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Exploring the PCL, Two Return to TedSilary.com Home Page Drew Russin and Jim Kelly are seniors
at La Salle. They are both ex-football players who enjoy writing for
tedsilary.com, cooking omelets, and shooting hoops in Pat Darsh's driveway. |
Click here for the other Exploring the PCL.
OCT. 31
CATHOLIC AAAA
La Salle 45, Roman 7
From the opening kickoff La Salle made the Cahillites wish they
hadn’t stepped out on the field. La Salle kicked off to start the massacre, and
Roman punted the ball after going three and out. On La Salle’s first offensive
play Connor “the nature freak” Hoffman zipped past all of Roman’s
defenders and scored a TD like he scores fresh Jordan err day. La Salle’s
defense was back on the field but Roman wasn’t heading downfield, in fact it
looked more like they were paying attention to the bus schedule to see when they
could get home quickest. But after another three and out La Salle was back in
the driver's seat, Jamal quickly scored a touchdown and before junior
reporter Sam Pelone arrived at the ball match. By the end of the first
quarter the score was as lopsided as the GPA to SAT scores at Roman. Roman’s
score came from a run that resembled Steve Sinnott running from door to
door for candy. La Salle continued to as Cage Shafer stated Run train on
Roman Catholic. As the game went on it was evident that Kevin Wilkens
might get in, his excitement came to fruition ten fold because of all the
touchdowns scored forced the extra point committee to play. The offense kept
driving down the field time after time again without slowing down or taking
plays off. By half time La Salle had a 21-point lead and really wanted to bust
past the line a couple more times for touchdowns. At the half we got the chance
to catch up with some of the unsung heroes of La Salle football. First we pulled
aside Mike Bennett’s young protégé back up kicker, Andrew Bilotta.
(the following and raw and unedited material)
ExPCL- Hey Andrew whats up buddy?
AB- Not much guys just enjoying an easy victory
ExPCl- Oh yea for sure, but tell me a little about your responsibilities as the
team's second kicker
AB- Well I am pretty much in charge of all the super important stuff, like the
bag that the tee goes in, and if Mike is ever thirsty I keep him hydrated and
what know, you guys know what I am talking about right
ExPCL- Yea sure thing but can we get some stats, at least hear some of your
practice records
AB- Well last week I hit an extra point in the big JV game and my longest field
goal is like 1 mile, no big deal
ExPCL- Wow that's a pretty far shot to nail, how come you don’t kick off or
anything?
AB-Politics
ExPCL- Can you give me a little more detail?
AB- you wish
ExPCL- Alright buddy I wont pry, but thanks for your time and hope you get a few
more chances to show off your magic.
After that exclusive interview and that lucky feeling in our bellies we then
tracked down a man who is as legend has it batted a perfect 1.000 at Calvert
Hall when he led their baseball to such great seasons in 2004-2005. Bro. David
is a man whose piety is only exceeded by his advanced football IQ and ability to
make La Salle Football a force to be reckoned with. We didn’t have time to
conduct a full interview, but I did get a few powerful quotes that should lift
the team through the playoffs. We asked Brother if he is calling any of the
plays lately, he told us that any time we score a touchdown he called the play.
And so you heard it hear first Brother Dave is an offensive guru and little Andy
Bilotta will have no problem filling in Dinosaur Bennett’s incredibly large
kicking shoes next year.
GAME NOTES
La Salle looked like a well oiled machine rolling over their opponent
The Explorers will look to beat the Lions of O’Hara twice in back to back
weeks. Predictions: 28-14 and 21-0.
SEPT. 26
CATHOLIC AAAA
La Salle 38, Ryan 0
From the opening kickoff La Salle’s exceptional play was seen
on every drive, every defensive stop and every member of the team contributed to
their big win over Ryan. La Salle had little trouble scoring in the first
quarter as field general and team captain Drew “Young Brett Gordon” Loughery
completed several passes, setting up kicker and amateur botanist Mike
Bennett. After the kickoff it was Ryan’s turn, but they had little success
throughout the day, and Payne Beowulf Brady kept quarterback Dillon
“The Bat” Cave at bay. La Salle would get the ball back after stopping Ryan
on three consecutive plays and took the ball around the fifty. Although Jamal Abdur-Rahman has been injured for a few weeks he returned this week and was as
explosive as ever and he had a long run for 26 yards, setting a wide-open
Neanderthal tight end, Steve “Sinnott” Jones for a touchdown to La
Salle up, 10-0, and having the Ryan Raiders feeling a little tense. Ryan
got the ball after Mike “we know I am the best kicker” Bennett kicked the
ball through the uprights and gave the Raiders the ball on the 20.
La Salle had Ryan on a third and long twice on the same drive and must have been
napping because on two separate occasions the Raiders converted on 4th down fake punt plays, which made the La Salle defense wonder
whether or not Frank McArdle Jr. was still coaching and thought that
possibly Harry Houdini had taken over. But once in the end zone the Explorers
stepped up and shut down the Raiders' drive. When La Salle took over they had
little problems driving up field and were able to score on a Jamal sprint into
the end zone from the 1. Again the defense and their gritty play
leads to another Ryan punt and a Steve Jones touchdown his second of the
game. Entering halftime the Explorers were fired up and ready to score more,
and they would. The Explorers who were leading at the half 24-0 kicked the ball
off to the Raiders, who were making some progress towards the end zone until B
intercepted Cave’s pass and Coach Gordon took the opportunity to let some of the
young players get real game experience. So Loughery took a break and Matt “I
get a new car everyday” Magarity took over behind center. After a long
Tim “mini Mike Donohoe” Wade touchdown run the Explorers felt confident they
would win. But with 1:30 left in the game the most magical thing that may have
ever taken place in the history of George Washington’s field, a zipping pass
down field was intercepted by Mike “Tyson” Holland who Drew and I had a
chance to interview after the game. I asked Mike what made today’s game most
special for him, he told me "When you see me smash somebody's skull, you enjoy
it." I was somewhat baffled by this so I pried on and asked him how he thought
La Salle played today. He went on to talk about himself a little more, saying,
“My offense is impeccable, my defense is impenetrable.” Still not getting the
answers I was looking for, I switched things up and asked him a little bit about
Meadowbrook, his home town. "I like the British bikes. I like British people.
They're real mellow." And I know we didn’t get much out of him but I can assure
you there will be more to come from such a dynamic and charismatic athlete. The
fourth quarter saw less action than the Weekly Hawk writers see at a mixer, but
Nick Sabia did score off a Magarity handoff and the Explorers won the game
easily, 38-0.
Game Notes:
La Salle was in almost full form, and looking good.
Next week Judge 21-0.
SEPT. 18
NON-LEAGUE
La Salle 16, West Catholic 14
After Philadelphia Magazine's ranking of the best of Philly high
schools in everything, the La Salle football team was baffled when they found
out the ubiquitous West Catholic Burrs had narrowly edged out the
glorious but often disputed La Salle Explorer. It’s rumored that when both way
lineman Matthew “Mom, What’s for Dinner” DiGiacomo read it, he almost
went on a hulk like rage through Lafayette Hill. (Luckily he turned the page to
see La Salle noted as the best lacrosse program and cooled down a bit) So
needless to say Dijock and the rest of the Explorers were out for vengeance
against our “brothers” of West Catholic. And the team came out fired up, but
with a list of injuries that stretched all the way up PA 309 to Doylestown,
Drew Loughery and his inexperienced backfield had a little trouble making
West respect their abilities. But La Salle forged on without Sam Feleccia,
George Giovinazzo and Jamal Abdur-Rahman, and scored an early
touchdown to a wide-open Steve Jones, showing the Explorers were fired up
and ready to score more. But the Burrs have some serious weapons in WR Quran
Kent and QB Jarred Evans and the speedy West Catholic offense did
quick work and put six up on the board to tie the game at six points each. So
after a trick play putting Loughery in the end zone off a QB keeper, and a
Mike Bennett field goal, La Salle had a deceivingly large lead over West
Catholic. But just as La Salle started to feel comfortable, the Burrs used their
speed and with just under ten minutes left scored a touchdown and a 2-point
conversion making the game, 16-14. So after each team had a few sets of down
each, La Salle made their move with about three minutes left on the clock. La
Salle broke into the red zone but after three failed plays it was fourth and
long. And Coach Drew Gordon brought out one of his old tricks to try and
catch a fatigued West Catholic defense by surprise -- an old end-around pass to
Loughery in the near corner of the end zone. But Connor "Condor" Hoffman’s pass
was off its mark and they turned the ball over on downs. West had it chance with
under two minutes on the clock, but the La Salle defensive was not about to let
their season have any blemishes, and seniors Steve “Fat Sack” Szostak,
and Pat “Darsh, Definitively Darsh, Nothing Else” Resch made sure that
West couldn’t make a long drive and steal a victory. So with a sack and some
incomplete passes La Salle got the ball back and took and knee to seal the deal
and roll on to a big game against the 2-1 St. Joe’s squad at P-W. Should be an
interesting matchup.