La Salle FB Title Tribute Page

CLASS AAAA FINAL
LA SALLE 24, STATE COLLEGE 7
La Salle 3 14 7 0 -- 24
State College 0 0 7 0 -- 7
LS: FG Bennett 37
LS: Abdur-Rahman 22 run (Bennett kick)
LS: Wade 8 run (Bennett kick)
LS: Feleccia 55 run (Bennett kick)
SC: Kenney 96 kickoff return (Khayat kick)

	LaS	SC
First downs	13	8
Rushes-yards	38-252	31-99
Passing yards	109	24
Total offense	361	123
Passing	5-11-0	3-10-1
Return yards	40	133
Punts	3-32.7	5-36.0
Fumbles lost	0	1
Penalties-yards	9-72	3-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- La S: Feleccia 21-160, Abdur-Rahman 7-61,
Loughery 6-17, Wade 4-14. SC: Mills 7-35, Mazzara 8-21,
Way 8-20, Kenney 5-15, Dorner 1-5, Albro 2-3.
PASSING -- La S: Loughery 5-11-0 -- 109. SC: Mills 2-7-0
-- 15, Mazzara 1-3-1 -- 9.
RECEIVING -- La S: Hoffman 3-66, Feleccia 2-43. SC:
Sallade 2-13, Schmidt 1-11.
INTERCEPTIONS -- La S: Migliarese.
FUMBLE RECOVERIES -- La S: Sinnott.
TACKLING LEADERS -- La S: Sinnott 7; Forster, Brady and
Cognetti 6. SC: Dorner 6; Mills, McWhirter and Holzwarth 5.
SACKS -- La S: Saraceni, Geiger/Szostak. SC: Holzwarth.

LA SALLE OFFENSE			LA SALLE DEFENSE
C	Ryan Geiger	67	T	Steve Szostak	78
G	Matt DiGiacomo	59	T	Ryan Geiger	67
G	Steve Szostak	78	E	Steve Sinnott	58
T	Cameron Cappo	61	E	Cameron Cappo	61
T	Dylan Gavin	56	ILB	Anthony Cognetti	47
TE	Steve Jones	10	ILB	Ryan Saraceni	34
WR	Sam Feleccia	7	OLB	Shane Brady	5
WR	Connor Hoffman	4	OLB	Sam Feleccia	7
QB	Drew Loughery	8	CB	Vinny Migliarese	37
TB	Jamal Abdur-Rahman	11	CB	Jamal Abdur-Rahman	11
FB	Tim Wade	33	FS	Kevin Forster	9
K	Mike Bennett	1
P	Mike Bennett	1
LS	Kevin Clark	65
H	Drew Loughery	8
Ret	Connor Hoffman	4
Ret	Ryan Otis	15
Ret	Sean Coleman	92

SEASON STATISTICAL LEADERS . . .

RUSHING

No.

Name

SJP

Wash

Eas

Rid

Totals

11 Jamal Abdur-Rahman

12-165

26-151

11-84

15-102

21-143

16-90

29-141

12-41

15-40

17-62

21-118

7-61

202-1198

Tim Wade

12-84

9-27

15-87

29-157

11-44

8-15

11-48

6-28

17-114

4-23

6-4

3-1

8-33

3-6

4-14

146-685

Sam Feleccia

1-16

3-6

6-26

1-7

6-40

6-20

21-160

44-275

Drew Loughery

2-(-5)

3-(-2)

7-(-36)

7-18

1-5

3-7

3-(-4)

6-(-3)

7-(-5)

10-43

6-27

7-40

10-(-13)

6-17

78-89

PASSING
(Number in red: TD passes)

No.

Name

SJP

Wash

East

Rid

Totals

Drew Loughery

6-8

10-16

10-17

15-34

11-13

11-17

11-14

9-15

13-22

9-16

21-31

13-21

6-17

10-13

5-11

160-265

100 1

120

131 1

189 1

156 2

223 2

139 2

201 2

177 2

193 2

297 4

188 3

74 1

104

109

2401 23

RECEIVING

No.

Name

SJP

Wash

East

Rid

Totals

Connor Hoffman

2-24

3-33

1-47

3-46

1-6

1-7

1-34

3-60

2-13

5-121

6-91

5-60

2-40

3-66

38-648

Sam Feleccia

5-46

3-77

3-65

6-101

1-10

4-59

1-10

2-24

2-20

2-43

29-455

Jamal Abdur-Rahman

1-12

4-42

4-73

2-23

2-29

2-26

5-58

5-82

1-5

3-20

29-370

Steve Jones

3-64

2-25

3-27

3-45

2-18

3-66

3-49

1-5

1-31

21-330

Kevin Forster

2-25

3-33

3-46

2-45

4-30

1-8

4-74

1-8

20-269

Tim Wade

3-37

1-35

1-14

2-24

2-58

1-36

2-15

3-17

15-236

SCORING

No.	Name	PW	MP	WC	SJP	AR	FJ	MB	RC	CO	CO	SJP	Wash	East	Rid	SC	Totals
11	Jamal Abdur-Rahman	18	12			6	12	12	12		6	14	12		12	6	122
1	Mike Bennett	8	4	4	5	8	4	7	9	6	7	3	7	5	5	6	88
33	Tim Wade		12		6	6		6	12						6	6	54
8	Drew Loughery	6		6					6	6	6			6	12		48
4	Connor Hoffman	6						6	6		12	6	6				42
7	Sam Feleccia				6		6			6		6	6			6	36
10	Steve Jones			6		12				6				6			30

SCORING BREAKDOWN
(Number next to name indicates TD passes)

No.	Name	Rush	Rec.	KO	Pt.	Int	F/Ret	F/Rec	2-R	2-P	K	FG	Totals
11	Jamal Abdur-Rahman	16	3				1			1			122
1	Mike Bennett										58	10	88
33	Tim Wade	7	2										54
8	Drew Loughery (23)	8											48
4	Connor Hoffman		7										42
7	Sam Feleccia	1	5										36
10	Steve Jones		5										30

INTERCEPTIONS

No.	Name	PW	MP	WC	SJP	AR	FJ	MB	RC	CO	CO	SJP	Wash	East	Rid	Totals
		none		none											none
37	Vinny Migliarese					1				1	2	1			1	6
11	Jamal Abdur-Rahman								1				2	1		4
9	Kevin Forster		1		1		1									3

Mike Bennett's FG opens the scoring; it was his 26th and that tied
the city career record.

DEC. 19
CLASS AAAA FINAL
La Salle 24, State College 7
About time the Catholic League won a state football title, right!? (smile) In just its second year, the CL has broken through and La Salle did the honors in relatively easy fashion. The score was 24-0 when SC finally broke through and the Explorers' defense wasn't the victimized unit because that score came on a 96-yard kickoff return. Sr. K-P Mike Bennett opened the scoring by hitting a 37-yard field goal with 6:23 left in the first quarter. If the distance had been 37 yards and, oh, 3 inches, the kick would not have succeeded as the ball thumped against the crossbar, toward the left side, as it passed through. That was the lefty's 26th career field goal and left him tied with '03 SJ Prep grad Pat Kaiser for the city record. Congrats! The other scores, in order, were runs of 22 yards by jr. TB Jamal Abdur-Rahman, 8 by soph FB Tim Wade and 55 by sr. TB Sam Feleccia. Huh? Since when is Feleccia a tailback? Well, while blocking for Wade on his TD, Abdur-Rahman, lined up at slotback on this play, got dinged on his knee and suffered a partially torn MCL. That came 1:10 before halftime and Jamal spent the second half on the sideline, properly bundled up. Feleccia, a star wideout who had enjoyed some good moments recently out of a Wildexplorer formation, moved to the TB spot and finished with 21 carries for 160 yards. Thirteen of those totes, for 114 yards, came in the second half. The 55-yarder was a lead draw and was the first time Sam ran the ball on a handoff from sr. QB Drew Loughery (general shot). La Salle was going toward the scoreboard and he rolled down the left sideline (State College's). Abdur-Rahman's run was also cool. It was one of the few times all game when a play gave the appearance it was taking place on a bright, sunny, warm day . . . rather than in a legendary snowstorm. He burst through the line straight ahead and then continued to the end zone, dragging a late defender for good measure. Wade, so dedicated all season to blocking, and successful earlier this season when Abdur-Rahman had to miss some time with an injury, got his TD on an audible. Because the TDs were scored on runs, don't think that Loughery was a non-factor. He passed just 11 times, but the five completions went for 109 yards and four came in scoring drives. On the FG drive, Loughery hit Feleccia for 17 yards on third-and-19 and then ran for five on fourth down. Clutch! He connected with Feleccia for 26 and with sr. WR Connor Hoffman for 22 on the A-R drive. Wade scored after A-R's 54-yard TD dash was negated by penalty. The big play was a 40-yard hookup with Hoffman. The last score capped just a two-play "drive." La Salle finished with 361 yards total offense while SC settled for 123. That, of course, is pretty much a 3-to-1 advantage. The linemen were the usual guys and they're listed below with all starters. Right about now, let me tell you how this day unfolded from the coverage standpoint. I was determined to be on the field so I could see/hear things that could help with the DN story and, of course, take pics for the website. I was still mad at myself for missing out on the onfield fun two weeks ago in Bethlehem, when the Explorers beat Easton, 17-14. So, how did we pull this off? Technology and teamwork! If the weather had been normal, Huck and Puck would have been involved with basketball games. But with nowhere to go, they both agreed to watch PCN's telecast and keep stats. There was a trial run first as Puck watched the 10 a.m. AA final -- this one didn't start until 2:30 -- and reported back on my cell phone that the camera work was good and all yard lines could be determined. On the field during the game, I didn't bother writing stuff down. Instead, I babbled details about the key moments into my tape recorder. La Salle's defense notched two turnovers. Sr. DE Steve Sinnott recovered a fumble -- Huck told me he also caused it in impressive fashion (it happened in traffic on the other side of the field) -- and sr. DB Vinny Migliarese intercepted a late pass. When it comes to recording tackles, it's almost impossible for two people to come up with the same numbers. After digesting the contributions from both guys, we'll go with these totals: Sinnott had seven stops, with six as solos or first hits; jr. DB Kevin Forster (two for losses) and sr. LBs Shane Brady and Anthony Cognetti had six apiece; Migliarese and Feleccia had four and three stops, respectively. It was so much fun covering this squad all season. Though every team deserves the championships it wins, these guys REALLY do. From coaches to players to support personnel, they didn't give off one negative vibe in my time around them. And from the emails I received from players/coaches attached to other CL schools, who said they were rooting for them and wanted to see them go all the way, the La Salle folks definitely impressed others as well. Very nice . . .

An Open Letter to the

La Salle College High School 2009 Varsity Football Team

December 21, 2009

Dear Players,

No doubt you all are still basking in the success of winning the Quad A State Championship. Your coaches, teachers, parents, family, and friends have celebrated with you after the 24-7 victory over State College.

I can offer you two perspectives from my perch as both a Varsity parent and as an alumnus. And it is from that latter point of view that I�d like to write to you.

This season of destiny has affected everyone close to you, but I need to let you know of how its events have touched the lives of people well beyond your spheres of knowledge.

Some cases in point:

� A few weeks ago, Mike Bennett was voted as philly.com�s Player Of The Week after his winning field goal against Easton. La Salle alumni as far away as California registered their votes for Mike.

� At least twenty members of the La Salle Class of 1969 attended games this year. Only one has a Varsity son.

� Other members of our class outside of Pennsylvania found the State College game on Internet radio.

� Heard in the stands at Hershey from quite possibly one of your dads, who said that HIS dad, who�s had some serious medical issues, called him after the lead went to 17-0, and said that this was the best medicine that he�s received.

� I, just a dad and alumnus, received congratulations from about 5 people in a CYO gym on Sunday. Maybe it was the La Salle football hoodie. Maybe it was also because Coach Steinmetz was in the same gym, just a dad this time, watching his daughter play basketball. Most importantly, it was a microcosm of how far-reaching your victory affects us, well-beyond your immediate world.

So why am I writing this to you? I�m sure you�re not yet tired of the accolades from this weekend and this season. But I�m not writing for that purpose.

Your jobs aren�t over; you have a lot more to do, and I�m sure you�ve already started on this to-do list:

THANK-YOUS:

� Thank your parents for supporting you this year; they�ve allowed you to make the sacrifices, they�ve sacrificed a lot as well.

� Thank your siblings for their support; they�ve probably missed out on a lot of your parent�s attention during your season of destiny.

� Thank your coaches, trainers, Brothers, and teachers, for all of their dedicated work in preparing you for this season, spanning the 349 days from the first lifting session on January 5 to the frolic in the snow on December 19.

� Thank your parents again for sending you to La Salle.

� Thank God for helping you through this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

EXTRA POINTS:

� You all now have a sometimes difficult-to-handle gift � the gift of fame. Use it wisely, and don�t keep it in a box that�s accessible to just your teammates. Though you�re allowed a fist-bump or two in the hallways with a teammate, realize that others will be looking upon you as either a champion, or as someone who�s forgotten their place in the hallways. Mesh back into your normal school environment, and thank your classmates for their support.

� After a concentrated, cloistered existence in the football fraternity for the year to date, get immediately involved in activities that your classmates have been a part of since the start of school. Waste no time in joining some clubs, other activities, and especially service organizations. Make up for the time that was unavailable for consideration during the season.

� Attend and support as many school events, activities, and games as you can. Show your support in return for the support you received all season. Cheer on the basketball, hockey, wrestling, swimming, baseball, track, crew, tennis, and lacrosse teams in person. Go to all of the school music productions. Let them know by your presence that you support them.

� Finally, attend to your studies. You�ll now have more time to prove that you really are a student-athlete.

SENIOR MOMENTS:

� Seniors, the legacy of your class still has five months of effort to go. The football success of your 4 years may be unmatched by previous classes, but the completion of your legacy is accomplished by what you now do the rest of the year.

� The sign on the exit ramp says: �LEAVE TO SERVE�. For the next five months, I hope you read it as: �SERVE BEFORE LEAVING�. Join clubs, service projects, extracurricular activities, school events, and cheer on other sports teams. Immerse yourself in the La Salle community, because these five months will fly by. Know that you�ll never be able to return to this student experience, but you�ll always be able to return as an alum.

� Be humbled by your new-found fame. If a freshman with crooked glasses walks past you in a hallway and catches your eye, it�s because he knows who you are, even though you don�t know who he is. Smile and say �Hello� to him; hold a door open for him if he�s carrying a load of books. He will NEVER forget you for that. I know, because I was that freshman 44 years ago, and I still look up to many members of the Class of 1966 as my heroes. Be aware of how important you�ve become to others, and be humbled by that attention.

� Finally, I want to thank you seniors personally, because you have given me such great joy. All of you deserve mention, but I�ll give a shoutout to three of you: Sam, Drew, and especially my next-door neighbor, Steve Sinnott, who I�m so proud to call my friend.

FINAL THOUGHTS

On behalf of my class, and I�m sure all of the alumni, I want to thank all of you for the great joy you�ve brought to the La Salle world. Hope you can all now relax and experience the Real Joy to the World in this Christmas season.

THE SEASON, GAME BY GAME
	W-L	We	They
at Plymouth-Whitemarsh	W	56	0
Malvern	W	28	7
West Catholic	W	16	14
at SJ Prep	L	17	24
at Ryan	W	38	0
Judge	W	28	10
at Bonner	W	31	6
idle
Roman	W	45	7
O'Hara	W	24	14
O'Hara AAAA 1/2	W	31	21
SJ Prep AAAA F	W	35	28
Washington AAAA CT/1st	W	31	20
Easton AAAA qtr	W	17	14
Ridley AAAA 1/2	W	35	7
State College AAAA F	W	24	7