Huck's Corner, Football 2004 (Nov.-Dec.)

Huck's Corner

Ed "Huck" Palmer is one of our trusty statisticians/observers. He is not to be confused with Tom "Puck" McKenna. (Huck is normal. Puck is not even close). He will make reports on games he sees. You may contact him at TEDDYCAT10@aol.com.

NOV. 25
NON-LEAGUE
West Catholic 48, Penn Wood 8
It took the Burrs almost an entire quarter to get rolling, but once they did the frolicking was as plentiful as the grub on grandma’s dinner table. Sr. RB Chris Diaferio carved his way through the Penn Wood defense for 166 yards and four first-half touchdowns, needing just 14 totes to do so. His first score was an 85-yard jaunt. On the run he showed plenty of strength in bouncing off two would-be tacklers, and then very good speed in outlasting those in pursuit. He would cap the Burrs next three possessions with scoring runs of nine, three, and one-yard. The Burrs defense supplied some gravy on the last play of the first half. With the line of scrimmage at the West 29-yard line, the Penn Wood QB lofted a pass into the end zone. The ball floated into the waiting arms of jr. DB Tyrek Smith, who after a slight hesitation decided to bring the ball out. Good decision, because 109 yards later he in was in the other end zone. The diminutive Smith sped up the left sideline, and after a couple of quality blocks by soph. DE Isiah Edmond and sr. DT Marques Slocum scored with relative ease. This was Smith’s second pick of the day. The Burrs took a 35-0 lead into the intermission and the entire second half would be played with a running clock. The Burrs starters, with the game not in doubt and a meeting with Archbishop Wood for the CL Blue Championship just over a week away took the second half off. The highlight of the second half had to be when sr. WR Mike Van Loan caught his first pass in a varsity game. Van Loan only has the use of one hand, and has played just sparingly during his time at West. Despite this he has exhibited a commitment and dedication that should be applauded. I was really happy to see Mike get rewarded, he certainly deserved it. On the play, he took a five-yard hitch pass just over the leaping hand of a Patriot defender. He then raced down the sideline before being brought down at the one-yard line, nearly scoring. When he came back to the sideline he was congratulated by everyone and even took some ribbing for not scoring. What made the play even more rewarding was that earlier in the third quarter West had tried a similar play to get him a catch, but Mike ended up running the wrong route. The ball was easily picked off by PW’s star WR/DB Shamarr Prentice and returned for a 49-yard touchdown. Soph. RB Jackie Mason (8-46) had a nice 27-yard scoring run in the second half. Soph QB Khiry Carter, who threw the pass to Van Loan ended up scoring on the next play with a keeper to close out the scoring for West. Freshman QB Eric Brennan had a solid first half going 7-for-11, for 97 yards. His longest completion went to acrobatic jr. WR/DB John Maddox, who out-jumped and out-fought a Patriot defender for a juggling 33-yard snag. This kid really has a knack for making the sensational play. Schools such as Notre Dame, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Rutgers are already on his trail. On defense, he didn’t add to his impressive interception total, but did have four pass defends. Sr. WR Antoine Stout (2-33) also made a nice, leaping 24-yard grab. The offensive line consisting of TE Slocum, sr. C Tom Davis, G’s sr. James Smart and sr. Frank Pirrotta, and T’s sr. Matt DeMarco and Robert Grant help pave the way to 391 yards of total offense. Sr. K Josiah Morley went 6-for-6 on extra-point attempts. He also launched two touchbacks on kickoffs. Interestingly enough, Morley was hit more than West ball carriers, and on three consecutive PAT attempts he was either roughed or run into. Defensively, the Burrs spread around the wealth and no one player racked up tackles. However, soph DE Anthony Rhoades and jr. DT Marty Blithe contributed sacks. Slocum on a couple of occasions pan caked blockers, he finished with a team-high five stops. With Smith’s lengthy INT touchdown return it marked the third time this season I had witnessed a 100+-yard INT return for a touchdown. Earlier this year Roman’s jr. DB Cory Jackson scampered 104 yards against Father Judge. This is West’s second such score as; jr. DB Parris Shannon raced 103 yards against Neumann-Goretti. Coming into this season I had never seen a 100-yard score of any kind, and then I see three in a month-and-a-half. Amazing! Despite ominous skies in the early going the game was decently attended. West now leads the brief series (4-1), and has won the last three. All indications point to D-1 prospect sr. DE/TE Derrell Hand (6-4, 315) returning to the team next week and being ready to play when the Burrs take on Wood in next Friday’s championship game. It will be good to see the big fella return.

NOV. 20
CL BLUE SEMIFINAL
West Catholic 14, Carroll 12
The Burrs needed a late fourth quarter block of a field goal to hang on and advance to their third straight CL Blue championship game. This contest was a far cry from the teams’ first meeting. A game won by the Burrs 42-14, a mere two weeks ago. However, early on it appeared as if West would again frolic. They need just three plays to cover 52 yards for the game’s first score. Sr. RB Chris Diaferio was stuffed for no gain on first down, but then reeled off a 23-yard gain on second down. Form there, jr. FB/LB Wayne Donahue rumbled 29 yards on a trap play for the score. A penalty after the score allowed West to move the ball to inside the two, and then Diaferio squirmed in for the conversion. The rest of the first half proved to be bland, and no other scores occurred. In fact, Carroll failed to cross midfield during the first half and their usually potent offense could only manage 44 yards. West actually got into Carroll’s territory two more times in the half. However, both of these drives stalled and the Burrs went into the intermission with just an 8-0 lead. As uneventful as half number one was, the second half was filled with twists and turns on nearly every possession. The first occurred after Diaferio failed to handle an exchange from frosh. QB Eric Brennan. Carroll’s impressive soph. DE Tom Ciccoli was right there to secure the ball and Carroll finally saw the Burrs side of the field, setting up shop at the forty. Two plays later, sr. QB Greg Kobilka hit jr. RB Mark Smith with a quick pass, Smith did the rest and easily split a couple of West defenders for a 39-yard score. On the conversion, soph. RB Brent Christie took a speed sweep to the right, but was stopped inches short from tying the game by a host of Burr defenders. Late in the third quarter, the Burrs needed just four plays to march 66 yards for their second touchdown. Brennan started the drive when he quickly dumped the ball to massive sr. TE/DE Marques Slocum (6-6, 320), who then proceeded to lug multiple defenders downfield for a 25-yard gain. This would be Brennan’s only completion (just three attempts) in the game, and Slocum’s first reception of his career. The hulking D-1 prospect was filling in at TE for the suspended sr. TE/DE Derrell Hand (6-4, 315), also a D-1 prospect. He changed from his normal #75 jersey, to an eligible #4. He seemed to be enjoying the experience throughout. After his catch, sr. FB/LB Kelven Quick rushed for 19 yards, Diaferio for 12 yards, and then sr. FB/LB Michael Evans capped the drive with a 10-yard burst. The ensuing PAT was pushed to the right, and Carroll was still within one score and a conversion at 14-6. Needing a break Carroll got one when the Burrs usually sure-handed WR/DB John Maddox muffed a punt. Carroll’s DB/WR Dave Puliti had the ball bounce right into arms, and returned it for the score. However, you can’t return a muff, but nonetheless the Pats were in serious business at the Burrs 15-yard line. After a first-and-goal from the four it took Carroll all four plays to finally get into the endzone on a 1-yard sneak by Kobilka. On the conversion, Kobilka faked to jr. FB Jake Szulinski, and proceeded to the right, but was easily engulfed by multiple West defenders, keeping the score 14-12 West with 7:24 remaining. The Burrs next possession went nowhere and after a five-yard penalty they were forced to punt from their own 15-yard line. Sr. K/P Josiah Morley’s punt only managed 18 yards and Carroll was looking good when they started this series at the West 33-yard line. It got even better when Christie raced 25 yards to the Burrs eight on first down. However, the Burrs defense, as it has done all year tightened and Carroll could only advance to the four. They sent out sr. K John George for a straight-on 22-yard FG attempt. The snap was pretty good, but the Burrs got tremendous penetration and the kick was snuffed out by an up-the-middle charging Evans. Jr.’s DB Tyrek Smith and Harold Davis also put tremendous pressure on from the edges. West took over with 2:53 left. Then, on a third-and-three play, Diaferio supplied a huge lift when he got outside and went up the left sideline for a 29-yard gain. This allowed the Burrs to take an additional two-minutes off the clock. Carroll would get the ball back with :30 seconds left, but they started the drive from their own 22-yard line. On first down, Kobilka tried a long pass down the right sideline, but Maddox redeemed himself with a leaping interception, his ninth of the season, thus securing the victory for the Burrs. Diaferio put forth a workmanlike performance, fighting a fever over the past few days the resilient back rushed for 153 tough yards on 28 totes. This kid, coming back from a serious leg injury, has had a tremendous year, and in my opinion, along with Maddox is the MVP of this team. West got quality production from fullbacks; Donahue (4-47), Quick (3-25), and Evans (2-18), who combined for 90 yards on just nine carries. They also did a commendable job blocking for Diaferio. The offensive line was very instrumental is allowing the Burrs to accumulate 241 yards on the ground. There members were: TE Slocum, sr. C Thomas Davis, G’s sr. James Smart and sr. Frank Pirrotta, and T’s sr. Matt DeMarco (6-3, 340) and sr. Robert Grant (6-3, 320). Though the offense was productive, it was the defense that won the game for the Burrs. They held the Carroll offense to just 133 yards of total offense. This Patriot unit came into the game averaging over 300 yards a game. The Carroll potent ground attack could only manage 79 yards on 35 touches. Playing a huge role in this was the play of Slocum and Donahue. Slocum, who may have played his most physical game, was a force. He was involved in 12 tackles and a few times really laid the wood to Carroll ball carriers. Donahue, made ten stops (5 solos) and was active all afternoon. He made three TFL’s. Rising soph. DE Anthony Rhoades was in on six tackles (3 for losses), and contributed a half of sack. Fellow DL Smart and soph. DE Isiah Edmond evenly split eight tackles. Quick (7) and Evans (5) were active from their LB positions. I was impressed with the aggressive play of DB Smith who battled for six tackles (half of sack), and recovered a fumble. Despite the loss, the Patriots have much to be proud of. The Patriots defense played hard and tough throughout. It was a complete turnaround from their outing two weeks ago. Leading the way was fiery sr. DB Brian Rorick, who had a team-high 11 tackles. This kid plays extremely hard and with an edge. He also blocked a 37-yard field goal. Sr. LB Mike Kelly was next with 8 stops. Frosh. DB Ellis Rogers and soph. DE John Pettine each recorded sacks. Sr. LB Tom Rowinski added 7 tackles and recovered a fumble. Ciccoli and sr. LB Pete Novak evenly split 12 tackles. Rorick had a tremendous day punting the ball, booming six balls for a 40.8 average. His longest kick of the day traveled 55 yards, and nearly all of his kicks had some serious hang time. Offensively, West really bottled up the Pats ground attack. The speedy Christie managed 67 yards on 15 carries. This kid possesses excellent quickness, and is much harder to bring down than he appears. The bruising Szulinski (9-20) has put together some quality games this year, but he turned an ankle on his first carry and never really got in the flow. Kobilka didn’t throw much and when he did time was limited. He finished 2-for-8, with 54 yards. This was a good experience for a relatively young Carroll squad. Head Coach Dan Bielli has some quality underclassmen, and if the lines can continue to develop then this group should contend over the next couple seasons.

NOV. 13
CL BLUE PLAYOFF
Carroll 40, North Catholic 14
In the end the scoreboard might have read Carroll 40, North Catholic 14, but for a little over three quarters the Patriots had their hands full with a gritty bunch of Falcons. In fact, North jumped all over the Patriots, scoring on their first two possessions and then taking a 14-0 lead into the second quarter. On the third play of the game speedy soph. WR Daryl Robinson took a 10-yard slant pass from sr. QB Joe Waclawski and turned it into a 60-yard touchdown. While splitting two Patriot defenders, Robinson momentarily juggled the pass before securing it with nothing but open real estate in front of him. On Carroll’s ensuing possession, sr. QB Greg Kobilka was drilled by jr. DT Rasuel Thomas as he went to throw, causing the ball to float into the waiting arms of North’s sr. DB Joe Szychulski for an interception. Seven plays later, sr. RB Shane McNamara plunged in from three yards sending the North faithful into a roar. The score was set up by a 21-yard pass from Waclawski to McNamara. North’s next possession ended when they decided to punt from their own 45-yard line. What made this interesting was that North was faced with fourth-and-inches, but opted to punt even though they had a stranglehold on momentum at the time. As it turns out Carroll did nothing with their next possession, but one can only wonder what might happened if North had gone for it and gotten the first down. In my opinion it allowed Carroll to regain some control and most certainly settled them down. Midway through the second quarter Carroll put together a nice, 12-play, 54-yard drive capped by a 2-yard run by jr. FB Jake Szulinski making the score 14-7. On the drive, Carroll using all runs, nickel-and-dime their way down the field, converting three third downs in the process. Carroll would again use the pounding Szulinski on their next scoring drive. This time they went 50 yards, on 11 plays, with Szulinski bulling his way into the endzone on a 1-yard run. However, the PAT went wide right, and North still held a slim 14-13 lead with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter. The game-changing play came on North’s next possession when Carroll’s sr. LB Pete Novak intercepted a Waclawski pass at the Falcon’s 32-yard line. He returned the pick 27 yards to the five. Two plays later, Szulinski willed his way to a score from the four. Jr. RB/DB Mark Smith took a speed sweep around the left corner for the conversion run, and Carroll grabbed a 21-14 lead with just a 1:11 left in the third quarter. North continued to self-destruct at the end of their next possession when a center snap sailed over the head of the punter. When the dust had cleared the Falcons had lost 25 yards on the play and Carroll was sitting pretty at the North 31-yard line. Three plays later, Kobilka nicely kept the ball on an option and scampered down the right-sideline for a 20-yard touchdown. Carroll would score two more times in the quarter. First, sr. DB Brian Rorick deflected a fade pass, which allowed the ball to find sr. DB Dave Puliti, who subsequently raced down the left-sideline for a 29-yard interception return for a touchdown. Later, with time running out, just 1:07 left, Smith took an inside criss-cross counter play and coasted in for a 38-yard touchdown. After the score I noticed glares shooting over from the North sideline towards the Carroll bench. They were probably wondering whether or not that type of play had to be called with the game already secured. I’m not really sure Carroll intended to score, however if you’re in running-out-the-clock-mode, then there are certainly safer plays. Carroll rolled up 320 yards of offense, all of it was rushing yards, as the Patriots didn’t complete pass in the game. Paving the way up-front were: soph. C John Pettine, G’s sr. Dan Ritter and sr. Mike Kelly, T’s Tom Rowinski and soph. Bill O’Brien, and Novak at TE. Szulinski (6-0, 235) is very bullish and a load to bring down. He went for 123 yards on 23 forceful totes. The speed guys, soph. RB Brent Christie (8-85) and Smith (6-58), also found success. Christie drew the ire of Head Coach Dan Bielli on a few occasions for not using his speed when he got outside; instead he tried to dance around defenders. Heeding to Bielli’s wishes would be wise for Christie because he does possess tremendous speed. Kobilka misfired on all six pass attempts, but did supply 61 yards on 10 carries, mostly on option-runs. Defensively, the Carroll front seven played much better than they did last week against West Catholic. The Carroll defense forced four second half turnovers and allowed only 57 yards of offense in the second half. Leading the charge was Kelly at LB, who registered a game-high 14 tackles. He also split a sack with Rowinski. Frosh DB Ellis Rogers (5 tackles) also had an interception. He returned the pick 56 yards for touchdown, but the play was called back because of an illegal block. Smith played a solid game in the secondary and made four pass defends. Sr. LB Ryan Dougherty was active with seven stops. Soph. DE Joe Goldschmidt and Ritter evenly split 12 tackles, while Rorick and Novak evenly split ten. Rorick’s punting was very good; he had four kicks for a 40.3 average. Soph. DE Tom Ciccoli recovered a fumble late in the game that was forced by soph. DT Marcus Mattaway. North played hard and well for a good portion of the game, despite the lopsided outcome. Waclawski finished 11-of-26, for 139 yards. His main target was McNamara, who caught six balls for 60 yards. He also rushed 18 times for 51 yards. As tough as this kid is he rarely found consistent running room tonight. Robinson didn’t make any more catches after his early touchdown, but there is much to like about him. He shows good instincts in the open field, and should be a serious player-maker for the Falcons over the next two years. Defensively, the Falcons received strong contributions from a couple of freshman in LB’s Pete Sellechia (10 tackles) and Chris James (8 tackles). This duo should spearhead this Falcon defensive unit for the next few seasons. Though they are youngsters, both played with zeal and confidence. McNamara was his usual tough-self with 8 stops, and Szychulski also added 8 tackles and forced a fumble. The Falcons received solid two-way line play from sr. Hector Guzman (7 tackles) and a gritty game out of sr. LB Matt Sharkey, who chipped in with 6 stops. Sr. LB David Tankelewicz made a fourth quarter fumble recovery. North’s defense caused Carroll to fumble the ball five times, but could only manage one recovery. Over the last two games Carroll has fumbled the ball eleven times, but has been fortunate enough to only lose three of them. Next up for the Patriots will be a semifinal match up against West Catholic. Last year these teams played a whale of a game in the Semi’s with West coming back from a 20-7 halftime deficit to win 33-27. Just last week the Burrs really took it the Patriots in a 42-14 win. Look for a better prepared and more determined group of Pats this time around.

NOV. 13
INTER-AC
Penn Charter 14, Germantown Academy 7
This was the 118th meeting between the schools, and with the win the Quakers now hold a (74-33-11) advantage in the series. These schools have played a game in every year since 1887. Amazing! The Quaker win, coupled with an Episcopal victory over Haverford School meant that for the second year in a row three teams will share the Inter-Ac crown. Penn Charter, Episcopal, and Germantown Academy all finished (3-1). All of the scoring took place in the first half. The Patriots struck first on their opening possession of the game, when impressive soph. RB Alex Holcombe took a quick pitch to the left, and after making a move back to the inside easily scampered in from 29 yards out. The Quakers would answer right back on their next possession, traveling 73 yards on nine plays. The scoring drive was capped with a 3-yard run by sr. RB Paul Sweeney. Sweeney was very instrumental on the drive with runs of 20, 14, and 14. Penn Charter would untie the game on their next possession with another impressive, time-consuming drive. This time they marched 54 yards on 11 plays, using up nearly eight minutes of the second quarter clock. Sr. QB Ryan Nanni, making his first career varsity start at the position plunged in on a fourth-and-inches play from the two-yard line. Nanni, who usually plays WR was forced to start because sr. James Hannah (broken collarbone) and promising jr. Brendan McNally (ineligible for league games) were unavailable. Nanni, a lefty, and Rhode Island baseball recruit wasn’t asked to throw much, but did complete his only two passes during the go-ahead drive. First, he rifled a pass to soph. WR/DB Sammy Zeglinski for a 15-yard gain on a third-and-18 play that placed the ball at GA 28-yard line. Sweeney rumbled for four yards on the next play for a first down, thus keeping the drive alive. Then, on a third-and-10 play from the GA 11-yard line, he again found Zeglinski. This time for a nine yard gain, placing the ball at the two. He would score on the next play. Overall, Nanni’s play was commendable. He did experience a few beginning of the game jitters that led to two fumbles (PC recovered both), but after that seemed to have good command directing an offense that didn’t turn the ball over once. Four times he drew GA defenders off-sides with hard counts. The offensive star for the Quakers was Sweeney, who again put forth a yeoman’s type effort. He ended up with 164 yards on 31 totes. Rarely did an initial defender bring the rugged Sweeney down. On PC’s first scoring drive Sweeney carried the ball on all nine plays. He was featured on seven of eleven plays during the second scoring drive. Coning into the season Sweeney knew that he would probably primarily serve as a lead-blocker for star sr. RB Zack Zeglinski. However, when he Zeglinski was lost for the season, due to a knee-injury during the preseason his roll drastically changed. He has been nothing short of sensational for the Quakers all year. Much praise needs to go to jr. FB Joe Rauchut, who did a fantastic job serving as a lead-blocker. Play after play this kid willingly threw is body into the line that paved the way in Sweeney’s success. The offensive line, though not overly big did a nice job as well. This unit included: TE’s sr. R.J. Hollinshead and jr. Brian Teuber, sr. C Colin Hitschler, G’s jr. Ned Bryan and jr. Steve Levinson, and T’s jr. Rob Kolansky and soph. Drew Fullen. Defensively, the Quakers were staunch after GA’s opening drive. GA could only manage five first downs and 101 yards in offense after that initial scoring drive. Leading the way was Hitschler, an obvious team-leader for the Quakers. He finished with 9 tackles, including two sacks. Sweeney and Rauchut were just as physical on the defensive side of the ball and each registered 9 stops. Soph. LB Sean Dressel was active with eight stops. Zeglinski finished with 6 tackles, and made an interception in the endzone on the last play of the first half. Zeglinski (two) and jr. DB Kamal Marell (one) nicely batted down passes thirty yards or so down field during GA’s last possession. Marell had a nice 54-yard kickoff return to start the game. The Patriots seemed to be playing with the wind in their faces for the entire second half. Their four second half possessions began at their own; seven, fourteen, twenty-nine, and fourteen-yard line. The furthest they would move the ball would be to their own 38-yard line. GA’s final drive ended when Zeglinski superbly jarred the ball out from the hands of sr. WR Greg Sih at around the Penn Charter 45-yard line. Offensively, one of the few bright spots was the play of Holcombe, who churned out 104 tough yards on 22 carries. Sr. FB/LB Matt Brown did chip in with 41 yards on 7 carries. Defensively, the Patriots played hard throughout. Again leading the way was the tackling machine Brown. Today, he registered 15 stops. Of the 15 tackles, only one was of the solo variety, furthermore proving how difficult it was for one man to bring down the hard-running Sweeney. Sr. QB/DB Tyler Stampone added seven stops (6 solos). Sr. DT Tom Matteo was also active with seven tackles. Sih was next with six stops, and Holcombe added five. This was my first experience at a PC-GA Day. There were a lot of activities going on throughout GA’s pristine campus. During the day the schools competed in football (boys), soccer (boys/girls), field hockey (girls), cross country (boys/girls), water polo (boys), and tennis (girls). In all GA took seven of the eight events. CN8 was on hand to cover the game.

OCT. 6
CL RED
SJ Prep 31, Father Judge 7
The Hawks methodically dispatched of the Crusaders for their 35th straight regular season CL Red win. This was their fifth straight unbeaten CL Red regular season, and after losing two early non-league affairs this team appears primed to make a run for its fourth straight championship. The Crusaders' playoff hopes were actually dashed earlier in the day when Ryan beat Bonner, 20-10. Judge now knew they would have to beat the mighty Hawks if they were going to be a participant. A quest easier said than done! The Hawks left little doubt who was the superior team when sr. RB Mark Giuliani used a combination of speed and power in taking Judge’s first punt back 80 yards for the game’s first score. Star jr. RB John Shaw would hit the end zone on runs of 25 and 2 yards before the first quarter was over and the Hawks coasted from there. Soph. K Matt Cavanaugh nailed a 26-yard field goal in the second quarter to close out the scoring in the half. The Hawks actually had a chance to increase their lead late in the quarter. However, the opted not use any timeouts and had to rush to get two running plays off in the last thirty seconds. The Crusaders defense didn’t budge and Shaw was stopped at the one as time ran out. It was a peculiar series of events, and I guess you can say un-Prep-like. I immediately thought, that they thought they could score without having to use a timeout. Then, I thought maybe they didn’t want to get that much closer to the 35-point mark, when the clock would run and the game would end much quicker without many reserves being able to see time. Shaw scored his third touchdown of the game on the Hawks' first possession of the second half on a 5-yard run. In the game he finished with 97 yards on 16 carries. The Hawks used just one quarterback in the game, sr. Jim McCormick, who completed both of his passes for 37 yards. Jr. FB Ryan Bradley was featured more prominently and went for 59 yards on 9 carries. He also added a 33-yard reception. Sr. WR/LB Steve Quinn twice took speed-sweeps that totaled 28 yards. The Hawks defense controlled play throughout and held the Crusaders to just 15 yards on 26 carries. The sacked Judge QB’s five times. Sacks were had by: Quinn, jr. DT Charlie Noonan (6 tackles), sr. DT Alex Wade (5 tackles) twice shared a sack, once with sr. LB Jim Bogan and later with sr. LB Andrew Spross, and a late-game sack was had by jr. DT Jonathan Murray. The Crusaders avoided the shutout in the late-going when soph. RB Jim Lavelle scored on a 5-yard run. Serving as the fullback and leading the way was sr. OL Ryan Regan (5-11, 282). Jr. QB Justin DeCristofaro had some success and twice directed the offense into Prep territory before stalling, once to the 24-yard line and later down to the 2-yard line. He was 9-for-17, with 121 yards in the game. His main target was speedy jr. WR Erik Frazier who caught 7 balls for 68 yards. On back-to-back plays in the third quarter he made tremendous 18-yard catches. The Judge defense played hard and didn’t quit. Leading the way was frosh. LB Chris Dowling, who had 11 tackles and recovered a fumble. Jr. DB Matt Rodriguez was next with 8 tackles. Sr. DE Pat Taylor and jr. DB Will Taggert evenly split 14 tackles. Soph. DB Tom Hayes (6), sr. LB Joe VanBuskirk (6), and soph. DB Joe Thompson (5) were also active in the tackling department. The funny moment of the game was of course provided by Puck at halftime. This is usually the time he comes and gets in an hour-and-half worth of conversation during the fifteen-minute intermission. Anyhow, when asking me what happen to a suspended player from West Catholic he said, “Yo, man, what happen to your boy? He get suspended for going to AFC.” For those of you wondering, AFC is that new fried chicken chain, “Arkansas Fried Chicken.” Gotta luv that dude!!!

NOV. 6
INTER-AC
Germantown Academy 10, Episcopal 0
If there has been one constant this football season in our area it is that opposing defenses have had a hell of a time stopping Episcopal’s sr. option QB Brian FitzPatrick. He had averaged 155.8 rushing yards a game coming into today’s meeting with GA. His rushing prowess led the Churchmen to score over 28 points an outing, which had to have them feeling good about winning their first outright Inter-Ac title since 1982. They shared one during the '83 season. Someone forget to tell the Patriots, who also had a little something to play for. GA also entered the game with an unblemished league record, and was still in the hunt for their first solo crown since 1973. They shared a title last year and in ’99. Using a bend, but don’t break defense the Patriots left the Episcopal side of the scoreboard with a doughnut on it, and now control their own destiny for that elusive crown. It’s simple, beat Penn Charter next week and the title is theirs. A Penn Charter win, coupled by a probable EA win over Haverford School, and just like last year we will have a three-team champion. Leading the defensive charge was sr. LB Matt Brown, who finished with a game-high 17 tackles, including 12 solos. You want talk about a linebacker getting sideline-to-sideline. Brown, who will play baseball for Penn, showed plenty of quickness and natural instincts flying to the ball all afternoon. Ironically, on his most crucial play he didn’t even register a tackle. Trailing, 10-0 Episcopal had put together one last drive to try and get back in the game. Looking at a second-and-one from the 1-yard line, FtizPatrick went right on an option play. Brown smelled it out perfectly and shot right for the shifty QB, forcing him to pitch to jr. RB Chris Lenane who was brought down for a two-yard loss by impressive soph. LB/RB Alex Holcombe. On the play Fitzpatrick injured his arm/shoulder and had to leave the game. On third down Brown teamed with jr. DT Dan Meloro to stop Lenane for no gain. A 20-yard FG attempt by jr. K/DT/OT Ben Kissner sailed wide and any kind of comeback bid was now over. The game was scoreless at halftime, but GA would use a blocked punt by soph. DB Joe Zubkoff at the end of EA’s first second half possession to set up their first score. The blocked punt put the ball at the Churchmen 24-yard line. The Patriots couldn’t obtain a first down, but were well within the range of sr. K/P Phil Azarik, who nicely and easily booted a 39-yard Field goal for a 3-0 lead. GA would add to the lead on their next series when they covered 72 yards on 10 plays. The drive was capped by a Holcombe 3-yard plunge. Holcombe would rush eight times on the drive for 36 tough yards. A Brown 17-yard rumble and a 19-yard pass completion from sr. QB/DB Tyler Stampone to sr. WR Greg Sih also went along way in aiding the drive. Sih’s reception placed the ball at the EA 3-yard line. On the play, he did nice job of spinning back around to haul the catch in with one arm in between two Churchmen defenders. It was the running of Holcombe that carried the Patriot offense throughout. The powerful and quick-footed sophomore chewed up 151 yards on 26 carries. This kid’s future appears to be extremely bright. Much credit has to go to Brown (3-23) who just punished defenders all day from his fullback position. The boys up front also deserve some credit they were: C Meloro, jr. TE Joe Traynor, T’s sr. Noel Swann and jr. Matt Shearon, and G’s Tom Matteo and Kevin Byrne. The GA offense probably could have grabbed an earlier lead, but their first two possessions ended with interceptions. Why they were throwing the ball in the first place was beyond me? Holcombe and company had chewed up 36 yard on four plays before pick #1 and then they rumbled for 54 yards on five plays before pick #2. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it! Though the Patriot defense yielded 318 total yards they had plenty of stars. Meloro was very instrumental in holding FitzPatrick to 53 yards on 13 carries, his lowest output of the season. He finished with 9 tackles. Matteo chipped in with 8 stops. Stampone also registered 8 tackles and made an interception, his seventh of the season. Holcombe appears to be a stud on the defensive side of the ball too. He made six tackles and forced, then recovered a fumble on the same play. Jr. DB Mark Brown, Matt's brother, contributed five stops and made a late-game interception. Azarik punted twice for a 39.0 average. The Churchmen had their chances, but miscues during critical times of drives led to major setbacks. After a pick by sr. DB/WR Dylan Brown the Churchmen started their first possession of the game at their own two-yard line. They proceeded to hold the ball for nine minutes and 14 plays, but could not score. They actually got as far at the GA seven and had second-and three opportunity. However, procedure and holding penalties sandwiched around a one-yard run left them with a third-and-18. The drive ended when Holcombe forced a fumble by sr. RB Pete Wichmann off a pass out in the flat. Later on, holding penalties would thwart two other drives. Since the running of FitzPatrick was contained he was asked to throw more often. Using a short-passing attack the Chruchmen did have some success. FitzPatrick finished 9-for-13, for 73 yards. After his injury sr. QB/DB Tim Ivory came in and completed three consecutive passes to Brown for 45 yards before having his last attempt intercepted. Brown caught seven balls for 84 yards on the day. Wichmann, who left the game during the second quarter with a lower right leg injury did return in the second half and ran well. He finished with 71 yards on just 8 totes. Lenane also had some good moments and went for 65 yards on 13 carries. Defensively, sr. LB Joe Rosati had a team-high 11 tackles and again provided leadership. Fitspatrick 7 stops and Kissner 5 stops were active. Sr. LB Lou Calabrese added a pick. Frosh. DB Bobby FitzPatrick, Brian’s younger brother, added 62 yards on three returns. I know there is a TON of tradition in the Inter-Ac, but to avoid shared titles how about considering a four-team playoff in the future? For the most part the Inter-Ac teams only play nine or ten games. Two more games doesn’t seem like too much. Also, you could use it has a charitable event like the Coaches vs. Cancer in the post-season Inter-Ac basketball tournament. Just a thought!

NOV. 5
CL RED
O’Hara 24, Roman 21 (OT)
At the start of the night the winner would earn second place in the CL Red, and the Lions were thought by many to be a considerable favorite. At night’s end the Lions had captured that second place slot and first round playoff bye, but had also acquired a new found respect for the Cahillites who fought them tooth and nail all evening. In a tremendous high school football game O’Hara need a late scoring drive to tie the game, and then overtime to settle it. Sr. K Frank D’Angelo drilled a 21-yard field goal in the first overtime for the Lions. Roman’s possession went like this: sr. QB Tim Hoban was sacked by sr. DE John Paul Conneen and sr. LB Mike Marotta for a 3-yard loss. This was followed by two incompletions that set up a 30-yard field goal try by Hoban. From the right hash mark the kick had plenty of distance, but was wide right by a few yards. Trailing 21-14, O’Hara started their last possession at their 33-yard line with 3:30 remaining. Actually they were fortunate to have this good of field position. On Roman’s first punt sr. RB/DB Steve Cook was tackled at the fifteen. However, Roman was called for a block below the waist, a 15-yard penalty, and was forced to punt again. The foul occurred five yards behind the line of scrimmage, so in essence it was a 20 yard miscue. They were now punting from their 40-yard line instead of O’Hara’s 40. Quite a difference, and in the end O’Hara had gained 18 yards. The O’Hara offense was abysmal throughout the second half. Their five possessions prior to this one went like this: 3 plays – punt, 3 plays – punt, 3 plays – INT, 3 plays – punt, and 2 plays – fumble. They had gained 26 second half yards to this point. Their final possession started off like all the others and after three plays the Lions were faced with a fourth-and-10. However, sr. QB John Ward found sr. WR Sean Barksdale for a 12 yard gain and a first down keeping the drive alive. After an incompletion, Ward again found Barksadale for a 14-yard pick up. Another incompletion, and then he hit Cook for a 13-yard reception. After a Cook 3–yard run, Ward was sacked for a loss of a yard. The Lions were now staring at a third-and-eight from the Roman 26-yard line with :55 seconds left. Again it was the Ward-to-Barksdale combination, as the clutch receiver showed great concentration bringing in a fade pass down the right sideline placing the ball at the Roman three. After Cook was stuffed for no gain O’Hara used their final timeout with :23 seconds on the clock. On a gutsy call, because they would have been unable to stop the clock, another running play was called. This time sr. FB Pat Macaulay pounded up the middle for the score. D’Angelo’s kick knotted the score with just :17 seconds left. The drive covered 67 yards on 13 plays. What a better spot to finally find your offense! As bad as O’Hara’s offensive line was at run-blocking in the second half, that’s how good they were in giving Ward time to throw during the last series. He went 4-for-8, for 62 yards on the final drive. The members of this unit were: sr. T’s Matt Lowry (Virginia recruit, 6-6, 292) and Joe Glace, jr. G Dan Gough, soph. G Jerry Penrose, sr. C Jerry Feehery, and sr. TE Tom Green. It was good to see Ward have some success at the end of the game. He finished 8-for-14, for 101 yards. There is no doubt he has gained some much needed confidence after the outcome. At the start of the game, jr. QB/DB Anthony Walters was at the helm, but on three straight plays over two possessions he fumbled exchanges from either the center or to an intended running back. He did not look comfortable, and Head Coach Dan Algeo opted for the change. In the end it had paid off. This O’Hara QB situation has been an issue throughout the season. After their ONLY loss of the season to SJ Prep, a change to Walters was made. Now, I’m no football coach and I do not know the inner-workings of the team, but I wondered to myself, was this a panic move? Is it too late in the season for such a significant change? After tonight’s game the matter probably still isn’t settled, but at least one player experienced some success and was a HUGE part in pulling out the victory. Maybe they’ll be able to build around this. Barksdale made six grabs for 91 yards. Seeing him after the game I didn’t realize how big and strong he looked. This kid has winner written all over him and probably can help a 1-AA team somewhere. The Lions, known for their dominant rushing attack, averaged barely over three yards a carry. Any success they did have came in the first half. Cook (18-50) scored two-first half touchdowns on runs of 17 and 4 yards. Macauley ran well early too, and finished with 80 yards on 15 totes. One extremely sore spot for the Lions was the fact that they fumbled seven times in the game, fortunately for them they only lost one. Defensively, the Lions got another INT from Walters, his seventh of the season. Jr. LB Scott Taylor played a fantastic game and was all over the field in the third quarter where he recorded eight of his game-high 12 tackles. He also snuffed out a PAT attempt earlier in the game. Partner, jr. LB Greg Smith had a sack amongst his six stops. Marotta and Conneen evenly split ten tackles and a sack. Conneen also partially blocked a first quarter punt. Jr. DT Ed Callahan played well along the line of scrimmage and registered 6 tackles. Sr. DT Kevin Murray added five stops of his own. The Lions' kickoff coverage played really well and yielded just 20 yards on four Cahillite returns. D’Angelo, a left-footed kicker, has a powerful leg. He sent three balls over the wall at the far end of Conshohocken’s field. One was on a missed 22-yard field goal at the end of the first half. I just know the Cahillites must have all sorts of scenarios racing around in their heads like: what if, only if, maybe this, would have, and could have. However, despite coming up with the short end of the stick the team, coaches, and fans have much to be proud of. They showed that they are primed to make some noise in the CL Red playoffs. To their credit they were outplayed in the first half, but were patient and stuck to their guns after the intermission just waiting for a Lion mistake. Then it happened, trailing 14-6 early in the fourth O’Hara’s first pass attempt of the second half was overthrown by Ward and found the waiting hands of jr. DB Cory Jackson. After the pick he raced down the middle of the filed and somehow eluded a host of Lions before breaking into the open, eventually scoring standing up. Then, Hoban hit sr. RB Evin Jones in the flat for the two-point conversion and the game was tied. Roman’s next possession began at the O’Hara 40-yard line. It came after a short 14-yard punt into the wind, in which the ball landed and bounced at least ten yards backwards. A five-yard face mask penalty after a 5-yard run by Jones gave the Cahillites a first down at the O’Hara 28-yard line. On a dynamite play-call, Hoban used play-action and then beautifully lofted a ball to jr. WR Dan Jordan (2-63) who caught it over a leaping Cook at the five and then waltzed into the endzone, giving Roman a 21-14. On O’Hara’s next possession the Cahillite defense again supplied some energy. On the second play of the series, soph. DB Dominique Joseph, who played brilliantly, jarred the ball loose from Macaulay at the Lion 45-yard line. Jackson was again Johnny-on-the-spot and alertly pounced on the ball. However, Roman could not manage a first down and was forced to punt, thus setting up the late-game heroics. Offensively, Roman wasn’t electrifying by any means, but they were patient, smart, and tough. Jones rushed 27 times and earned 98 extremely tough yards. Hoban only completed the two passes to Jordan, but showed poise on a couple of plays. On his touchdown pass, he calmly sat in the pocket full knowing he was about to get hit on an O’Hara blitz, thus allowing Jordan to break free before releasing the ball. It’s the little things like this that allows teams to make plays when they aren’t initially present. Defensively, the Cahillites were sound throughout and didn’t budge an inch for the bigger Lions. Joseph had a team-high 11 tackles and appeared to be everywhere. Jr. DB Aaron Pryer continues to impress and brings that linebacker-type attitude to the Roman secondary. He registered 9 tackles in the game, may of the hard-hitting variety. Jackson chipped in with 6 stops to go along with his pick and fumble recovery. Defensive leader sr. LB Sean Matthews was solid with six stops. DT’s sr. Jim Moore and jr. Antonio Martinez stayed low and caused all kinds of problems for the O’Hara running attack. Sr. LB Tim Plona had a sack amongst his five tackles. Sr. LB Brian Chiodi was aggressive with six stops of his own. Jr. LB Ryan McAdams and jr. DT Ken Hughes split a sack. The play prior to Jackson’s interception return was a run for a 1-yard gain. It was O’Hara’s eighth straight run of the half, and their thirty-fifth run in 37 plays (both other passes were completed) for the game. This prompted a fan to yell in a sarcastic tone, “Nice call, Dan. Throw the ball!” Well, he did and the ball was returned for a score changing the whole complexion of the game.