Chris (L) and Sam

Exploring the PCL, One Football 2009 Return to TedSilary.com Home Page   Sam Pelone and Chris Edger are seniors at La Salle. They've offered to write reports about the Explorers' games. They guarantee accurate statistics and analysis, and they say they'll "of course provide humor." They also figure their writing will top the Prep kids' since they attend a better school (smile).   Sam may be reached at sdp823@comcast.net.

 

Click here for the other Exploring the PCL.

 

 

NOV. 7
CATHOLIC AAAA
La Salle 24, O'Hara 14
  We’d like to start off by apologizing to Jack Nimble and all of our dedicated readers for the late report. We’ve spent the past couple weeks attempting to teach Gym Kelly the basics of writing skills, grammar, and the English language in general. Jim’s getting there, but is still struggling with some concepts. For example, in Jim’s latest game report, he stated, “And so you heard it hear first….” Classes will resume next week, keep working hard Jim.
  With La Salle and Cardinal O’Hara already set to play each other in the opening round of the playoffs, this matchup could only determine who would be the home and away teams in the rematch next week. However, both teams played their starters for the entire game, with the exception being La Salle running back Jamal Abdur-Rahman, who sat out resting his knee. La Salle dominated the majority of the first half. Starting on their first drive, La Salle drove right down the field, as Drew Loughery finished the possession with a 13-yard pass to Sam “FAY FAY” Feleccia. La Salle’s defense then forced a quick punt, which Connor Hoffman returned deep into O’Hara territory. The offense took advantage of the good field position, and scored on a one-yard QB sneak by Loughery. On the next La Salle possession, Tim “Dwayne” Wade swag-surfed 43 yards to set up a short TD pass to Steve Jones. Who? Steve Jones. With the score 21-0, Corey Matthews Brown broke loose for a 73 yard touchdown run, set up by lead blocker George Feeney. La Salle’s defense was clearly distracted on the play, as BFF’s Pat Resch and Ryan Saraceni were busy discussing room arrangements in their summer house. The score heading into halftime was 21-7.
  At halftime, we caught up with Mrs. Giovinazzo and had a lengthy discussion regarding Georgie’s recent college application struggles.  Afterwards, we almost tricked her into revealing the super secret family gravy recipe, but we were unsuccessful.
  La Salle’s defense continued its solid play in the second half. Chipotle spokesman Steve Sinnott, who had two first half sacks, and Steve “Snack Attack slugstack” Szostak dominated the trenches.  Ryan Saraceni forced a fumble, which was recovered by his significant other and his better half, Patrick Gorman Resch. Senior DB “Guinea Pig” Vinny Mig (Migliarese) anchored the Explorer secondary. He recorded one INT, which led to a Mike Bennett field goal, and added 4 tackles. Migliarese said afterwards, “I knew that my girl Laura would be watching and I just knew that I had to have a big game.” Also in the mix was RobJackRandyKevin Forster, who defended 5 passes. O’Hara scored a late TD to make the final score, 24-14.

GAME NOTES:

- It was senior day for the Explorers and all the seniors were honored pre-game. It was a star-studded event, as appearances were made by Ron “Paper Trail” Feleccia, Bob “Dough Boy Fresh” Szostak (attorney at law), and Mike “The Muffin Man” Hoffman.

- Seamus MaCcroy’s “boo” was in attendance, but was torn over who to root for. Ultimately, she decided to come to the La Salle side with #82 painted on her shirt.

- Drew Loughery, with the exception of one interception, was his normal self, completing 13 of 19 passes for 177 yards and 2 TDs. He added one rushing touchdown as well.

- Tim Wade (General Sinnott’s new brother-in-law) took the majority of the carries with Abdur-Rahman out. He rushed 17 times for 114 yards.

- Feleccia had an all around good game, with 6 catches for 101 yards and 6 carries for 26 yards out of the wildcat formation. He even played a significant amount of downs at linebacker.

- Next up for the Explorers is the Catholic League AAAA Semifinal matchup against the Cardinal O’Hara Corey Browns. Prediction: 31-17 La Salle.

 

OCT. 9

CATHOLIC AAAA
La Salle 28, Judge 10

  Coming into the Judge game, La Salle expected to be at 100 percent with the return of Jamal Abdur-Rahman and Sam Feleccia. However, a stomach virus seemed to make its way through the locker room pregame. After the pregame meal Feleccia began projectile vomiting. Saraceni joined him as he again drank multiple 5 hour energy drinks, despite the fact that it made him sick the previous week against Archbishop Ryan. At the sight of this gruesome ordeal, long snapper extraordinaire Kankle Kev Clarke said “Oh man…I don’t feel so hot…” and joined in the action. The squad quickly recuperated as janitor Berkeley gave an inspirational speech. (Let it be known—all of this actually transpired.. seriously)

  We arrived to the game late, as Sam Pelone was just returning from getting “kairotic with his bros.” This rematch of last year’s PCL title game promised to be a good matchup, as both La Salle and Father Judge returned most of their impact starters.  Judge, led by senior tailback Curt Wortham, Greg “Life Beckons” Kovacs, and Kevin Leneghan, came into the game seeking vengeance from last year’s championship game.  The first quarter was back and forth, as both offenses seemed rusty, unable to get anything going and sustain a productive drive. In the second quarter, the Explorers got on the board, as Drew “Mike Winchell” Loughery completed a screen pass to Abdur-Rahman, who did the dirty-dirty to a couple of Crusaders’ ankles as he made his way into the endzone. Judge threatened on the ensuing drive, but La Salle’s defense forced a 39 yard field goal by Owen Radtke.  La Salle responded on the next drive, as Loughery found Feleccia on a slant pattern, who took it 50 yards into the endzone.  Then, after a sack by the former Holy Savior football standout Shane Brady sack, Kevin Forster returned a punt 70 yards for a TD to make the score 21-3 at half.

  At halftime, legendary athletic trainer Dr. David Crowe, MD convinced linebacker/ vampire Shane Brady that he needed to patch up the cut his chin. Shane was clearly disappointed, as he wanted to spread the blood on his face like war paint.

  The third quarter was highlighted by a Kevin Forster interception of Tony Smith. Fellow d-backs  Vinny “Bag a Donuts” Migliarese and Patrick “Darshmouth” Resch didn’t even congratulate their teammate on the pick. Said Resch, “It’s like totally not fair, he gets all the easy picks. Meanwhile, me and Vinny work our rear ends off and no one even notices. I mean seriously, he’s not even that good…” When asked about Kevin’s 3rd INT of the year, Vinny simply grunted and stormed off.  On the next Explorer drive, Loughery connected with TE and experienced Farmer Steve Jones for a big gain down to the Crusader 21 yard line. The drive ended with another Abdur-Rahman TD, as he scampered in from the 10. As the third quarter winded down,  senior D-Lineman Matt Crone ferociously ran past the Judge O-Line and recorded a sack. A few plays later, Crone forced a fumble that was recovered by Judge. After making both plays, Crone sprinted into the stands, and gave hugs to his Mom and BFFL Gym Kelly. He then ran over to us, tugged on our pant legs, and pleaded for a shout-out in our article..... Anyway… Judge scored a meaningless TD in the fourth quarter, making the final score 28-10.  

GAME NOTES:

-          Junior Halfback Jamal Abdur-Rahman seems to be back in full form, as he rushed for 102 yards on 15 carries and a TD. He also caught 4 passes for 73 yards and a touchdown. 

-          Drew Loughery was impressive, throwing for 223 yards and 2 touchdowns on 22 passing attempts. Afterwards, he gave 80% of the credit to his line. Loughery’s main receivers were Sam Feleccia (3 receptions for 77 yards) and Steve Jones (3 receptions for 66 yards) .

-          The La Salle defense continued its solid play. It held the Fadder Fudge offense, led by the elusive Curtis Wortham, to 10 points, making the score as much of a blowout as the Crusaders’ haircuts.  The Explorer defense, with seniors Steve Sinnott, Anthony “Don’t call me Tony” Cognetti,  and Maria’s Pizza employee of the month Matt DiGiacomo, is holding its opponents to roughly 9 points a game.

-          Special Thanks to dedicated follower, “Jack Nimble.” Thanks for the email, we really appreciate it. Your clever and constructive criticism will definitely help us in our future endeavors.  

-          Now, we would like to encourage a moment of silence in memory of Saint Joseph’s game reports.  RIP “The Weekly Hawk” Your clever and hilarious articles will surely be missed.

-           Next up for the Explorers is a matchup with Monsignor Bonner.  We see it 27-7 La Salle.

 

SEPT. 26
CATHOLIC AAAA
SJ Prep 24, La Salle 17
  So, after much consideration, we decided to continue writing for this website. Recently, we thought about creating our own blog, naming it “seniorsoda.com” in honor of a silly Youtube video. This blog of ours would be completely devoted to La Salle football; we would post pictures of our weight room, write our own hilarious game reports and edit other people’s Ted Silary game reports to make them super duper funny.  Ultimately we decided against it because it would just be too outrageous to make our own website.

  There was a lot of hype surrounding the game due to the fierce rivalry between La Salle and Saint Joe’s. Facebook groups were formed, and wacky Sean Branton proceeded to comment on all of them about every 5 seconds. The situation on the social networking site quickly escalated, as the main instigators were Brendan “PLAY ME IN PICKUP FOOTBALL” Courtney, Havertown’s finest Seamus MacCrory, and the mythical Gunger Meet.  Courtney ultimately ended up disappointed, after rowing his boat to P-W and discovering that no one (From Saint Joe’s or La Salle ) wanted to play with him. After all the pre-game hoopla died down, the game actually turned out to be quite a gem.
  La Salle entered the game without their starting backfield, running back Jamal Abdur-Rahman, and fullback George “Don’t ask me how my day was” Giovinazzo. Sam Feleccia (that’s how it’s spelled) played minimally, as he was still hampered by an injured ankle.  Sophomore running back Tim Wade would again have to handle the majority of the carries, and senior wide-out Connor Hoffman would have to be Drew Loughery’s primary target. It was a great atmosphere at Plymouth-Whitemarsh, as both La Salle and Saint Joe’s students poured into the stands.  La Salle won the toss, and chose to receive. On La Salle ’s first possession, Drew Loughery led a well orchestrated drive down the field, culminating in a TD pass to Feleccia. Feleccia, despite the injured ankle, had three catches on the first drive alone. Saint Joe’s responded on their first drive of the game, as they moved down the field and scored on a Mike “Goldy Locks” Labor run. However, the PAT was no good as the holder pulled a Tony Romo and couldn’t handle the snap.  La Salle looked to extend their lead on their ensuing drive, as they started with good field position after Shane “Beowulf” Brady returned the kickoff to the 47. With the rain starting to pick up, La Salle began to rely more on its running game. Tim Wade was utilized more on the second drive, as he rushed 4 times for 38 yards on the possession. The drive stalled in the red zone, and the Explorers were forced to attempt a field goal. Mike Bennett booted a 31 yarder to make the score 10-6. La Salle’s defense stopped the Hawks on their next drive, and got the ball back at their own 9. Wade again jumpstarted the drive, as he broke loose for a long run to the 42. Later on in the drive, Loughery completed a 37 yard pass to Connor Hoffman. Hoffman, after making the big catch, turned to the La Salle student section and emphatically strapped on his people’s champ belt, reminiscent of Freddie Mitchell. Afterwards thanked his hands for being so great.  Wade, aka “Mike Donohoe Jr.” capped off the 91-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone, making the score 17-6. La Salle seemed to be in control of the game at this point and after a Kevin Forster interception of Skyler “Daddy’s Superstar” Morningwheg pass, La Salle had an opportunity to put the game away. However, a bobbled passed landed in the arms of Steve O’Hara for a pick and he returned it to the La Salle 11. A Desmon Peoples touchdown and a failed 2 point conversion attempt made the score 17-12 at half.
  Inside sources informed us about Saint Joe’s locker room discussion. Gil Brooks’ rage peaked when SR. DB/WR Colin Rodgers asked if he could wear his new flat brim instead of his helmet. “Coach, what’s the point in beating La Salle if the girls can’t see my swag?” He proceeded to look in the mirror and give himself compliments. Brooks continued, “Alright, seriously guys, football and Edgely…that’s just what we do. How would that look if La Salle beat us again?” Saint Joe’s left the locker room pretty fired up, though Rodgers was still pretty upset that he had to actually wear his helmet.
  The third quarter lacked much action, as both defenses stepped it up. A key play happened with 3:41 left in the third quarter. On a short run, Saint Joe’s running back Garrett Compton went down with what now has been confirmed as an ACL tear. The Hawks, a run-heavy team, will undoubtedly feel the loss of Compton, their primary back who took most of the carries. La Salle had the opening possession of the fourth quarter. After a long completion to Kevin Forster down the sideline to the Hawk’s 19, Wade ran three times to get the ball to the 7 yard line for a first and goal. Wade continued to have success on the ground in the second half. Then, on a questionable play call, Loughery rolled out to his left and fired a pass intended for Feleccia. Saint Joe’s cornerback Kushmir Miller jumped the route and picked it off at the one yard line. There was some protest, as it appeared that Miller trapped the ball, but the call stood and the Hawks regained possession. You have to wonder with the success the Explorers were having running the football, why they would choose to throw in rainy weather inside the 10 yard line. The next three series went as follows: Punt by Saint Joe’s, turnover on downs by La Salle , and a turnover on downs by Saint Joe’s. La Salle regained possession with 4:04 left in the game at their own 36, and things looked pretty promising. They ran the ball twice with Wade, who was stopped for short gains each time. The Hawks used their final two timeouts after each running play. Then, on third down, Loughery dropped back to pass but was sacked. A shanked punt gave Saint Joe’s the ball at the La Salle 41. After a series of runs and a completion, Saint Joe’s was at the La Salle 19. Then, Mornhinweg rolled to his right and threw a TD pass to Bobby D’Orazio, putting Saint Joe’s ahead 18-17. On the next Explorer possession, a bad snap led to a fumble that Saint Joe’s recovered. It was again a questionable call, as one ref clearly blew the whistle before the ball was loose. In any case, Saint Joe’s took over and Labor punched in another TD to make it 24-17. In a last ditch effort, Loughery led the Explorers all the way to the Hawks’ 19, but could not get complete a fourth down pass. St. Joe’s took over on downs. The game ended, a bunch of ecstatic little Hawklets scampered onto the field. And so began a night of debauchery for the students of St. Joe’s, which included some senior sodas and plenty of restricted phone calls to La Salle students. Kevin Wilkins was the recipient of one of these calls, and despite his loudest cries of “IDENTIFY YOURSELF,” the St. Joe’s kid simply giggled and hung up. One thing we learned from the 2006-07 season is that regular season losses to St Joe’s don’t matter.
GAME NOTES:

-          Luke Vrancken, self proclaimed “Da Chise,” led the La Salle student section, despite the fact that he’s on the team roster. It was well worth it, as everyone was entertained by his La Salle chants. “WHAT DAAAT SPELL?”

-          The Explorers, despite the loss, can take a lot from this game. Their defense, led by “General” Sinnott and Ryan “King Leonidas” Saraceni was solid throughout. Excluding the first drive of the game, the scoring drives of St. Joe’s started at the LS 11, the LS 41, and the LS 23. St. Joe’s scores were mostly set up by offensive miscues

-          Sophomore running back Tim Wade has been a pleasant surprise so far this season. With the injuries to Abdur-Rahman and Giovinazzo, Wade turned in his best performance of the season, rushing 29 times for 157 yards. When A-R returns, La Salle should have quite a rotation in the backfield. 

-          Thanks to those outrageous nutty and satirical nuts from The Weekly Hawk. It’s great to hear that we’re getting some positive feedback. We’ve heard some good things about you too. People say they love hearing the same things repeated each and every year in the Hawk Talk/ Hen Den/ Weekly Hawk section. Seriously, everyone loves hearing those hilarious anecdotes about La Salle lacrosse every single year. Keep up the wacky work.

-          Next up for La Salle is a matchup with Archbishop Ryan. Ryan is having a rough start to the year, as they have lost their first four games. The Explorers should win pretty handily. 42-7 La Salle.

 

SEPT. 11
NON-LEAGUE
La Salle 28, Malvern 7
  Following the 56-0 nail biter against P-W, La Salle set its sights on a more formidable foe. After losing 47-21 to a Malvern team that went on to be undefeated last year, the defending PCL champs came into the game seeking revenge.  However, La Salle, which  normally utilizes a potent passing attack, would have to rely on their running game to overcome the rainy conditions. The Explorers would also have to deal with the absence of two senior leaders, wide-out Sam Feleccia and fullback George Giovinazzo, who were both out nursing injuries.
  La Salle’s first drive was efficient, but was ended abruptly by a fumble, which the Friars recovered on their own 10 yard line. La Salle’s D made up for the turnover, and forced a quick Malvern punt. On the next Explorer possession, after driving from their own 40 yard line, returning all Catholic running back and expert bowler Jamal Abdur-Rahman bullied his way into the end zone from the one.  Jamal, blessed with the ability to run past linebackers and knock down the pins, has the potential to make it to both the NFL and the PBA.  La Salle’s defense was solid throughout the first half, led by seniors “My Cousin” Vinny Migliarese, Shane “Pain” Brady and Steve “Chill Vibes” Sinnott. Right before the half, La Salle quickly marched 80 yards down the field, culminating in another Abdur-Rahman TD run from inside the five. All State quarterback Drew Loughery was efficient in running the 2 minute drill as he connected on all of his throws on the drive.  The Explorers led going into the half, 14-0. One Malvern runnning back was clearly shaken up at halftime, as it was rumored that he simply looked into the eyes of Shane Brady. He talked about the horrifying ordeal after the game, saying “It was horrible. It felt like I would never be cheerful again.”
  Starting with good field position in the third quarter, Malvern got on the board with a short touchdown run. La Salle responded quickly on their next drive, highlighted by a scintillating one handed snag by Steven Anthony Jones, and capped off by a two-yard run by impressive sophomore running back Tim Wade. Wade really stepped up in this game, filling in for the injured Giovinazzo.  When Abdur-Rahman went down with an injury in the third, Wade got the majority of the carries and was effective. On the ensuing Malvern possession, La Salle put the nail in the coffin, as SR. d-back Patrick “Darsh” Resch intercepted a pass, and took it back inside the Malvern five. Wade punched in another TD, his second of the night, and the Explorers maintained control for the rest of the game, getting the victory by a final score of 28-7.
  This was an impressive win for La Salle, as the defending PCL champs took down the defending Inter-Ac champs.  Jamal Abdur-Rahman had yet another productive game, rushing 26 times for 151 yards. The O-Line, led by SR’s. Steve “Smokestack” Szostak  and two-time Wing Bowl champ Matt  DiGiacomo, dominated the Malvern front four, creating huge holes for Abdur-Rahman and Wade in the process.  Also in the mix were JR.’s  Ryan Geiger, Cameron Cappo and Daniel Ezzo. Quarterback Drew Loughery once again delivered a solid performance, finishing 10 for 16 for 120 yards. Hauling in Loughery’s passes were Connor Hoffman (3 catches for 33 yards), Tim Wade (3 catches 37 yards), Kevin Forster and Steve Jones (2 catches 25 yards apiece). Also getting a few reps at wideout was Kevin Wilkins, who ran clean and crisp routes throughout the game. We caught up with Wilkins post-game and asked him about his role in the offense. He told us,  “I told the coaching staff, Ya’ll wanna win? Put Wilkins in, lemme spin. Now look, we 2-0.” Senior linebackers Ryan Saraceni and Anthony Cognetti, who had a forced fumble, anchored the defense.  Connor Daly led the team with 6 tackles, and fellow Junior Kevin Forster added an INT.  Overall, the defense played a tough game, almost as tough as George Giovinazzo, but not quite. 

  Next up for the Explorers is the Christian Brothers’ brawl with West Catholic at Springfield High School. West, coming off victories against Roman and Penn Charter, is always a tough matchup, bringing speed on both sides of the ball.  However, we expect another La Salle W, 24-10.