If you’re a fan of the Raiders, you probably know the name Marchesano.
It really doesn’t matter the sport because when it comes to Archbishop Ryan High School, there’s a chance if you support a sport, you’ve cheered for one of them.
Shawn Marchesano is 23. He played football and wrestled while at Ryan.
Nick Marchesano is a year younger. He was a wrestler and a soccer player at the school.
Jake Marchesano is a senior, and he’s one of the best baseball players in the area. Last year he was the Catholic League Most Valuable Player and after one more high school season, he’ll play at the University of Delaware.
Next up is Luke. And while he’s also an up-and-coming lacrosse player, he is a soccer star, starting as a sophomore at center midfield for the Raiders.
Those boys came after the two oldest siblings, Dom, 33, and Ashly, 31, who were great students, but didn’t play sports.
It’s tough to stand out when you come from a family of great athletes, but Luke certainly did that this year. But he is still working with family members. Ryan’s coach is Ryan Haney, and he’s Jake’s uncle. Ryan’s son, Owen Haney, is also a sophomore on the Raiders.
“Really my uncle was always big in soccer so me and my cousin got involved early and I stuck with it throughout my life,” Marchesano said. “We played for Philly Soccer mostly.”
Now, both sophomores are not just part of the Raiders, but both are key starters for the Ryan team that proved to be one of the top teams in the Catholic League during the regular season, and then emphasized that in the playoffs.
The Raiders knocked off St. Joe’s Prep in the quarterfinals, then upset Father Judge in the semifinals, giving them the right to play in the PCL championship for the second time in three years.
But this year wasn’t as kind to Ryan. The Raiders fell 5-0 to the Explorers on Sunday at Northeast High School. It was fun to get there, but certainly not what Marchesano and his mates were hoping for.
“It was tough, it was an overall bad game for us, just a tough loss,” said Marchesano, who helped Ryan serve up La Salle’s only regular season loss. “We didn’t play our best. Tough loss. It hurt. It was a really bad feeling losing by that much in a PCL final. Definitely don’t want to feel that way again. It’s hard to get there, but when you get there, that’s not what you want to happen.”
Good news is this Ryan team is young, and while there are some great seniors on the team who won’t get another chance to hoist the plaque, many of the Raiders who walked off the field with their heads down on Sunday return and they learned a lot from playing in the game.
“Getting there was good for the team,” he said. “We have a very young team, got that experience. We have to move forward into next season. It’s good to have that experience. It’s a tough way to go out and none of us ever want to feel like we did when we were leaving. It was hard.”
While Ryan had a great team this year, it was a good young team. But the talent overcame the lack of experience and helped Ryan ride that to a championship game.
“It was pretty nice seeing we had a young team going into the season, so it was nice to win the games we did and finish well in the regular season,” Marchesano said. “Making the finals meant everything I would say, especially what we had to do to get there, the teams we had to play to get there. It was hard.”
Marchesano stepped up in many ways this year.
He took over the midfield, grew as a player and leader, and chipped in with some huge goals. He has a knack for that, and credits family and friends for helping him dig in when the lights are shining brightest.
“I have help dealing with everything, I think the person who helps me the most is Jake because he dealt with it in baseball,” Marchesano said. “He’s been starting since he was a freshman. He helped prepare me to be mentally ready. On the field? Jack Stackhouse. He took me under his wing, he helps me when I’m nervous. He’s helped me get through it and get to the next one. He had two big goals (in the semifinals) and that was a great feeling for him and the whole team. I was happy for him because he’s helped me.”
Marchesano still has time to help Ryan this year.
The Raiders play Franklin Towne Charter on Wednesday in the District 12 3A championship game. A win sends them to the state playoffs.
“We want to win the district and make a run in states,” Marchesano said. “I want the seniors to have a good run. They’ve helped us so much, they led us, now we have to play for them.
“We had a good year, just had a bad game in the worst time. We are better than we played and we can play better. We will. It helps us this year and next year. We know what that feels like to lose. We don’t want that again.”
