(cover photo of Haverford courtesy of Paul Bogosian)

FOLSOM, PA — 31 years in the making.

It’s been 31 years since the Haverford Fords were Central League Champions until they took down Ridley 7-4 on Monday afternoon. The Fords finished 15-1 in the Central League and will share the title with Radnor, who also went 15-1.

We can save the discourse on how there should be Central League playoffs or at least a championship game for another day, but today is about celebrating what a remarkable season it was for these guys.

This team was 6-10 in the Central League 2023.

Then 10-6 in 2024.

Now here they are in 2025, adding another five wins to that total at 15-1.

All the credit in the world goes to Coach Brian Miller and his guys on turning around this program, and doing so this quickly. They’re just getting started too, with a ton of talent returning next year including star righty Jimmy Boyle and key hitters like Shane Durkan and Cam McCormack among others.

Haverford went into this game knowing a win would give them at least a share of the title and they started off hot. Ryan Cassidy singled and Shane Durkan reached on an error to set the table for Nick Elvanian off of Ridley starter Jake Mansfield.

Elvanian smacked a single into left field to drive in Cassidy and get the scoring started in the top of the first. The Fords would add on another when Cam McCormack knocked in Durkan putting the Fords ahead 2-0.

The Fords liked that two-run inning so much they thought they might do it again in the second.

Owen Fleischauer was hit by a pitch and Will Elias bunted him over to second. That allowed Ryan Cassidy to drive in a run on his second single in as many innings to make it a 3-0 lead. Later on in the inning, Shane Durkan singled in Cassidy and the lead was now 4-0.

Like always though, Ridley wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

In the bottom of the third, Justin Teehan singled to lead off the inning, and after stealing second, was knocked in by John Teehan to make it a 4-1 deficit for the Green Raiders off of Boyle. Jake Mansfield’s two-out single cut the lead in half to 4-2.

The Fords had no interest in letting Mansfield and Ridley have a shutdown inning, though. Even after the first two hitters were retired, Haverford still kept battling.

Ryan Cassidy singled for the third time and Jimmy Boyle was hit by a pitch. Shane Durkan walked to load the bases, and Nick Elvanian singled in Cassidy to make it a 5-2 Fords lead.

The big blow came when Cam McCormack singled, driving in Durkan and Owen Klick to put Haverford up by a 7-2 score.

Ridley did make things interesting with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, which got Boyle’s pitch count up to the point where his day would be done after six.

Funny enough, even though Radnor started their game 30 minutes after Haverford, they actually finished first when they took down Penncrest 4-1. The Fords knew they needed to win this game.

Gavin McClafferty, who typically operates as the Haverford #2 pitcher, came in to try and close it out.

First up was Logan Bubb, who grounded out to shortstop for out number one.

Next up was John Teehan, who flew out to Shane Durkan in center field.

Lastly was Bobby Doherty, who flew out to Ben Ishmael in left field to lock down the win and give Haverford their first Central League title in three decades.

Also would like to take a moment to address the absolute power move that the Fords did by bringing their own Central League title t-shirts to the game. That’s confidence.

Haverford will be the #1 seed in the PIAA District 1 6A Tournament and will host the winner of the #16 vs #17 game next Wednesday. The brackets will be finalized Thursday night, and there is really no reason to speculate who that will be when there are so many moving parts in the rankings formula. There’s certainly a chance Lower Merion and/or Conestoga could be in that game, though, which would be super exciting.

The Fords will have a non-conference game with Downingtown East on Wednesday to wrap up the regular season.