 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns, netted only 19 yards on eight carries in the first half. With Washington down by 27-0 at intermission, he did not get any touches after the break.

Said Kern: "It's like our coach [Drew Gordon] says, 'Defense wins championships.' We had a good effort last week against Roman Catholic, and we wanted to keep that going."

After taking next weekend off, La Salle (11-1) will meet District 11's champion, Nazareth or Easton, in a state quarterfinal the weekend of Dec. 2.

Against the Eagles, senior tailback Tim Wade ran for three touchdowns in the first 13 minutes and La Salle coasted from there.

Wade scored on runs of 17, 2, and 4 yards. His second tally came five plays after a wide-eyed Washington underclassman failed to field Ryan Winslow's kickoff near the sideline, and Dad Poquie alertly fell on the ball at the 20-yard line.

Late in the second quarter, La Salle quarterback Matt Magarity tucked the ball away and dashed 65 yards to make it 27-0.

On 22 plays from scrimmage, the Public League champs managed only 75 yards (32 rushing, 43 passing) in the first half. "They beat us up pretty good up front," Eagles coach Ron Cohen said.

Wade totaled 96 yards on 12 attempts. Because of a right-shoulder stinger, he did not return after notching his third TD early in the second quarter.

George Washington   0 0 7 0 – 7

La Salle   14 13 14 0 – 41

LS: Wade 17 run (Winslow kick)

LS: Wade 2 run (Winslow kick)

LS: Wade 4 run (kick failed)

LS: Magarity 65 run (Winslow kick)

LS: Coleman 13 pass from Magarity (Winslow kick)

LS: Meachum 31 run (Raczak kick)

GW: D. Smith 58 pass from Gavrilov (Wright kick)

Contact staff writer Rick O'Brien at 610-313-8019, robrien@phillynews.com, or @ozoneinq on Twitter. Read his blog, "The O'Zone," at www.philly.com/ozone